Chevrolet Silverado EV RST Has the Goodies Tesla Cybertruck Owners Only Dreamed About

When Tesla unveiled the Cybertruck in 2019, the shiny stainless-steel pickup looked like nothing on Earth. Even if it were as dull as a Ford F-150 Lightning, Tesla fans would've cheered it as the most revolutionary vehicle ever made. But the Cybertruck was anything but boring, with an otherworldly shape and incredible features that sparked people's imagination. Most importantly, it was the first electric pickup truck (or so everyone thought), promising to replace some of the most polluting vehicles in North America with clean equivalents.

However revolutionary the Cybertruck was, Tesla had a hard time delivering on its promises. The 2020 pandemic and the supply chain disruptions that followed also forced Tesla to delay the production start. The fact that Elon Musk kept changing the Cybertruck configuration and adding new features didn't help either. The Cybertruck debut slipped further with every modification until nobody believed the stainless steel pickup would ever start production.

This allowed other carmakers to start their own electric pickup truck programs, with Rivian and Ford launching the R1T and F-150 Lightning in 2021. When Tesla finally started deliveries of the Cybertruck in November 2023, it arrived in an already crowded market. With a much lower range than advertised and an eye-watering price, the Cybertruck looked doomed to fail. However, the Cybertruck didn't fail and soon became a status symbol for many celebrities willing to pay more than double the price to get one before the guy next door.

This doesn't mean that the Cybertruck is great. Maybe celebrities care about having the latest Tesla truck, but regular buyers are less impressed by the Cybertruck's shortcomings. These range from software problems to build quality issues and even some parts breaking. However, most owners complained about the limited range compared to what Tesla promised. The lackluster charging performance is also a concern, making the Cybertruck less fit for road trips.

As more carmakers release their electric pickups, Cybertruck loses its appeal. It may still look like science fiction, but other pickups may be better suited as daily drivers or workhorses. The latest to arrive in the segment is the Chevrolet Silverado EV RST, which will start deliveries later this summer. The Silverado EV is already available to buy as a work truck variant, but the passenger truck is what most people want to buy.

Chevrolet surprised everyone by announcing better specifications and a lower price than its original estimates. More than that, some of these specifications are superior to those of the Tesla Cybertruck. This is a painful reminder that Tesla failed to do its part when launching the Cybertruck. This is why many compare the Chevy Silverado EV RST with the Tesla Cybertruck.

Although the two pickups land in the same ballpark as far as pricing is concerned, they are there for different reasons. Tesla started deliveries at higher prices than announced in 2019, and it made the Cybertruck even more expensive by beginning with the Foundation Series models. These are fully-specced pickups with almost every option in the configurator, including FSD and free Supercharger access for life. On the other hand, Chevrolet lowered the price of the Silverado EV RST to $94,500, supposedly to undercut the Cybertruck.

The cheapest Foundation Series Cybertruck you could buy was the AWD model, at $99,990, which goes almost neck-to-neck with the Chevrolet Silverado EV RST in terms of performance and features. For this money, you get a dual-motor configuration with 600 horsepower and a 0-60 time of 4.1 seconds. The Silverado EV, on the other hand, boasts 754 horsepower but still needs 4.5 seconds to reach 60 mph (97 kph) from a standstill. This speaks volumes about the Chevy pickup's weight, which features a much larger battery pack.

The Silverado EV RST is a conventional pickup truck with an electric powertrain, similar to the Ford F-150 Lightning in this regard. It ticks all the boxes regarding truck features but doesn't feature cutting-edge technologies like the Cybertruck. Tesla pickup truck comes with rear-wheel steering, a 48-volt electrical system, and steer by wire, among other things. It's also made of stainless steel, making it immune to rusting and dings, which are par for the course for pickup trucks.

However, the Silverado EV might be a more practical choice when it comes to the truck stuff. Whereas the Cybertruck doesn't have dedicated space for a spare wheel in the bed, the Chevy pickup comes with the famous Multi-Flex Midgate and Multi-Flex Tailgate. These innovative features allow a lot of flexibility, expanding the bed length up to 11 feet (3,353 mm) from 5' 11" (1,803 mm) with the tailgate and midgate closed. To its credit, the Cybertruck has a longer bed to begin with (6 feet/1,829 mm), but its configuration is less flexible.

The Cybertruck has a slight edge on towing thanks to its 11,000-pound towing capacity. However, the Silverado EV RST is not far behind, at 10,000 pounds. We still don't have towing range tests done for the Chevy, but tests showed that electric pickups tend to lose about half the advertised range when towing. Given the larger capacity of the Silverado EV RST battery pack, it would likely lose less range when towing than the Cybertruck.

Speaking of which, it's worth reminding you that the Silverado EV RST features a 200-kWh battery pack. This dwarfs the Cybertruck's 123-kWh battery, bringing new pains to Cybertruck owners. Thanks to the bigger battery, the Chevrolet Silverado EV RST can go up to 440 miles on a range, according to GM's estimates. However, in a recent test, Zack Nelson, who runs the popular JerryRigEverything YouTube channel, managed 460 miles before depleting the truck's battery.

This is indeed impressive, considering that the Cybertruck AWD has 340 miles of range. However, the Cybertruck is much more efficient. Rough calculations show that it could theoretically go over 550 miles on a charge with a 200-kWh battery. Similarly, if the Silverado EV RST had a 123-kWh battery, its estimated range would've been 270 miles.