Chevrolet Silverado EV The Longest-Range EV in Canadian Cold-Weather Testing

If you’re looking for an electric vehicle (EV) that will take you far no matter how low the mercury drops, the Chevrolet Silverado EV is your best bet, according to a new study from the Quebec branch of the Canadian Automobile Association (CAA). The test saw 13 EVs take off from Ottawa en route to Quebec City, with drivers instructed to keep going until the battery could move them no more.

Annoyingly, while other EVs started with a 100 per cent charge, the Silverado EV did not. Instead, it started its test with a 73 per cent state of charge, requiring the CAA to estimate its full range. However, based on its performance in the test, the group estimated that the Silverado EV would have gone 456 km — the only other vehicle to surpass 400 km in the test was the Tesla Model 3, which went 410 km.

Looking deeper into the data only makes the pickup truck's performance more impressive, though. Whereas the sedan's range fell 29 per cent from its official estimate of 584 km, per Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), the Silverado EV lost only 14 per cent of its 724 km range, as estimated by the government organization. As a result, the Chevrolet was the best-performing EV in terms of sheer distance and was tied for first in terms lost range. The Polestar 2’s range also dropped by 14 per cent in CAA testing, and it achieved the third-longest distance of 384 km.

By contrast, the closely-related Volvo XC40 Recharge was the worst performer in terms of both distance travelled and relative range loss. The Swedish crossover could only go 248 km in this test, 39 per cent less than the official estimates suggest it should. The Toyota bZ4X was a close second-last, achieving a distance of 255 km, 37 per cent less than the NRCan estimate.

CAA Quebec Winter Range Test

*Chevrolet Silverado EV started test at 73 per cent state of charge.

**Ford F-150 Lightning started test at 89 per cent state of charge.

Note, while the Kia EV6 participated in this test, it suffered an issue and reliable results could not be gathered. However, the results of its performance on the charging test have been included below.

Charging Speeds Matter, Too

In addition to testing range, the CAA also looked at how much range each vehicle could recoup in 15 minutes of fast-charging. In this test, the Tesla Model 3 came out on top, earning its driver an extra 205 km of range in a quarter of an hour. The Silverado EV came second, and the Chevrolet Equinox EV came third. Meanwhile, the Kia EV9 was the quickest to charge from 10 to 80 per cent state of charge with its time of 33 minutes. The Volkswagen ID.4 came second (34 minutes) and the Tesla Model 3 came third (37 minutes). It took the majority of the vehicles between 40 and 46 minutes to charge from 10 to 80 per cent, but the Toyota bZ4X fared particularly poorly spending 92 minutes at the charging station in this test.

CAA Quebec reports that during its test, temperatures varied from -7 to -15 °C and that factors such as regenerative braking, heating, and seat-heating were set to the same settings across all vehicles.

While all vehicles (regardless of powertrain) become less efficient when the weather is cold, EV owners report that they are preoccupied by winter range losses. According to a CAA study, 53 per cent of EV drivers say they prefer to drive their gas-powered vehicle on long journeys when the weather is cold, and 67 per cent of them say that shrinking range is a concern when the weather is very cold.

CAA Quebec Winter Charging Test

Note: The Honda Prologue's results were excluded from the charging test due to an issue.