Production of the all-electric Chevy Silverado EV is well under way at the GM Factory Zero plant in Michigan, The General’s first fully EV-dedicated production facility. Silverado EV production officially started last year, while production of the upcoming 2026 model year is expected to kick off later this month. Now, we’re going into Factory Zero to watch as a brand-new Chevy Silverado EV rolls off the line.
In a fresh 10-minute video, popular YouTuber JerryRigEverything provides a tour of the Factory Zero facility as his personal Silverado EV is assembled.
According to the video host, the factory produces a brand-new electric truck every eight minutes. The video starts with the bare frame and body, where massive robots weld the truck’s stamped sheet metal panels into place. Unsurprisingly, Factory Zero is highly automated, and leverages more than 1,000 robots in the production process, including precision welders and adhesive applicators.
After an initial vehicle inspection in a light tunnel and paint, the truck heads to the general assembly line. The host’s Silverado EV is equipped with the extended-range 170 kWh battery, giving it an estimated 390 miles of range. The battery is installed from underneath while the truck is suspended on a lift. Motivation is provided by dual motors making 645 horsepower and 765 pound-feet of torque, as well as a towing capacity of 12,500 pounds. The host’s LT model also has coil suspension rather than the RST’s air suspension, and it lacks rear-wheel steering.
Other highlights include installation of the dashboard, display screens, wiring harnesses, and HVAC systems, are of which are installed with the help of both humans and machines. Later, the windshield is applied with the help of an adhesive robot and precision guide pins.
After assembly, the truck goes through testing on a set of rollers to make sure all systems are functioning as expected. Finally, workers sign the underside of the hood to celebrate the build.
Check out the full assembly video right here:
Comments
Ten minutes sure doesn’t install a whole lot of confidence.
In the world of Automotive assembly, this line moves incredibly slow. I guess that is a plus with these expensive vehicles.
Losing money on every one
Selling one EV at a loss allows them to sell approximately 30 HD diesel trucks without having to buy credits from companies like Tesla, to avoid EPA fines. It’s a business decision.
10 minutes to build and 10 years to pay for it! NO THANKS!
You cannot afford it.
I can afford one but I am not ignorant to pay more per month than my new 4400 sq ft home. Fools!,!
Haters gonna hate. A great video!
An amazing feat of engineering ! I would love to own one !
Ten-thousand of these sold last year. GM was apparently planning on building 600,000 EV pickups per year based on a statement from Barra on January 25, 2022 upon announcing the conversion of Orion to supplement FZ in building these. I’m sure that’s why the line is moving so slow.
And how many of us would still have a job if our estimations were off by so much?
None Tigger. We’d all be fired. That’s why I keep repeating the same things. They were wildly off on EV projections. It’s a huge blunder but nobody from the SLT ever pays a price or even admits their error. If you read comments online from the former employees in Warren, they’ve certainly suffered and paid a high price.
You got that right. You keep repeating the same thing. In the meantime GM is adapting, managing the change and stay profitable. Millions of people depend on that.
When you have a president that is trying to move us back to coal, and a Republican congress that wants to remove EV tax credits, and infrastructure buildout, etc, what do you think is going to happen to those projections? Somehow, the rest of the world is moving faster to EVs than the US. So either we’re wrong with 4% of the world’s population, or the rest of the world is wrong with 96% of the population.
The fact that GM is profitable means she knows how to handle change on the fly. Reading this blog daily, I think most think GM would be better off selling V8 sedans.
The EV tax credit needs to be abolished. No reason for tax payers to be subsidizing these p.o.s. vehicles.
If they’re so great they can sell without tax credits.
The ‘rest of the world’ is having these crammed down their throats like the Biden administration was doing. So it’s a false movement to EV.
GM is doing it all correct. The World is moving to EV. If you dont do it now you will be left in the Stone Ages.
Boy this is an ignorant comment if I’ve ever seen one. The United States especially in Midwest doesn’t have the surplus of charging stations to accommodate all your so called EV sales, and the time to sit around and wait for a charge compared to filling up your vehicle in 3 minutes is terrible. GM is going to bankrupt themselves with all these EVs and asking prices of them along with the price hikes of truck and large suvs……
This argument is getting old. Unless you’re traveling hundreds of miles daily, you don’t spend more than 10 seconds “filling up” because you just plug the vehicle in when you get home, ready to go in the morning.
After you own an EV, you realize the wasted time you spend going to a gas station to “fill up.” So yes, if you’re travelling long distances, it takes longer to charge an EV, but all the other times when you’re going to work, groceries, regional travel, etc. EV charging is a lot shorter.
I travel tons of miles daily. Especially in the summer time!! Going out to the black hills side by siding would take me almost a full day just to travel if I had an EV!!! So i would ahbe to plan 2 extra days just to travel to amd from. No thank you!
Now, u city folks can take your EVs everyday because you commute to work very short distances. Great! All for you doing that but the way they are going about stating ICE vehicles are gone by 2035 and then releasing a bunch of over priced and overweight trucks and suvs is ridiculous!!!
Has anyone ever thought bout these behemoths hitting a regular size sedan on the road???? I wouldn’t want my kids in a car getting hit by one of these things.
“…the factory produces a brand-new electric truck every eight minutes.”
High volume auto assembly plants are generally rated at 60 jobs per hour. Everything including the line speed, staffing, tooling, processing, subassembly, supply chain inflow, etc…everything is configured to meet that rate. It’s a sight to behold to witness that intricate dance 16+hrs/day, 5+ days a week. You can hear and literally feel the whole plant humming like one giant machine.
Eight minutes is a slow crawl.
A great video. Hope GM keeps it going.