Motor Trend - USA (2020-04)

I

f Ford’s playing, by golly, so is the

General. Actually, GM may well have

initiated its e-truck engineering efforts

before Ford but held the announcement

for use as a UAW bargaining chip during

contract negotiations (production keeps

GM’s Detroit-Hamtramck plant running).

GM’s strategy includes a platform archi-

tecture in three sizes to support utility

vehicles and pickups for three brands.

Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC are

expected to get these new products,

which launch in 2021, with the Cadillac

making its debut first. A Silverado-sized

Chevy will be based on the largest of

GM’s three electric platforms and rival

the claimed capabilities of the Rivian/

Ford/Tesla competition. The second truck,

on the middle-size platform, will be an

off-road lifestyle vehicle branded Hummer

and sold through GMC dealers. That one

will be an electric Jeep Gladiator

alternative in terms of style

and capability.

Nomenclature is uncertain. If any GMC

badging appears on the Hummer, we

expect something like a subscript “by

GMC.” And Chevy might well eschew

Silverado nomenclature and follow its

pattern of giving EVs vaguely electric-

sounding names. No powertrain or

chassis specifics have been divulged

yet. It’s tempting to imagine that an easy

and expedient initial powertrain solution

would be to attach a Bolt EV motor to

each axle—or to each wheel for Rivian-

besting torque vectoring. (The Chevrolet

E-10 SEMA concept pickup shown in

November was powered by two Bolt EV

motors, but they were ganged together

as an eCrate concept electric retrofit

package that bolts to a conventional

automatic transmission.)

Because the duty cycles are so

different between the compact Bolt EV

Renders: Avavarii

This speculative illustration presumes

a design that trades heavily on F- 150

styling themes, but Ford could as

easily head in a radically different

design direction, given the truck’s

unique underpinnings.

and a pickup truck (and electric motors

are relatively inexpensive to develop),

we instead expect a more bespoke

approach. A two-speed gearbox

enabling low range would boost the

Hummer’s off-road cred. We’d also like to

see EV pioneer GM revert to the EV1’s AC

induction technology for the front motor

so that during low-load cruising it can

idle without producing drag as a perma-

nent-magnet rear motor does the work.

Like all other electric pickups on our

radar, GM’s will feature independent

suspension front and rear. Electric truck

buyers who insist on leaf springs and

a live rear axle are going to have to

build it themselves using that Chevrolet

Performance eCrate solution. We would

expect the Chevy to use steel springs

and the Hummer to go with height-ad-

justable air springs.

ELECTRIC PICKUPS

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