You'll Be SHOCKED How Far a Chevy Silverado EV Can Tow vs a Gas Ford F-150! 

This is what people were expecting from the F-150 lightning. GM have done it. I tow a lot and i can tell you, 230 miles, going mostly 70mph, with a 8.5 feet wide long ass boxed trailer, is VERY impressive. For a 1st generation electric pick-up, it's promising great stuff for the future.

Good video guys, and it's impressive how far EVs have come in terms of battery size and charge speed. But I'd still choose a diesel for long distance towning.

This is the second legit video on milage with an EV truck. Both videos showing the same as gas on a per mile comparison, both trucks getting 1/2 of the normal range. But that 32+ equivalent MPG with the EV was very impressive. Since when did any truck get 32 MPG while towing! Great job TFLTruck!

Next time you guys do this, count the number of gas stations you go by while the EV driver is in panic mode. That is the real problem with EVs, not range anxiety, but charge availability anxiety.

I like the real world stuff you guys put out. Access to charging stations, convenience, shutting off the AC to increase range, etc. Good job.

I haven't watched one of your videos in quite a while, but I'm glad y'all are still doing good real world testing on new vehicles and giving EVs an honest review. It definitely has its downsides, especially for towing, but your no-nonsense review really helps to highlight both its pros and cons.

Wow! What a well produced video. I was thinking this is just like watching any other automobile magazine or specialty show out there. Great filming, great commentary, and awesome music where it really helps. And fantastic editing to polish it up. Nicely done TFL team!

That drive is fairly flat-ish, but the winds crossing those grasslands can be absolutely brutal. I did that tow in August with my 2024 Silverado 2500HD with the 6.6L gas and 10 speed and got like 6.5 MPG going 70 MPH with my travel trailer, which is similar in width and weight to these, but taller.

Awesome video TFL, thanks for making this.

Would be good to see a business use case total cost of ownership (TCO) analysis for the Silverado EV vs Silverado gas WT. For a construction business that tows trailers for equipment or materials, for instance.

Great comparison video! How long does it take to charge the Silverado from near empty with the different level charging stations?

Great job guys as always, love the road tests comparing the newest offerings in the truck market. One thing worth noting here: regardless of the vehicle platform, when you use these fast charging stations on any EV vehicle, you are putting a tremendous strain on the battery pack to receive such a high current of electricity, and that strain comes in the form of heat. Over time, such repeated use of these fast chargers will drastically shorten the life and usable life cycles of the battery pack. Further research and investigative work needs to be done to more clearly show what the expected drop in percentage of battery life is likely to occur.

That is very impressive, I have a 2019 Yukon with a 6500lbs travel trailer and I get about 200miles of range per tank. That is an impressive result!

Fascinating! My neighbor has a Lightning which he absolutely loves. We need to hook my enclosed trailer to it and do some experimenting before it starts getting cold 🥶

Thanks for testing.

A have owned a Dodge Ram 1500 for that past 16 years. I have pulled boats, jet skies, horses, lift equipment, landscape trailers, tractors, campers and more. I pull a trailer at least once a week for something. That said, maybe 5 times I have used my truck to pull further than 232 miles in one day. So I guess that means that I could have charged at home overnight the entire 16 years with only needing a charging station just the 5 times.

Wait a minute.....it would have cost the same amount to charge the EV as it did to fill the F150? Not sure why anyone would pick an EV if you tow. Thanks for the video to further support my decision to buy a gas truck last month!

Thanks for video. I understand going back to ranch to save money on charging. But it would have been nice to do a time comparison on how long it takes to charge to 100% vs filling up gas.

Great result! I have the same issue towing my boat behind my Bolt EV; I recently had to disconnect the boat, park it in a spot nearby, and then move the car into the EV charging spot. There were chargers nearby that would accommodate a car and a trailer, but unfortunately they were down at the time.

The thing where gasoline will always win is time. You can fill up easily in under 5 mins and continue on + there's no "planning" on where to fuel up, you fuel up when you need to at any random spot and there will be gas stations no matter where you are. I'd also like to see a test with an EV with alot more miles on it to see how much that effects the battery life. The Ford F-150 for example in this video had 65,000 miles. If the EV had 65,000 miles.. I imagine it would not go as far as it did, whereas obviously gasoline is not going to get reduced range over time like an EV would. Not to mention the insanely high costs of replacing one of those EV batteries.

