- The 2025 Chevy Silverado EV Work Truck covered nearly 540 miles on a single charge in an independent range test.
- It eclipsed the previous record by the GMC Sierra EV Denali, which is mechanically similar to the Silverado EV.
- It gets a huge battery pack, but its efficiency isn’t that impressive.
The battle between the highest range electric vehicles in the U.S. has oscillated between extreme efficiency and brute battery power. On one end you have the sleek Lucid Air that goes the efficiency route by sipping electrons to get the most driving range. General Motors’ electric trucks are on the other end of the spectrum, with electron-guzzling motors and big, heavy batteries.
Case in point is the 2025 Chevy Silverado EV Work Truck. It gets an EPA-estimated driving range of 492 miles on a single charge. But in a new Edmunds range test, the Silverado EV blew past that number. It achieved a real-world driving range of a whopping 539 miles on a mixed city/highway route, making it the longest range EV the outlet has ever tested.
It surpassed its official range estimate by 47 miles and handily beat America’s previous range king, the GMC Sierra EV Denali, which clocked 507 miles on the same independent range test.
The test was conducted with 40% of highway driving and 60% city driving mix with an average speed of 40 miles per hour. It’s also worth noting that the test was conducted in close-to-ideal California weather with temperatures around 64 degrees Fahrenheit. EV batteries love to operate in warmer conditions. That’s when they encounter minimal resistance within the pack, which means electrons flow more freely with fewer losses and more real-world range.
The Silverado EV also doesn’t do any technical wizardry to achieve this number. It’s mostly just the 205 kilowatt-hour battery pack which it shares with other GM trucks and SUVs such as the Hummer EV and the Cadillac Escalade IQ.
However, it’s pretty stripped out compared to its siblings—there’s no massive touchscreen, no fancy leather upholstery, no folding midgate and smaller alloy wheels. This saves weight, helping it go farther than the Sierra EV Denali, which is loaded with features.
Yet it’s not cheap. The 2WT trim starts at $55,000 before destination and that version gets a smaller battery with a lower EPA range of 282 miles. The version tested here appears to be the 8WT trim with a starting price of $76,650. The 4WT can tow 10,000 pounds and carry 1,400 pounds of max payload. That’s thanks to dual electric motors with plenty of oomph—510 horsepower and 580 pound-feet of torque.
In terms of efficiency, electric trucks are terrible due to their brick-like shape and heavy batteries. The Silverado EV WT is no different. Edmunds calculated an efficiency of 45.3 kWh per 100 miles, or 2.2 miles per kWh.
A Lucid Air tested by Edmunds, on the other hand, consumed 28.3 kWh per 100 miles, or went 3.5 miles per kWh. Lucid even claims an efficiency of 5.0 miles per kWh for the ultra-efficient Pure, but independent tests have indicated lower than that. It’s impressive nonetheless.
By electric truck standards, however, the Silverado EV WT’s efficiency is on par with competiton. The Tesla Cybertruck delivered 2.5 miles per kWh in InsideEVs 70 miles per hour highway range test. The 2025 Rivian R1T with dual motors and the 149 kWh Max pack delivered around 2.7 miles per kWh in a separate test.
Auto executives have recently spoken out against big and bulky electric trucks. Ford CEO Jim Farley especially has been vocal about the weight penalty big batteries bring, even labeling the economics of big electric SUVs and trucks as “unresolvable” in the automaker’s Q4 2024 earnings call.
Yet here we are in 2025 with a production EV that you can buy today which can now go nearly 540 miles on a single charge. That’s enough to go from Boise, Idaho to Jackson, Wyoming with over 100 miles of range to spare. Or do a Dallas-to-Houston round trip without plugging in.
The next big challenge is to deliver this kind of range in smaller, lighter, more efficient vehicles. Because it’s one thing to plonk big batteries in huge trucks, another to make it practical and appealing for the broader audience.
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