Canada will play a major role in GM’s push towards an electrified motoring future, with the automaker investing about a billion dollars into Canadian electric vehicle (EV) production and development.
At the centre of GM’s EV push is Ultium, a new battery and drive module technology from General Motors designed to help meet increasing demand for electric models — demand which is expected to double between 2025 and 2030 to 3 million or more EV sales per year.
GM’s Ultium architecture is flexible and scalable, allowing for quick development and deployment of electric models across a wide range of sizes, shapes, and purposes as market conditions change and evolve. With Ultium, GM says the number of line-wide driveline components is drastically reduced compared to today’s traditional, combustion-powered models — in turn reducing cost and complexity.
The recipe for Ultium batteries helps keep costs down too, since they use much more nickel and much less (expensive) cobalt.
The unique cell design allows more energy to be stored in the same physical space within the battery pack. On a wider scale, Ultium-powered vehicles can therefore use various battery pack and drive module arrangements to create models that cover a wide range of price points, ranges and power output levels, with front, rear, or four/all-wheel drive options.
GM says battery options will range from 50 to 200 kWh, and that most drive units are designed and built in-house.
Chevrolet Silverado EV Photo by Chevrolet
How does Ultium work in the upcoming Chevrolet Silverado EV?
This all-electric pickup rides a dedicated, fully-electric Ultium platform that will deliver up to 640 kilometres of range on a full charge in ideal conditions, as well as 10,000 pounds of maximum trailering.
The battery pack is structurally integrated within the vehicle’s floor and underbody, mounted low and wide for a reduced centre of gravity and improved handling. With a drive motor at each axle, the Silverado EV’s e4WD system ensures maximum traction when required, with four-wheel independent air suspension and four-wheel steering working to further optimize ground clearance, maneuverability, and ride quality across a wide range of conditions.
Notably, the four-wheel steering system makes the Silverado EV easier to maneuver while parking, and works in sync with vehicle control systems to help make the truck more stable and easier to drive at higher speeds, and especially while trailering.
Most Silverado EV owners will charge almost exclusively at home, overnight, in their garage or driveway. With over 600 kilometres of available range and the average Canadian driving less than 50 kilometres per day, there’s plenty of flexibility.
Of course, colder temperatures will reduce the available range, as will hooking up a trailer. Even in cold temperatures or while towing, the Silverado EV will turn in hundreds of kilometres of range.
With up to 350 kW of fast charging, drivers can add up to 160 kilometres of range in a 10-minute recharging stop on an 800-volt charger, if conditions are ideal. This will make the Silverado EV a leader in fast-charging speed. Andy Oury is a battery engineer with GM. He explains how 800-volt charging works.
“When you’re driving, the battery packs are wired in parallel. If you arrive at an 800-volt compatible charging station, when you plug in, the charging station and vehicle talk to each other. The charging station says ‘hey, I’m an 800-volt charger’, and the battery pack says ‘great, give me a second, I’ll reconfigure into 800-volt mode’.
From that point, some electrically-operated switches (relays) are reconfigured to enable maximum charging speeds.
“Some relays open, some close — and the pack goes from being wired in parallel to being wired in series — which doubles the system voltage to 800 volts, allowing us to charge faster. We’ll still max out the amount of current available from the charger, but when you double the voltage, you’re getting approximately double the power fed into the pack… Parallel 400-volt mode is how they’re wired for propulsion, series mode is a switch to 800 volts, which boosts the voltage for fast charging.”
The powerful Ultium battery can even store enough energy to run 10.2 kilowatts of power to GM’s PowerBase charging system, with ten outlets for recharging or and powering tools, gear and equipment at jobsites or while camping. The Silverado EV can even power your house in the event of a disaster or power outage, or recharge the battery of another EV.
Chevrolet Silverado EV Photo by Chevrolet
Storage provisions are generous, and include a so-called eTrunk, which is a lockable and weatherproof compartment under the vehicle’s hood where most pickup trucks keep their gas engine. The centre console can accommodate a lunch cooler, and a wide range of accessories allow drivers to customize their Silverado EV’s storage and bed to their specific needs.
The first of the Detroit-built Silverado EV models are expected to debut fall of 2023, with more models coming online as production ramps up. Shoppers will be able to consider RST, Work Truck and Trail Boss trim grades.
The Silverado EV rides a dedicated Ultium-based platform, hence its completely different look, proportions, and dimensions than conventional gasoline and diesel-powered Silverado models.
It’s the most powerful Silverado too, thanks to more than 660 estimated horsepower and nearly 800 lb-ft of torque available. On select models with Max Power mode, that’s good for 0-60 in less than 4.5 seconds, nearly as quick as a Camaro SS. A Work Truck version of the Silverado EV will deliver 510 horsepower and 615 lb-ft of torque, with 8,000 lbs of towing, and GM says a max tow package be introduced with up to 20,000 pounds of towing for fleet owners.
Based on present data, the Silverado EV delivers more range, horsepower, and faster charging than the Ford F-150 Lightning, with marginal differences on towing and payload. With 775 lb-ft of torque available, the F-150 Lightning is the torque output leader of the pair.
Chevrolet Silverado EV Photo by Chevrolet
Based on data from early 2022, the Rivian R1T offers more power, towing capacity and torque than the Silverado EV — but less range. With 350 kilowatts of fast-charging, that’s more than the Tesla Cybertruck (250), Ford F-150 Lightning (150), and Rivian R1T (210). On power output, the Cybertruck’s available 800 horsepower leaves the Silverado EV behind, though the Rivian has the highest towing capacity of this grouping, at 11,000 lbs.
Still, the market has some barriers to EV adoption — including the effects of both cold weather and towing on the vehicle’s range. Frigid temperatures can reduce the range of an EV significantly (around 40 per cent at 30º below, in my experience), and towing can reduce the range even further.
I asked Oury when we’d see an EV pickup that can tow a trailer several hundred kilometres in the dead of a Northern Ontario winter. He told me that as GM improves and updates the Ultium system, it’ll get to a point where enough energy can be stored on board to mitigate these concerns.
“If you look at the vehicles we need to supply to the market, a lot of them are really good at towing. Towing is on the road map, and we need a lot of energy to tow,” Oury says. “Our gas, diesel and EV models are tested the same way for the cold. At the component level, we’re testing components down to extreme temperatures too. There’s a lot of thermal mass in the battery we can use to our advantage”.
Keyword: Deep Dive: 2023 Chevrolet Silverado EV's Ultium platform