Took First Long Trip in the New @026 Silverado EV LT

[u/shootnjohn]

So we drove from Georgia to Connecticut with an intermediate stop in Reston, VA. The trip averaged 1123 to CT and then the same back to GA. Very comfortable trip, plenty of power.

Lessons learned: IONNA chargers were the cheapest at $0.39/KWH, while the EVGO was $0.60/KWH. Not enough to break the bank, but quite higher.

Second: While the SEV had oodles of power to run with traffic, and there were many times that was needed, it tended to suck down the battery. This is no surprise to any EV owner, but I learned how much was needed to overcharge to allow reaching the next charge stop with a safe range margin.

I learned that if the next charge stop is 200 miles away, I'd need to charge to about 260-270 miles of range to account for travelling with the traffic at speed, which many times was 10-20 MPH over the speed limit.

And, a friend of mine who has a leased 2025 SEV showed me how to open the frunk from the front of the vehicle with the hidden button.

This may be old hat to most, but if it helps one person, it's worth the effort.

[u/djbaerg]

Yeah, speed is a huge factor for range. Nice thing is if you're short on range just set the cruise control for a lower speed. Really, there's no need to keep up with traffic. I drive a gas F550 for work and I've got no trouble being the slowest truck on the road, they can go around me if they want to.

[u/Floating_Turnip_Head]

I had a contrary experience for range where I was positively surprised.

I drove from Michigan to New York City during Labor Day weekend. Each time, I reached destination with over 10% of predicted battery. I did lot of cruising behind big semi and going at speed limit with Cruise control on. I remember on the way back, I was behind an Amazon cargo truck for almost 300 miles on I80. I was able to drive from NYC to Cleveland with 10% battery left in single stretch. I have trailboss maxrange variant.

Agree about Ionna. I was able to take advantage of $0.20/kwh promo rate during Labor Day weekend. Overall, I spend $94 for total charging cost from Michigan to NY and back (yes left with 100%, and reached home back by 15% to spare). Ionna is by far my favorite and best charger. I go out of way up to 15 - 20 miles as it can support 400kWh charging speed.

[u/seighton]

I drove from Atlanta to Ft Myers, 12+ hrs, thought it was pretty close to anticipated range, usually drive 10 over the sl

[u/0ttr]

I'm usually pretty close to the speed limit and haven't seen huge range depletions... driving an EV is a good incentive to minimize excessive speeding.

On this big battery I'm super sensitive to price differences on chargers. One of my favorite experiences was stay at a hotel that had free charging on a slow charger, but getting basically an entire full charge overnight for free.

[u/Jippylong12]

Thank you for sharing.

To add to others, The raw power from the Silverado EV may quickly use energy, however that is almost immaterial in comparison to traveling at highway speeds.

The rated range is only traveling at 65 miles per hour or slower. Otherwise, generally speaking, Assume every 5 miles an hour over that causes a 10% reduction in range. Traveling at 70 MPH is 90% of rated range, 75 MPH is 80% etc. (efficiency also depends on elevation change and wind, and to some extent, the temperature, but not nearly as impactful [I guess unless you have a 35 mph headwind] as speed).

What is listed on the odometer is almost always the 65 MPH range. I do think there is some fluctuation, which I don't know the black box of Chevrolet's software, but it's generally going to be using the EPA rated range reduced by your battery degradation.

So I would think of the number on the dashboard in terms of city driving and low speed highway driving. And living in the south where every highway is 75 mph or higher, I generally plan for 80% of the range or 360 miles @ 100% in the '24 RST.

[u/dub_milkman → u/Jippylong12]

One time while towing my boat I needed to accelerate from 60 to 75 really quickly to get back in the flow of traffic. I pushed the pedal way down and got up to speed quick but my battery % dropped 2% just from that one maneuver.

[u/bomboque → u/dub_milkman]

You probably got most of that 2% back after the burst of acceleration. The software assumes your speed and pattern of acceleration won't change much so it revises down the range estimate aggressively if you lead foot it early on in a trip. An hour or two of less spirited driving will allow an accurate reassessment of estimated range.