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.

More by Jason R. Sakurai

Comments
Join the conversation
3 of 23 comments
  • 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.
  • 1995 SC PA is concerning, but if it spent most of its life elsewhere and was someone's baby up there and isn't rusty it seems fairly priced.
  • CanadaCraig I don't see ANY large 'cheap' cars on the market. And I'm saying there should be.
  • 1995 SC I never cared for the fins and over the top bodies on these, but man give me that interior all day. I love it
  • 1995 SC Modern 4 door sedans stink. The roofline on them is such that it wrecks both the back seat and trunk access in most models. Watch someone try to get their kid into a car seat in the back of a modern sedan. Then watch them try to get the stroller into the mail slot t of a trunk opening. I would happily trade the 2 MPG at highway speed that shape may be giving me for trunk and rear seat accessibility of the sedans before this stupidity took over. I ask you, back in the day when Sedans were king, would any of them with the compromises of modern sedans have sold well? So why do we expect them to sell today? Make them usable for the target audience again and just maybe people will buy them. Keep them just as they are and they'll keep buying crossovers which might be the point.
  • Kwik_Shift_Pro4X As much problems as I had with my '96 Chevy Impala SS.....I would love to try one again. I've seen a Dark Cherry Metallic one today and it looked great.
Next