Chevy Silverado EV’s Least Expensive Trim Will Now Cost over $50K

• The Chevy Silverado EV Work Truck (WT) will have a base price around $52K when the retail version eventually goes on sale.
• Chevy was previously taking pre-orders for the WT on its consumer site, with the starting price then listed at just under $42,000.
• The fleet-only Silverado EV 4WT starts at $79,800, and the $106,895 RST First Edition for consumers arrives this fall; Chevy says more affordable models will follow.

Electric pickup trucks are becoming easier to come by, but as we’ve already seen with the Ford F-150 Lightning’s countless price hikes, automakers are finding that keeping costs down isn’t quite as easy. The new Chevy Silverado EV is the latest example, with its claimed base price rising about $10,000 to over $50K before it even hits dealer lots.

Missed Target

Earlier this year, Chevy was accepting $100 deposits to pre-order the electric Silverado on its consumer site. At the time, the starting price was listed at $39,900 before the destination fee, which, when added, would push its MSRP closer to $42K. While recently attending the first drive of the fleet-specific Silverado EV 4WT, we heard from Chevy’s Global Vice President Scott Bell who said the company no longer thinks it can meet that initial target.

That nugget of information is corroborated by updated pricing for the Silverado EV that’s listed on Chevy’s media site. It now states the retail version of the truck will start at $50,000, with the $1895 estimated destination charge pushing the total to $51,895. Since the WT variant is the entry-level model, that’s likely its new base price. Car and Driver reached out to a Chevy spokesperson for confirmation and further comment on what lead to the price hike, but we’ve yet to hear back.

Other Silverado EVs Priced

The fleet-only Chevy Silverado EV 4WT is the first to launch, and it carries a starting price of $79,800. A less expensive 3WT version with lower estimated range (350 miles versus the 4WT’s 450 miles) will follow soon, but it too is limited to fleet customers. Sometime this fall, the Silverado EV RST First Edition will become available to consumers, but it’ll carry a hefty price tag of $106,895. It won’t be until after that when more affordable models will go on sale, according to Chevy.

Along with the WT, the Silverado EV will be offered in Trail Boss and other yet-to-be-revealed trim levels. Chevy currently says starting prices will range “from $50,000, $60,000, $70,000, $80,000, and more.” Of course, it remains to be seen if any of those pricing targets will rise before the trucks start reaching dealerships.

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Senior Editor

Eric Stafford’s automobile addiction began before he could walk, and it has fueled his passion to write news, reviews, and more for Car and Driver since 2016. His aspiration growing up was to become a millionaire with a Jay Leno–like car collection. Apparently, getting rich is harder than social-media influencers make it seem, so he avoided financial success entirely to become an automotive journalist and drive new cars for a living. After earning a journalism degree at Central Michigan University and working at a daily newspaper, the years of basically burning money on failed project cars and lemon-flavored jalopies finally paid off when Car and Driver hired him. His garage currently includes a 2010 Acura RDX, a manual ’97 Chevy Camaro Z/28, and a ’90 Honda CRX Si.