I once owned an 07 Tundra with the 5.7. When it was fairly new I once towed a trailer similar to the ones you are towing from Wyoming to Texas. I was stopping every hundred miles to get gas. On the trip up to get the trailer I averaged 18 mpg, the trip home I averaged 4 mpg. That Chevy EV did a pretty good job.

F-150 Lighting Owner just sold it after 1 1/2 years of ownership. We have free electricity and we put 7600 miles not spending a dime till I sold it last week. We sold it for two reasons, Winter Loss, full charge was always 240+ miles, and 30f or colder turns to 170 on average. We have a property over 1 hour away we can make that easy in the summer towing 3000lbs on one charge. It's impossible in the winter as the only charger is 60 miles in the opposite direction of the stop. If you want heat it pulls roughly 5.1kw as much as 3-ton hvac, ac is 3.2kw. To get real-world testing both would need to be used during testing. We loved the truck it was so much fun to drive but the range plus winter made it a hard decision to keep.

That was a great video. Thank you for doing this new test with this new rig. I can't wait to see if the cybertruck can come anywhere close.

I talked to someone recently who is using an F150 Lightning as a work truck (construction) and loves it. They are able to use public chargers when needed but do the rest at home, where it's much cheaper. Except for long road trips, EV trucks are bound to be very popular. Over time I also think that towing giant camper trailers will be less popular.

You know what is funny I have watched Andre wait 30 seconds and then top off so many times know I do it. 😅😅😅 good morning TFL

Big fan. Love your videos. Add some hills, some normal non baby speeds , and colder temperatures and this would be tough. Especially because finding 150kw chargers is very hard to come by. You'd be motelling every 140 miles.

Excellent update.

Pretty amazing what the Silverado EV can do. I have a Rivian and have towed a ton. I like how the Rivian automatically halves the range when you go into tow mode and will go up if the drive is more efficient. I pull a pop up camper and the Rivian still gets 1.6-1.8 mi/kwh

Wow, I towed 10k from Missouri to NYS with a 2018 F150 EcoBoost 10 speed auto in 2018, and got 11mpg using premium fuel (with the AC on at times), driving almost exclusively in manual mode, and hypermiling as much as possible.

One of the thing literally no one talks about is the exponential increase in the cost of electricity if EVs become more prevalent. Every gallon of fuel has state and federal taxes. If fuel isn’t being utilized, where do you think those taxes will go? Now you don’t just pay more to drive, you pay more for using anything in your home.

Great Test!

A decent apples-to-apples comparison guys! Great work.

I've been waiting for this one!

This was a great video and really has me thinking about an EV truck now… Price is still a really big issue as this is a “work truck” and cost $70K… also it would be interesting to see another test with the 2024 F150 as they all come standard with the 36 gallon fuel tank… so how would that effect the comparison?? Great video and keep up the incredible work!! 👍

Proving what we could’ve learned on a piece of paper! Well done!

great video, thank you very much!

Love that Chevy is stepping it up on towing range! Can’t wait to see more testing on the Silverado EV. But seeing that the cost to charge the EV on the road is the same as filling a gas truck….still would absolutely stick to gas.

Wonder how well the EV would tow in the dead of winter stuck in a blizzard and how long the charge would last?

Please do the worlds toughest towing test! I want to see how GMs version of the electric truck does as I’m thinking this could be the truck for me (I’m also in CO … but not on the FR).

25:25 Silverado EV EPA hwy range 421mi (268mi towing.) F150 4WD 3.5L EPA hwy range 828mi (352mi towing.) Silverado EV EPA hwy economy 1.77 mi/kWh (1.13 mi/kWh towing.) 63.8% of EPA rating. F150 4WD 3.5L EPA hwy economy 23 MPG (9.8 MPG towing) 42.6% of EPA rating.

Too often the video shows the EV drafting the F150. How often did you switch who was leading? To be a fair comparison you would need 1/2 each way. Drafting makes a big difference regardless of gas or EV. Still an interesting video. For those of us with a bigger trailer/camper EVs are a long way from being acceptable. Not to mention the hassle and time of finding a charger that is available and working.

Getting there, towing capacity is good now, range is almost there. It's clearly close, and going to happen. Charging stations and batteries just need a bit more development. If I didn't need to tow all the time, I'd go for one now because I have enough solar that all my charging would be free in town, but most of my towing is rural long distance.

