Chevrolet has allowed its mild hybrid system to trickle down to some of its bread and butter: the 2016 Chevrolet Silverado. The brand announced the 2016 Silverado e-Assist will be available later this year with a 13-percent increase in city fuel economy, equipped with the 5.3-liter V8 engine.
However, only 500 2016 Silverado e-Assist models will be produced, and they will only be available in California.
“Silverado already leads the full-size truck segment in V8 fuel economy,” said Sandor Piszar, marketing director for Chevrolet Trucks. “For customers and small-business owners who use their trucks for more urban driving, the addition of eAssist can further reduce their fuel costs without sacrificing the utility they expect in a full-size truck.”
The e-Assist components trickle down from the Chevrolet Volt, and altogether, the compact system increases curb weight by only 100-pounds, but provides an additional 13 hp and 44 lb-ft of torque from the electric motor. The Silverado e-Assist also gains seamless stop-start technology and regenerative braking. The EPA estimates the 2016 Silverado e-Assist to return highway fuel economy of 24 mpg, and a combined rating of 20 mpg.
The e-Assist system will be available at a $500 premium over a “similarly equipped two-wheel drive Silverado 1500 crew cab in 1LT trim,” according to Chevy.
Chevrolet says it will reevaluate production for the 2017 model year to adjust with consumer demand.
Comments
500 units in one state only is hardly worth mentioning.
Also, the eassist plus the 6 cylinder sounds like a much better combination (especially in a colorado). That would be fords “ecoboost” to shame.
eassist plus diesel would break some efficiency walls with regards to pickup trucks.
GM is testing the market for a hybridized pickup truck which historically has not done very well while gaining green credit in California.
I suspect that if there is significant demand for the model they will expand to more regions.
The e-Assist technology is sound if not a little low rent these days.
I would have thought that the improvement over the standard 5.3V8 would have been greater although the premium is only $500.
The 700 units total will sell out pretty fast. GM will then have to decide whether to expand the program to other green friendly states and increase production.
Ford would still have a 365hp and 420lb-ft….
huh?
That was a reply to @NH.
eAssist on the 3.6 Colorado, as hypothesized by NH “Also, the eassist plus the 6 cylinder sounds like a much better combination (especially in a colorado). That would be fords “ecoboost” to shame.”
That setup would not even come close to the EcoBoost for overall performance. Even compared to the 2.7 EcoBoost, the 3.6 EAssist would be down on torque and be roughly matching power.
Not a fan of the EcoBoost necessarily, or Ford for that matter, but get-fuckin-real.
Thanks for the clarification but further to your point about the ‘Ecoboost’ the e-Assist on the GM truck is not about performance but fuel economy.
Independent testing has already proven that the ‘Ecoboost’ engines are more show than actual real benefit.
They have repeatedly been beaten or at worst equalled in both fuel economy any acceleration testing despite spending hundreds of millions if not over a billion on the redesign.
Ford’s all aluminum body trucks succeeded in barely equaling GM’s steel bodied trucks showing how heavy the old gen really was. The next gen GM trucks will be even lighter than the current ones as GM leverages it’s expertise in light weight and mix-material construction as seen in the CT6, XT5, Acadia, Malibu, Cruze and any other recent redesigned offering.
3.5TT compared to which Silverado engine? From what I’ve seen only the 6.2L has it in acceleration. I own a 5.3 Silverado and a buddy a 2012 Ecoboost, even with his old steel body Ford, his truck and mine are pretty evenly stacked up, not sure what rear end he has. He did blow a turbo at 90k and has had persistent plug gap issues.
I’ll take my engine and truck over his any day, but let’s be real only certain Silverado models have better accel or better MPG than the 3.5 EcoBoost, but it’s not from the same GM engine.
The 2.7 and 3.5 EcoBoosts have they’re upsides and strengths, just as the 4.3 5.3 and 6.2 have their’s in the GM trucks.
But none of that is really the point, it was about the Colorado hypothetically getting eAssist and trouncing the EcoBoost. Even if it did, 3.5 EcoBoost a side, the 2.7 EcoBoost would still hold up very well against it, probably better in towing applications. The power similar, but loads more of the important lb-ft for the 2.7L
And yes the next gen or even refresh of the GM full size trucks will be lighter. It’s been confirmed that the tooling for these trucks was made flexible to swap steel for aluminum body panels. The next refresh on the trucks could see aluminum spread from the current use on the hood, to the doors. Next gen get all Al body panels. And yes, also the mixed material and welding applications.
Ford and GM have two different strategies, GM made efficient and modern V8s for the full size, and brought back the midsizers. Ford made smaller twin turbo mills and brought their trucks into a more modern weight range.
But you missed the biggest point. An Eassist on a v6 colorado would give it at or near 30mpg highway. That crushes the real world numbers the 2.7 ecoboost is getting. The nice little boost to it’s torque and hp is just bonus.
Now imagine an ecoboost on the colorado deisel. Those torque numbers would be huge and the MPG would be numbers people have never seen on a pickup (if a 13% increase carried through on a lighter truck).
That’s all true. But what about cost? The baby Duramax is already a hefty premium. And yes you would have a boat load of torque with eAssist on the diesel, but unlike on a gas engine that torque between the two isn’t complimentary. It would be all down low torque. The 2.8 Dmax already offers tons of torque at low revs, it doesn’t need anymore.
Remember this is a mild-hybrid system, not a true hybrid. It only assists the ICE engine in times of need, like accelerating or under load. Cruising down the highway it does next to nothing for MPG improvements. The 5.3 Silverado gets a 1MPG bump with eAssist.
If power is what you want you might as well have a V8 and have an engine that will last much longer than a maxed out turboed high compression engine.
As far as efficiency, the ecoboosts are underperforming hugely in the real world –
From wards –
http://wardsauto.com/2015/where-s-eco-ecoboost
Dan Nicholson Vice President of Global Propulsion at General Motors recently suggested on Autoline’s Afterhours program that E-Assist might be a way for General Motors to give vehicles better acceleration as electric motors powered by batteries could provide instant torque with the gas powered motor; the same battery powered electric motors would be used to stretch fuel economy when the vehicle is running at low road speeds.
I have one of these trucks. My dad has the same truck without the eassist. He gets better mileage and truck is stronger too. I have had a lot of issues with the 8 speed trans and other issues. Wish I never got it to be truthful. But I am stuck with it and the problems as GM dealers can not figure out what is wrong and I don’t think they even know how to work on it. Have had Chevy trucks all my life. Next one will be something differant.