Its size and bulky design speak against it, but General Motors managed to set a record with a range for the Chevrolet Silverado EV. The pickup clocked up an astonishing 1,059.2 miles, or 1,705 kilometers, on a single charge. That’s the longest distance ever driven by an electric road car without plugging in.
That figure, more than double the Silverado’s official range of 493 miles (793 kilometers), was achieved by a team of GM engineers who spent a week extracting every last electron from the battery pack.
Their approach? Forget Autobahn, think more of a snail-like trundle through southeast Michigan at speeds that barely outpaced a competitive cyclist: 20 to 25 mph (30-40 km/h).
Looping around
The achievement surpasses the sleek Lucid Air Grand Touring, which previously held the record with a 749-mile (1,205-kilometer) drive across Switzerland and southern Germany.
In contrast, GM’s route was resolutely workaday: public roads looping around its Milford Proving Ground or familiar territory for the test engineers who volunteered for the record attempt.
The version in question was a 2026 Silverado EV Work Truck, the lightest version, equipped with the largest battery GM offers—a 205-kWh behemoth pack. No secret software tweaks or fancy lab conditions here.
Instead, the engineers relied on real-world modifications: wiper blades were lowered for better aerodynamics, tires were inflated to the maximum, the spare wheel was ditched, and a tonneau cover was added to smooth airflow over the bed. Climate control was sacrificed, too — a small but worthwhile price to pay.
Even further?
The drive, which involved no fewer than 40 engineers rotating behind the wheel, took seven days. In midsummer, to make conditions for the battery as favourable as possible.
Ultimately, the involved crew believed it could have taken things one step further. “We could have gone even further if we were driving downhill the whole way,” one engineer noted, perhaps only half-joking.
GM isn’t turning to Guinness World Records for official recognition. “It was a passion project,” comments spokesperson Catherine Scales. “There are no plans to submit it.” Which, in a way, makes it all the more charming: a slightly obsessive, deeply technical marathon carried out not for trophies, but because someone in the engineering department wanted to see how far this thing could be pushed.
Still, the record is far from representative for everyday use, and remains a technical victory. Driving at such agonisingly low speeds without climate control isn’t exactly practical on a real commute. This only demonstrates what’s possible when every ounce of energy efficiency is wrung out of a modern EV, even if it’s a workhorse nearly weighing four tons.
