Chevrolet, like many other automakers, has plans to come out with an electric pickup truck. To compete against trucks from Ford, GMC, Rivian, and Tesla, the Chevrolet Silverado EV will arrive with a nifty feature that will make it easier to drive: four-wheel steering. With GMC going to extreme lengths to market the Hummer EV’s rear-axle-steering system, we’re surprised to hear that Chevy hasn’t come up with a catchy name.
The Silverado pickup truck has come with four-wheel steering before. Chevy launched its Quadrasteer system in 2002, so it’s not exactly new. For its upcoming all-electric pickup truck, though, it doesn’t look like Chevrolet will come out with a marketable name for the system. But it’s hardly surprising to see the feature come to the pickup truck, since the GMC Hummer EV offers a similar feature.
Four-wheel steering can be found on a wide range of vehicles that include sports cars to pickup trucks. The whole point of rear-wheel steering is to improve a vehicle’s turning radius at low speeds and increase stability at high speeds. In a parking lot, four-wheel steering will slightly turn the rear wheels in the opposite direction of the front wheels to allow the driver to make much sharper turns. Chevrolet also claims that the four-wheel-steering system brings “great trailering dynamics.”
From the short teaser video above that Chevy put out on the Silverado EV’s four-wheel-steering system, it doesn’t look like it will be as advanced as the GMC Hummer EV’s Crab Walk mode or the River R1T’s tank-turn feature. The former allows the GMC Hummer EV to move diagonally, while the latter allows the R1T to spin around in the dirt like a tank. Chevrolet’s system looks like it will simply allow the Silverado EV to make tight circles. That’s not a bad thing and it makes sense for Chevy to give GMC some space to have a more advanced system.
The only other thing we can see from the video is that the Silverado EV will be available with 24-inch wheels. They’re massive and look incredibly sporty. Hopefully, these set the tone for the rest of the pickup truck.
Interest in electric pickup trucks has boomed recently. Numerous automakers are looking to enter the scene with capable, high-tech, and powerful electric vehicles. Multiple automakers are looking to get their electric pickups on the road by 2021, though the highly anticipated Tesla Cybertruck has been delayed to at least 2022.
We don’t know a lot about the Silverado EV, but the pickup truck will be available in multiple configurations, be powered by General Motors’ Ultium batteries, and have a range of up to 400 miles. We expect production of the Silverado EV to begin in 2023.