This is pretty exciting, we got 9-10mpg on our f150 and now get 9-10mpg on our Titan XD. The Titan has a 26gallon tank so we are used to stopping every 200-230miles, and with a newborn it’s mandatory to stop for a good bit. This is very cool, seeing we tow on the weekends and can charge for free at work, that’d free up 5k a year in fuel alone 😂

If you're driving east of Denver you're driving downhill overall too. I used to drive that route all the time and had a TDI. noticed a 5-10mpg change going east versus west on 70.

232 miles is quite impressive. It would've done 240 miles np. Interesting to see how it does during winter. Would love to see y'all do another EV Alaska trip, like what y'all have done with the F150 lightning. That's still my favorite series y'all have done so far. Anyway, this gives me a lot of hope for the future. Also, Roman was definitely right about the F150 lightning having too little of battery capacity. The F150 lightning was a rushed proof of concept compared to the EV Silverado, still a cool vehicle, and it has a lot of pros if you're ok with the obvious downsides.

I think a better comparison instead of cost to recharge/refuel, would be efficiency based on how well the trucks do unloaded vs loaded.

Great video! How long would it have taken to fully charge the Silverado at that high speed charger?

Have towed a fair bit with my X75D. Number one range killer is speed, much more of an impact than load in trailer. 75 mph (120 kmh) is faster than I tow, by a margin. You can significantly increase the range by reducing the speed to about 90 kmh (55 mph). You will increase your trip time obviously but if you're going 225 mile, you're adding an hour to your trip but you will get further, so it will take a little thought to decide between burning the range if it's a shorter tow planned vs running a longer distance to reduce charging needs. Of course, the ICE is being affected exactly the same way, we just don't notice it. Great video, keep up the amazing work.

Do the exact same test in cold temps/winter conditions. 😊

SPOILER ALERT : EV gets 50% of it's projected range towing 6500 pounds.

For road trips you gotta get used to keeping the battery low. In my Tesla I often get down to 3-5% on road trips and charge up to max 60% before leaving for the next supercharger, it makes traveling much faster as the charging is so much faster at the low battery SOC.

Great comparison with lots of usable information... The only thing I wish we could have found out was how long that Silverado took to charge until it was full on the commercial fast charger.

You guys blew it by not filling at the charge station to give us the total KW to full as well as time. Total time to fill is a super important metric that was omitted from your otherwise interesting video.

I am honestly very impressed with the towing range the Silverado EV was able to get but the charging infrastructure and speeds are going to have to get a LOT more comparable before it’s going to even come close to making sense to me (IMHO).

Thanks for the video! Very informational. I'm planning to buy an EV truck, but not for towing. I do need to carry things in the truckbeds from time to time. 400 miles per charge is good enough for me because most (if not all) of my work is local. It doesn't make sense to tow with an EV. You will be looking for a charger every 2 hours that's bad feeling.

Really helpful review

When I lived in Colorado (up until 7 years ago) they had some of the cheapest gas in the nation, Here in PA we're about 30 cents cheaper now.

This was absolutely an amazing video! Thanks for doing this one!

finally hitting that line eh? pretty cool to see

Superb test

24:57 Just FYI, but the $0.48 per kWh is the non-membership rate. Because the membership can be cancelled at any time and it pays for itself after the first 60 kWh or so, it's really a no-brainer. So the cost for the Silverado EV charging up on an Electrify America charger should be about 30% less than what the F-150 cost you to fill up.

Thank you for calculating the eMPG and kWh for comparison. The EV is 4X more efficient, which is more than I expected and represents the best test I've yet seen of real-world, high-drag application of ICE and BEV powertrains. Yes, the EV has less range and will not be a top choice for long-distance towing simply due to the location, time, and parking penalties of charging, but this comparison tells me that BEVs are becoming more competitive faster than I thought.

Great video!

19:28 . . . That's exactly how I remember I-76 looking, when driving from North Platte to Denver several times, on drives from Niagara Falls to Los Angeles. A pretty lonely and desolate part of Colorado, especially close to the Nebraska border.

Also gotta note that F150 had the 36 gallon extended range tank (optional), if it was the standard 26 gallon Andre would have been pretty close to the same range. However I do feel it’s a fair matchup as the Silverado EV had its max battery pack. Just an interesting note.

