[Tom E-Tron]

Does anyone have an idea when we will get to see some images of the Sierra EV? @Tom E-Tron had made some guesses before. I am just curious, and wondering if they will accelerate its release closer to the SilveradoE, or do you think that it's time line will be about the same from initial showing to release. Being as they will be close cousins and probably share a lot throughout the platform, it seems like they could release it sooner (if they wanted to), but maybe they want the SilveradoE to have a year or so to itself for marketing against Ford's Lighting or something.

I have heard it will be soon, before the end of the year

 

[Tom E-Tron]

LA Auto show next month is a good possibility.

That was one thought I had, but GM has been introducing Ultium products about a year before production, Blazer and Equinox, exactly a year before production, and I am showing Sierra EV will start production 10-2-2023, so the announcement could be any day now...

 

[Tom E-Tron]

Silverado is March '23 and debuted in January at CES so things can move around. If anything they might do an online unveil this month with first the in-person showing at LA.

GM had a major presentation at CES, so obviously they will adjust debut schedules, but the LA auto show is not a huge Sierra market, and last year GMC was not even at the LA show.

 

[Tom E-Tron]

Maybe GM's goal is to see how long they can keep it from leaking.

I have already heard its really cool, but no pics yet

 

[Tom E-Tron]

Well the only Sierra being announced shortly is the HD this Thursday.

Ya, Gm and ford playing poker on HD's, right now GM is crushing Ford is HD pickup sales, and its not even close. Hard to believe Ford used to have over 75% USA marketshare in that segment, and GM had less then 5% in 2000, The Duramax has done wonders for GM in the HD segment, as right now GM has leading HD marketshare of over 40%, Ford struggling to stay above 30%

 

[Tom E-Tron]

Okay I watched both the first reveal video and this recent one for the Sierra, already the frontend has gone through some changes.

The front end they tease in that FB post might not actually be the Denali

New video:
View attachment 3334
old video:

old video:
View attachment 3335
View attachment 3338

new video:
View attachment 3336
View attachment 3337

Excited for next week, I think this is ultimately the EV Truck I want.

 

[Tom E-Tron]

According to Inside EVs GM is partnering with NTWRK for a total of 6 reveals that day.

do you ever get the feeling GMC is trying to out Rivian, Rivian? I see them pushing hard for this lifestyle vibe...

 

[Tom E-Tron]

Baby Hummer SUT confirmed? Hadn't considered them doing that but it'd make sense to try to get the midsize market too.

Midsize GM EV trucks coming in 2026, built in your neighborhood.

 

[Tom E-Tron]

I wonder if the sail panel exists in the Silverado to allow for the midgate.... If the Sierra doesn't have one maybe it doesn't have a midgate so the wall behind the 2nd row is thinner.

Sail panel is to brace the roof structure into the unibody, all unibody pickups have something like that.

 

[Tom E-Tron]

👀
View attachment 3427

I like it so far

 

[Tom E-Tron]

👀
View attachment 3427

How is it that generation after generation the GMC's look so much better then Chevrolet? I think the GMC Denali EV will have huge demand, makes the F150 Lighting look old fashioned.

 

[Tom E-Tron]

Surprised it's so slow to 60. Expected they might have left a little in the tank to differentiate from the Silverado there but eh, gotta encourage people to buy the Hummer somehow.

I suspect going to be around 4.2 seconds, plenty quick

 

[Tom E-Tron]

I got my reservation in... I really like this truck, and some aspects better than the Hummer.... But I think that I would take the Hummer over it if they were both available at the same time and I could only choose one...

Same here, I like it way better then the Hummer, will be quiet and refined, my Hummer will be moving on soon.

 

[Tom E-Tron]

5:47 talks about the infotainment and how it works.

GM's demonstration of infotainment and the actual operation in the real world is different. Hummer is literally the slowest I have ever seen in any modern vehicle, its embarassingly slow when demonstrating functions. Many times I think I missed a press and press again after a few seconds, sending me into a frustrating loop of presses. It's aggravating, and really awful for a new platform in 2022. One thing though I give GM credit for, the truck starts quicker then a Tesla, many times I hop in my Tesla and shift before it is ready, and I have to shift again and again before I can get going.

