The Chevrolet Silverado EV is one of the most capable all-electric pickup trucks on the market, and this includes its charging performance. Check out our 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV RST DC fast-charging analysis below, as tested by State Of Charge at a 350-kilowatt DC fast charger.

In the initial article, we will focus on the 10-80% state-of-charge (SOC) test, while in the next one, we will see full 0-100% SOC results and compare the two.

Specs

State Of Charge’s test concerns the top-of-the-line 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV RST First Edition trim. In the 2024 model year, Work Truck (WT) versions also exist for businesses.

General Motors does not reveal the battery capacity of the Chevrolet Silverado EV, but we know that it’s more than 200 kilowatt-hours thanks to its 24-module battery. An interesting detail of note is that the battery consists of two 400-volt parts, connected in parallel. However, when DC fast charging, these two parts are switched to a series connection, which doubles the voltage to roughly 800 volts and enables high-power charging at half the current.

The EPA Combined range of the Chevrolet Silverado EV RST First Edition is 440 miles. During State Of Charge’s 70 mph range test, the truck marginally exceeded this number, reaching 441.4 miles. With a dual-motor all-wheel drive powertrain (over 560 kilowatts), the Chevrolet Silverado EV RST can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in just 4.5 seconds.

The onboard charger is 19.2 kW, which in most cases should be enough to fully recharge the truck overnight.

According to its specs, DC fast charging can replenish up to 100 miles of range in 10 minutes at a 350-kW high-voltage charger. The manufacturer does not reveal charging times for popular SOC windows, like 10-80% or 20-80% SOC. The charging speed will be significantly lower at a 400- to 500-volt charger.

Charging Curve: The 10-80% SOC Test

Our DC fast-charging tests were conducted at an EVgo charger rated at up to 350 kW. The charger’s maximum voltage of 950 volts was higher than requested by the vehicle. However, the charger’s maximum current of 540 amps was not available at 700+ volts when the charging began. It was less than 500 amps and gradually decreased through the session, limiting the vehicle’s peak charging performance to the charger’s peak of 350 kilowatts. The highest level we have seen was about 347 kW.

The first graph below presents the charging power curve from 10% to 80% SOC. The charging power very quickly increased to its peak level of nearly 350 kW and remained relatively flat until around 32% SOC. After a step change, the vehicle charging continued at about 300 kW from about 34% to 52% SOC.

At that point, it seems that some thermal throttling (also known as thermal derating) kicked in, and the charging power significantly decreased to just under 150 kW at about 64-68% SOC. After hitting the local bottom, the charging power gradually increased back to over 180 kW at 74-76% SOC, thanks in part to the increase in battery pack voltage but also the increase in charging current.

The next few percent indicated showed a gradual decrease in charging power.

Overall, the charging curve is good and shows very high charging levels. According to the EVgo charger, the vehicle consumed almost 167 kilowatt-hours of energy during the charging session, including losses and energy for cooling and auxiliary loads.

C-Rate

We don’t know the Chevrolet Silverado EV’s exact battery capacity, but assuming roughly 210 kWh for the purposes of estimation, we determined the C-rate to be about 1.6C. It’s not a high value, but it seems that electric pickups usually don’t have the highest C-rates.

Info: The C-rate indicates the correlation between the charging power and the battery pack capacity. A value of 1C would mean that the power value in kW is equal to the battery pack capacity in kWh and that at such power (current) rate, the battery would be fully recharged in 1 hour. The higher the C-rate, the higher the load on the battery and the faster it charges. A flat 2C would translate into a 30-minute charging session (0-100% SOC).

Charging Time

The charging session from 10 to 80% SOC took over 40.5 minutes. That’s a really good result considering the large battery pack.

Range Replenishing Rate

Considering the Chevrolet Silverado EV RST First Edition’s EPA range of 440 miles (and 441.4 miles in the 70 mph range test), its range replenishment rate peaks at over 10 miles per minute.

Chevrolet promised range replenishment of up to 100 miles in 10 minutes. Our test showed an average of 10.2 miles per minute over the first 10 minutes (or 102 miles of range replenished), which matches the specs.

The second 10-minute period was slightly slower (9.2 miles per minute), and after that, the charging rate dropped to several miles per minute.

Thanks to its very high charging power and a long range of 440 miles, the Chevrolet Silverado EV replenishes its range faster than the Kia EV9 we previously analyzed (which replenished at 8.4-8.6 miles/minute).

How Long To Add Driving Range

Alternatively, we could ask how long it would take to add a certain number of miles. Our test showed that the first 50 miles of driving range can be replenished in less than 5 minutes. After less than 10 minutes, the vehicle can drive another 100 miles.

To add 200 miles of range, the 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV RST First Edition needs to be plugged in for just about 20 minutes. After about 38 minutes, we should be able to go another 300 miles.

DC Fast-Charging Matrix

Now it’s time for the DC fast-charging matrix, which summarizes our first 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV RST First Edition test charging session. It lists several main parameters: time, average charging power, the number of replenished SOC percent points, kWh of battery capacity, and miles of EPA Combined range added between certain starting and final SOC points.

As we can see, the light/dark green and yellow colors were used to indicate the average power. The high proportion of green means that the session’s results were relatively stable.

Please remember that the results might differ depending on a variety of factors, including the starting point of the session (which could shift the charging curve), charger, temperatures (ambient, that of the charger and its cable, and battery), and car (exact version, age, battery state-of-health, and software version).

Summary of Our 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV RST DC Fast-Charging Analysis (10 to 80% SOC)

The 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV RST First Edition has pretty strong DC fast-charging capabilities with an average rate of almost 250 kW from 10 to 80% SOC. The test confirmed its ability to replenish 100 miles of range in 10 minutes, and we almost achieved its supposed 350-kW peak power (it seems that the charger was the bottleneck here, as the potential peak power was 360+ kW).

The charging curve had a nice initial plateau, but it was later hit by thermal throttling (thermal derating), which noticeably affected the results. It seemed that the fastest charging speed was only available for the first 20 minutes or so.

The key strong point of the Chevrolet Silverado EV is its huge battery, which is north of 200 kWh and has a combined EPA range of 440 miles. Because of that, it can replenish a lot of range very quickly — like 250+ miles in roughly half an hour, even though the pickup’s overall efficiency is far behind that of other electric cars.

It’s definitely one of the best DC fast-charging EVs on the market. In the next few weeks, we will analyze an additional 0-100% SOC charging session and compare the results to better understand what to expect.