Great video, and the first to show real world EV truck towing range that is getting closer to being truly functional for haulers like me who pull my large horses to events. The 8000 pound weight is a realistic test, and the added stability with the heavier EV is a decided plus I can really appreciate now since I sold enhanced F-250 diesel and my 34' LQ 3-horse trailer. By comparison to my effortless towing experiences with that setup, my F-150 Platinum with extra towing equipment/capacity does NOT comfortably pull my loaded 2-horse tall/wide bumper pull trailer-with on paper is 1/3 to 1/2 my truck's spec towing capacity-without a notable feeling of heavy weight behind and, worse, uncomfortable buffeting, especially when semi-trucks and even big vans pass. On the negative side, EV battery charging stations and networks are a long way from even adequate for my needs. I can not have *any* range issues or problems pulling in a station towing a trailer or taking too long to recharge with horses--or even worse getting stuck with dead batteries on the side of the road somewhere or at an event overnight. So I'm getting encouraged about the progress with EV trucks but they seem far from adequate for my needs for the foreseeable future.

All of our small towns Sinclair in Oklahoma closed up.. one day open. Next windows boarded up.

Great to see an apples to apples comparison! I was very frustrated reading early reviews of towing with EVs where the reviewers acted like it was shocking the range dropped in half. This is what happens when towing with gas as well. EVs have their issues but it is, in my mind, more an issue of convenience than unexpected incapability.

A single cab long bed for city construction or local suburb would ideal. Keep these range and power numbers and get a decent payload and they got something for sure. Charging for 20 bucks at home vs 100 in gas is a real fast way to recoup money as well. Not perfect but looks like they are getting closer.

Love driving our Bolt EUV, but no way I’m replacing my F150 gasser with a truck EV

That's pretty awesome. 230+ miles towing on the highway and 360+ kW charging. That's really impressive 👍

It's not about the first tank or charge. It's about not having to sit and wait for the second.

It would be really interesting for you to get a quote to replace the motor and tranny on the f150 and then a quote to replace the battery and 4 drive motors on the gm. The average person will have to finance a truck over 84 months and would also be interesting to see the payment cost, taxes, energy cost and insurance cost. Do you think the 475 mile range on the Gm would still hold true after 2 years of use? Thank you

So if you didn’t go home to complete the charge it would have cost the same to charge up as to fill the gas truck plus the time it takes to charge? I would not want to pull that trailer cross country with an EV.

Thank you for a practical and honest review of an EV truck experience. I think many RU-vidrs tend to love snatching headlines by bashing on EVs. EV s in their current state aren't for everyone, but people seem to forget that gas engines have evolved a lot...gas engines are smaller, have more power, and use less fuel than they ever have before...but it took some time to get here. Not saying the short comings of EVs aren't real, just that we have to have the perspective that these are the early days. Well done.

This was a great comparison. Also, I'd love to know about your radios... what HT models you use, are they gmrs? Etc...

And when you factor in the cost of the EV, it's cost per mile is way more expensive than a ICE. The one factor no one ever seems to factor into the equation is time. Waiting 30 minutes to charge on a fast charger vs say 6-8 minutes at a gas station. Saying you only put enough of a charge into the truck at the charging station which has a higher cost per KW and charge the remainder at home at a cheaper rate doesn't account for the lost time. The ICE can keep going and going and going with 6-8 minute stops to fill up vs. 30 minutes at a fast charger, or longer at slower chargers. I just don't see the value in a EV yet. I do see the value in hybrid vehicles, I own 2, a 2012 Prius and a 2019 Camry. The Prius has 280k + miles and still going strong on the same batteries. Only getting around 46 mpg now vs the 51 mpg I used to get when it wasn't so long in the tooth. The Hybrid Camry is getting 55+ on a regular basis (got 57.5 on a 200+ mile trip a couple of weeks ago), and is at 60k+ miles now. BTY, I also have a F-350 DWR CC 4x4 diesel. I thing hybrids are the answer for now, and can see hydrogen vehicles with electric engines as a long term answer in the future. Hydrogen eliminates the issues with disposing of a bunch of used batteries (which no one ever wants to discuss), and there will still be the same issue of developing filling stations for your car to fill up at. At least with hydrogen the fill up time is comparable to filling up with gas or diesel today. Thanks for the side by side comparison, much better than what you got with the Ford F-150.