 

[Tom E-Tron]

The advantage with Tesla is the use of more up to date CPU power, traditional OEMS still used older known robust silicon for their computing elements. I know GM has been pushing hard to try and update that. Future vehicles will be using their own in-house developed silicon.

The Lyriq is also using/introduced a new snap dragon processor for its infotainment.

Yes, GM still uses a multitude of supplier systems in the infotainment that piggy back off their main system. Tesla writes all the infotainment code in house, and has control over all of it. This goes back to GM's old supplier thinking, GM keeps putting band aids on a hemorrhage. Decades of MBA's running GM have killed internal innovation, and everything is sent out to the cheapest supplier. GM judges these things on a spreadsheet, but the spreadsheet only tells part of the story, one example is the camera system, GM has more cameras and views than Tesla, so they win on the spreadsheet, but Tesla software control is so much better and feature filled, GM's camera app in the Hummer is such a crap interface and really drags down the whole user experience, looks like it was designed in the 1990's (likely was)

 

[Tom E-Tron]

Yeah, a few differences, mostly cosmetic, plus the added holes in the hood tusks and the C-pillar gusset re-shaping. The A and B pillars, roof and bed profile lines, front structural bumper and drive unit tusks, door opening shapes and hinge mounts, charge port, and seat mounts are all very-close matches. The truck-equivalent to 23andme would probably find about a 90% DNA match The Silverado engineering team probably pioneered a lot of the basic structural-bone details, saving the Sierra team a bunch of time that could then be used to optimize the design.

It also helps that Nicole Kraatz, the Silverado EV Chief Engineer, has a new title: "Chief Engineer, Battery Electric Trucks", overseeing all Chevy/GMC BEV truck engineering going forward.

A well-earned upgrade, IMHO

Hummer version 1.0 of the BT1, Silverado And Sierra production models are 2.0, the SilveradoE concept was a soft tooled prototype, the production models of the Sierra, and Silverado will have the same structure and systems under the skin

 

[Tom E-Tron]

I was just punching out the new total HP ratings for the Denali and Silverado top trims and working out what the new kW per-motor-rating would be. They were originally rated as 250 kW drive units front and rear. The new kW is 280 kW each, significantly higher than the Hummer's individual motor ratings. And there is no "WTF" pre-prep required to tap that full power, which included pre-ramping up the drive unit cooling loop. That is a major uprating. I'm wondering if the up-rate is just re-rating thanks to additional re-world validating or if they also changed something fundamental...perhaps GM will be slipping Wolfspeed SiC MOSFETs into the ED1 inverters?? Those MOSFETS require about 30% less cooling and improve drive unit efficiency about 1%.

HummerEV is pulling more then 280 kW on the rear motors in WTF.... Using my drag calculator, it has to be making over 1200 HP to run its best times, and the front axle hooks up very little power, its mostly coming from the back

 

[Tom E-Tron]

Are you sure? GM has described "WOW" mode for the Silverado and Max Power mode for the Sierra.

Yes, Denali EV has a launch mode too, to get the max power, and what I have heard from GM is on the Hummer, and Blazer EV the bottleneck is battery output, not motor inverter capability.

 

[Tom E-Tron]

You ever try turning the steering wheel during a WTF launch? It doesn't do anything.

Not much weight on the front wheels in WTF, like trying to turn on ice...

 

[Tom E-Tron]

You actually can just leave the Hummer in WTF mode for an entire drive. It's uncomfortable because the suspension is basically (or actually?) on the bump stops. Maybe that isn't part of the ones in the other pickups because it isn't necessary with the lesser amount of power.

Ya, the Hummer needs to transfer a lot of weight to the back to hook up what I think is about 900 HP from the rear motors in WTF mode. In the Silverado/Sierra which will have around 400 hp on the rear axle the transition should be much smoother.