Ford F-150 Lightning vs Chevy Silverado EV

We’re living in an entirely new era of automobiles. Sure, gasoline-powered vehicles still take up a majority of the road today, but we’re starting to see this gradual shift in favor of electric vehicles. EVs started small when first appearing in the market, typically reserved for sedans. However, the thought of bringing a machine as large as a pickup truck into the future of EVs was one that manufacturers worked hard to achieve. The challenge was obvious – how could you achieve a level of power similar to gasoline-powered trucks, towing and all, while running exclusively on electricity? Today, we have exactly that. At DePaula Ford, your Troy Ford dealership, we offer Ford’s fully-electric truck, the F-150 Lightning, and we’ll answer your questions about how this Ford EV stacks up against the upcoming Chevy Silverado EV – Chevy’s answer to the F-150 Lightning.

The F-150 Lightning and Silverado EV share similar qualities with their gasoline-powered siblings, enough to make the experience familiar to seasoned truck drivers. Meanwhile, the differences a fully-electric pickup truck offers make the experience unique enough to feel as if the wheel has been reinvented. All of the changes made are done in the name of convenience, and if you want a pickup truck as intelligent as the computer in your home or the phone in your pocket, then modern-day EVs will give you that. Of course, the performance each truck offers will be something that drivers will want to know, but EV trucks have more to offer than only that. For example, EV trucks such as the F-150 Lightning and Silverado EV allow for more cargo space than your traditional pickup truck because there’s no huge engine. That’s just one example, however, and there’s much to discuss, so let’s get started.

Shocking, We Know

Well, the first thing we must point out is this – the F-150 Lightning is available right now. If you want a Silverado EV, you’ll be stuck waiting a while. See, the 2024 Silverado EV is going to be the first of its kind within its lineup, nestling itself firmly between the Bolt EV and Bolt EUV the manufacturer has released before. The F-150 Lightning, on the other hand, not only had the edge in regards to its release date, but it currently leaves this truck unmatched for the next year or so. What this means is that F-150 owners have the benefit of not having to wait any longer, which is important for people who need a truck right now, not next year.

Something Chevy has normally done well is developing engines, and this doesn’t apply to electric vehicles, resulting in a learning experience plagued with growing pains. You may have heard of this, but as of 2022, every Chevy EV vehicle has been recalled. No, this doesn’t affect the Silverado EV, and that’s because it isn’t out yet. However, Bolt EV and EUV owners have learned the hard way that Chevy should stick to what it knows best, and that’s gas-guzzling engines. Ford has been working on electric vehicles for far longer, and the results have been less disastrous, to put it lightly.

As far as the performance of the 2022 F-150 Lightning and Silverado EV goes, the Silverado EV is expected to show some stronger qualities, but that doesn’t necessarily translate to a more capable experience. Plus, with the F-150 Lightning being available here at DePaula Ford right now as opposed to waiting another year and a half to get yourself a Silverado EV, then the argument doesn’t hold much weight for Chevy here.

Real-World Performance

Looking at the real-world performance of these two electric trucks proves the experience is relatively similar for the cost, leaving Chevy’s upcoming EV with not much to be desired. The Silverado EV will be available in two configurations, much like the F-150 Lightning’s Standard and Extended-Range models, both of which operate with AWD. At the base level, the Silverado EV is expected to output 510 hp and 615 lb-ft of torque along with a maximum towing capacity of 8,000 lbs. The base configuration of the F-150 Lightning supports 426 hp and a much stronger 775 lb-ft of torque. The towing capacity between the two is relatively similar, with 7,700 lbs for the F-150 Lightning and 8,000 lbs for the Silverado EV. This is only a 3.9% increase for the Silverado EV, but payload tells a far different story. Ford’s EV supports 2,000 lbs of weight against Chevy’s 1,200 lbs, which is a far greater 66.6% increase.

Both trucks do offer an alternative for extra performance, including the aforementioned Extended-Range F-150 Lightning, and the Silverado EV offers a different variant of its pre-existing powertrain. With these upgrades, the F-150 Lightning produces 563 hp and 775 lb-ft of torque, and the Silverado EV has 664 hp and 780 lb-ft of torque. The horsepower doesn’t matter as much if you’re going to be towing because, in these configurations, both trucks will tow an equal 10,000 lbs. However, the F-150 still has the advantage in payload capacity, which sits at 1,800 lbs against the Silverado EV’s 1,300 lbs.

Other features you should expect include onboard power generators built into the bed of each truck. Leaving the external generators behind is a quality-of-life feature on many modern-day trucks, and EV owners won’t have to miss out. While the F-150 Lightning may lack some of the neat features found on the Silverado EV’s multi-flex tailgate, the F-150 Lightning’s tailgate has some tricks up its sleeve, such as either an easy-lift tailgate or a power-operated one that can move both up and down.

For those who may not have known, EV trucks have something that your traditional engine-powered truck doesn’t – a frunk. The frunk gives drivers extra cargo space within the void that an engine would normally reside in. A frunk gives EV trucks the best of both worlds – you get the spacious bed, and you get a traditional trunk in the front of your vehicle. The frunk inside of the F-150 Lightning is 14.1 cu.ft., and while the official measurements for the Silverado EV have not been made public just yet, it’ll be hard to compete with Ford’s spacious offering.

Don’t Wait Another Day

Traditionally speaking, you’d expect an upcoming vehicle that’s being hyped up as much as the Silverado EV to far exceed what you can already get on the market today. The F-150 Lightning will give you the fully-fledged EV truck experience, the cost will be similar, but best of all, you can get it today. Why would you wait longer to receive a similar product at a similar cost, even if there are a few advantages? It’s also worth considering that once the Silverado EV releases, the F-150 Lightning will have had enough time to mature on the market, and Ford will continue to build upon the knowledge it acquired during its development.

By comparison, there may be a few growing pains that we aren’t even aware of yet that can plague the overall experience for the first wave of Silverado EV owners. Nobody likes recalls, and as we’ve already seen in the past, Chevy EVs don’t fare well in this regard as is. With that in mind, it’s an obvious winner as to who is more ahead of the game with EVs in general, and we’ve got the Ford F-150 Lighting here at DePaula Ford.