I recently saw, on Transport Evolved, a semi trailer with extra batteries and its own drive train. I'm looking forward to camping trailers set up for small EVs to tow set up that way.

Good video!

i'm 16m in. this is why battery size really matters. towing 6500 lbs he used 32% of the battery to go over 80 miles. this is what people don't understand about batteries. a battery pack that is twice the size at low discharge rates (no towing in this case) lasts twice as long as a battery 1/2 its capacity. but at high dischage rates (towing) the small battery's individual cell discharge rate is so high they run into their own internal resistance. a battery twice the size doesn't. under high dischage rates a battery twice the size lasts MORE than twice what the battery 1/2 its size does. thats why this truck is going to go ALOT farther on a charge than the f-150 EV did.

wow - genuinely impressed with the Silverado EV towing numbers!!

Great video, glad the EV did well . Still way to much , especially for a work truck .

That was a good comparison!

Great insight, thanks for the video. I’ve only driven a EV for a weekend as a loaner at MBZ and the butt pucker is real when you don’t know if you can make it to your destination. Also, don’t know if different video equipment was being used, but the background road noise seemed louder in the EV compared to the 150.

impressive how much more efficient the EV is at using energy to move down the road vs gasoline When paired with the ability to generate your own power via solar and store at your own house in batteries this becomes a really really efficient way to get around

At the end for the comparison I would also include the price and the efficiency if you charge the EV with the fast charger because it would be about the same 9 MPG or so as the gas. It is a bit misleading only including the price to charge at your house since you discussed using a DC fast charger for a trip at the end of the video if your truck could fit. Also I would include the charge time to full since this will be very significant.

God Bless TFL!

When in an ev truck, if you use cruise control, when it lets of and slows down does it regenerate or apply brakes?

How long did it take to recharge at the EA station?

You should add in time it took to fuel up vs time charging as well.

You can get some other interesting figures if you connect a ODBII reader and a car scanner app. Things like current power draw. Which lets you also check things like how much power does the AC or heater use. The AC in a Ford Escape actually doesn't use much, between 600-1200W (max A/C is closer to 5KW).

Nice job with this one! So interesting how having a few years of EV experience has changed how you communicate these comparisons. 200+ miles towing is amazing, now need pull through stations!

Compared to the Ford F150 Lightning where they towed something like a 9500 lbs Airstream (88 miles towing), the 200+ mile range of the Chevy EV is VERY GOOD! The difference in size aka aerodynamic square footage versus these smaller trailers DOES make a difference BUT it does show the Ultium battery pack is really really good on the all-EV Chevy! Ford will need to UPDATE the battery formulations on their F150 Lightning signficiantly in order to match this excellent towing range! V

Problem is that when more vehicles go electric the gas tax income will drop significantly, so in order to maintain that income the price of charging your vehicle will increase.

That battery must be so large. This truck should come with its own fire brigade.

One question I have is when the Silverado goes into an aggressive regenerative braking do the brake lights come on to prevent you from being rear ended? fI would have been curious to have seen how long it took to completely charge up using that DC fast charger.

Great video. Would have liked to see time to full charge as well. That would have given a real world experience.

230 miles is workable. Having to drop the trailer SUCKS but if it was only once per direction that would be livable as well. The price tag of the truck, however, is way out of my league. Thanks for sharing.

Great result!

Hey, TFL guys! What is your take on about the 3.0L Baby Duramax compared to the EV trucks in the half ton segment? Would love to see a comparison video. It seems like no one has really compared them head to head for daily use, trips, towing, and overall all usability, just talk. All the companies are pushing the EVs. Ram and Ford stopped their production on their small liter diesel engines. But GM are still producing and working on their small liter diesel engines (for now.) GM’s diesel trucks are cheaper then a comparable EV trucks. Are the EV trucks really worth getting if you use your truck as a truck? I know the EVs are the future we are headed towards and they are improving the battery and charging capabilities. I would love to see a true head to head comparison. I believe the TFL crew does a great job of comparing and showcasing vehicle capabilities. I understand companies only allowing you a certain amount of time with the vehicles and you can’t choose a specific vehicle all the time. Have a great weekend, and keep up the good work! One more thing. Why not a diesel hybrid? Like diesel powered, but the battery and motor will help. Toyota, Ford, Ram etc. has hybrids but for their gas vehicles, why not diesel hybrid?