Chevrolet Electric Silverado A ZERO Production

Jason R. Sakurai
by Jason R. Sakurai

Chevrolet’s Silverado electric pickup will be built at the Factory Zero assembly plant in Detroit-Hamtramck, Michigan, along with GMC’s Hummer EV SUV which will also be produced there, General Motors president Mark Reuss said today.

A new-from-the-ground-up EV pickup, and not adapted from the gas-powered Silverado, it will use the Ultium Platform. Ultium is General Motors’ virtual development tools and technology, said to have reduced development nearly 50 percent to 26 months.

Chevrolet estimates the new Silverado EV will have a 400-mile range on a full charge. Like its gas-powered sibling, there will be retail and fleet versions of the EV, both expected to be in demand. “Chevrolet will take everything Chevy’s loyal truck buyers love about Silverado — and more — and put it into an electric pickup that will delight retail and commercial customers alike,” said Reuss.

Factory ZERO, General Motors’ renamed Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant, signifies the company’s zero crashes, zero emissions, and zero congestion outlook for the future. ZERO is the largest renovation and retooling ever for a General Motors manufacturing plant. Its paint and body shop, along with the general assembly area, are getting upgrades including new machinery, conveyors, controls, and tooling. The plant’s footprint is now over 4.5 million square feet.

General Motors previously hawked its modular propulsion system and Ultium battery-powered global EV platforms. The company is definitely looking to compete head-to-head for customers wherever they may exist. Ultium is a joint venture with LG in Lordstown, Ohio to produce battery cells for future battery electric vehicles (BEVs). Construction of that facility is underway.

General Motors world domination plan calls for a million EVs by 2025, and North American EV leadership. How will this work out with the power grid, President Biden’s future vision, and infrastructure improvements?

[Images: General Motors]

Jason R. Sakurai
Jason R. Sakurai

With a father who owned a dealership, I literally grew up in the business. After college, I worked for GM, Nissan and Mazda, writing articles for automotive enthusiast magazines as a side gig. I discovered you could make a living selling ad space at Four Wheeler magazine, before I moved on to selling TV for the National Hot Rod Association. After that, I started Roadhouse, a marketing, advertising and PR firm dedicated to the automotive, outdoor/apparel, and entertainment industries. Through the years, I continued writing, shooting, and editing. It keep things interesting.

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  • ToolGuy ToolGuy on Apr 08, 2021

    ...shows up late for the remedial class... So this will be the Chevy version of the Hummer pickup? Or am I doing that wrong?

  • Art Vandelay Art Vandelay on Apr 08, 2021

    On the plus side, opting for the EV version ensures it is US built.

    • Gass-man Gass-man on Apr 09, 2021
      Assembled in the US, of Chinese and Mexican made parts, and almost entirely by robots. The few assembly workers there won't be paid enough to afford the trucks they make.
  • Zerofoo We leased a new CX-5 for my daughter when she started driving. We put nothing down and bought gap insurance. The theory was if she totaled the car, it was nothing more than a rental. If she kept the car in good shape and the car was reliable, we would, at the end of the lease, have the opportunity to buy a low-mileage 3 year old used car.
  • Peter KODAK Moment
  • Eliyahu Toyota has looked at the state of the world and decided that hybrids are the best fit for currently achieving environmental and regulatory goals. Their hybrid production is now across many of their models. Honda is following suit. They will both likely also produce some electric vehicles. The best path forward is likely higher fuel taxes, with some tax credit offsets for the lower tax brackets. This would encourage a move toward more fuel efficient vehicles. The US big 3 auto makers are the ones with the most to lose here-they are the late adapters-coasting on trucks.
  • 28-Cars-Later Used Teslas are getting very cheap, but buying one can be risky - Ars Technica Teslas are very connected cars, and many of their convenience features are accessed via smartphone apps. But that requires that Tesla's database shows you as the car's owner, and there are plenty of reports online that transferring ownership from Hertz can take time.Unfortunately, this also leaves the car stuck in Chill driving mode (which restricts power, acceleration, and top speed) and places some car settings outside of the new owner's level of access. You also won't be able to use Tesla Superchargers while the car still shows up as belonging to Hertz. Based on forum reports, contacting Tesla directly is the way to resolve this, but it can take several days to process; longer if there's a paperwork mismatch.Once you've transferred ownership to Tesla's satisfaction, it's time to do a software reset on the car to remove the fleet version.So apparently the state maintains title but so does Tesla in a way, and they cripple some features until they feel satisfied in unlocking them to you. How long till they brick it by satellite because, reasons? But yes, rah! rah! BEV! - its not a tool of tyranny at all, honest. Edit: Comment from the Ars forum: Happy MediumArs Tribunus Militum 19y When I got to the section that stated that THE CAR WILL BE FUNCTIONALLY CRIPPLED unless you get Tesla's acceptance of you buying the car, I got incredibly infuriated. How in the hell is this going to work going forwards? Is Tesla literally going to be approving every single resale of its cars from now until the car is totaled? Jeezus, connected is one thing, but having final ownership authority in the hands of the manufacturer and not the seller/purchaser seems horrible. 28's thoughts to Happy Medium.
  • Tane94 Subie has a cult-like devotion to its products, so it can do no wrong by being a late adopter in offering EVs. Mazda has rebranded itself from zoom zoom to affordable near luxury, with success. Toyota is most vulnerable to losing sales from not having EVs. The hybrid early adopters who made Prius their high-visibility flag bearer now have to look to another brand for a distinctive EV to righteously show themselves off.
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