28,000 Miles in a Silverado EV: What the Data Says About Towing Range and Battery Health

 

After nearly two years and more than 28,000 miles with our 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV RST First Edition, I wanted to answer some of the questions I hear most often from other EV truck owners and prospective buyers.

How far can it actually tow?

Has the battery degraded?

Why does the truck now show more range than it did when it was new?

And what role have software updates potentially played?

Normally, those questions are difficult to answer with much certainty. A dashboard range estimate on a particular morning only tells you so much.

Fortunately, I connected our Silverado EV to Recurrent shortly after purchasing it in December 2024. Recurrent recently provided EV Outdoors with the complete raw historical telematics it received from the truck.

The dataset begins on December 22, 2024, when the Silverado had just 594 miles on the odometer, and continues beyond 28,400 miles.

That gives us something much more useful than a single range test. We have nearly two years of state of charge, odometer, GM reported range and charging data that we can compare against how the truck has actually been used.

And some of the results were not what I expected.

What Exactly Did Recurrent Collect?

Recurrent periodically queried the Silverado EV and recorded information including state of charge, odometer mileage, estimated driving range and charging status.

The older portion of the dataset generally contains several readings per day. Beginning in June 2026, a newer data feed provides substantially more frequent observations and several additional data fields.

Before analyzing it, I combined the two sources, removed overlapping observations and excluded stale data.

Recurrent also answered several technical questions about the dataset before publication, which clarified several important details.

After cleaning the data, we were left with more than 2,000 usable observations for analyzing range behavior.

There is an important limitation. The data does not contain a direct measurement of remaining usable battery capacity or battery state of health.

So I am not going to tell you that this battery has exactly 1%, 3% or 5% degradation. The data simply does not support that level of precision.

What it can show us, quite well, is how the truck's own GM reported range behavior has changed over time.

Recurrent Currently Gives the Truck a 96 Out of 100 Range Score

As of October 2026, Recurrent estimates our Silverado EV's expected range at 484 miles.

Recurrent also reports zero potential vehicle performance issues.

At the same time, its dashboard states that a direct battery health estimate and battery degradation estimate are not supported for this vehicle.

Recurrent explained why. GM simply does not expose the battery, energy, and temperature signals through this telematics interface that Recurrent receives from some other manufacturers. Recurrent can evaluate whether the Silverado's range performance looks healthy, but that is not the same thing as directly measuring how many usable kWh remain in the battery.

When I asked Recurrent what stands out about our Silverado compared with other EVs on its platform, the Recurrent team told EV Outdoors: "The good news is not a lot. Yours is a slightly above average Silverado EV that is holding its range, being used normally, and showing no red flags."

According to Recurrent, expected range above the EPA rating is normal among Silverado EVs on its platform. Most Silverado EV owners on Recurrent see real world range above EPA even after a couple of years in many driving conditions.

On efficient trips, our truck's real world range ranked in the 58th percentile over the last 90 days. Recurrent said its median real world range runs below average, likely because we tow and many truck owners do not.

Recurrent also emphasized an important difference between its own expected range estimate and the dashboard range value contained in the raw GM telemetry.

"Expected range is our estimate of the real world miles a vehicle can drive on a full charge, at a given temperature, when driven efficiently. It's not just what the vehicle dashboard range estimate is," the Recurrent team told EV Outdoors.

Recurrent says that estimate begins with a model built on more than one billion miles from EVs on its platform across all 50 states. For connected vehicles, it then personalizes the estimate using that specific vehicle's driving history.

Recurrent explained that its expected range reflects slightly better than average efficiency rather than representing an absolute ceiling. Towing, heavy HVAC use, or other demanding conditions can reduce it, while an efficient solo driver may exceed it.

Recurrent also explained that Range Score compares a vehicle's expected range in ideal temperatures with what that vehicle was expected to achieve when new. For vehicles Recurrent did not track from new, the baseline comes from comparable vehicles of the same make, model and year.

Most importantly, the Recurrent team emphasized that "Range Score is not the same as battery state of health."

A Range Score should not be interpreted as the percentage of battery capacity remaining. Range can move for reasons unrelated to the physical battery, including tire pressure and wear, driving habits, terrain, and lifestyle changes.

For many vehicle models, including Tesla, Rivian, Volkswagen, Kia, Audi, Volvo, Polestar, and Mercedes, Recurrent says it can calculate an estimated battery health by observing energy added during repeated charging sessions. Recurrent cannot currently obtain the necessary information from GM vehicles to perform that same battery health estimate, so Range Score is used to help drivers understand generally whether their vehicle is performing like comparable vehicles.

What Are We Actually Towing?

Before getting into the towing numbers, the trailer matters enormously.

We tow a Grand Design Imagine 2970RL travel trailer.

The 7,901 pound figure is the trailer's dry weight, so its actual travel weight is higher once cargo and other equipment are added.

But when considering highway efficiency, weight is not the most important characteristic of this trailer.

Aerodynamics are.

At highway speed, a 35 foot travel trailer presents a huge frontal area and a relatively blunt, box shaped profile to the air. That aerodynamic drag becomes the dominant energy penalty during steady highway cruising.

Trailer weight still matters. It increases rolling resistance, requires additional energy during acceleration and becomes particularly important when climbing significant grades.

But on relatively level highway at steady speed, pushing this large rectangular trailer through the air has a much greater effect on efficiency than simply moving its mass.

That makes our trailer a very demanding aerodynamic use case for the Silverado EV. A lower, narrower or substantially more aerodynamic trailer could do considerably better.

These Towing Periods Are Not Guesses

The very low range observations were classified as a "towing like" mode because the telemetry itself does not contain a dedicated towing mode flag.

We can now be more specific.

I know when the trailer was connected, I documented these trips at the time, and several of them were featured in videos on EV Outdoors.

There were four major travel trailer trips represented during the Recurrent dataset:

During these trips, the trailer was connected through the Silverado's 7-way trailer connector, and the truck automatically adjusted its range prediction when it recognized the trailer.

Recurrent confirmed that the range value in its dataset comes directly from GM. Recurrent also noted that GM's Guess-o-Meter values generally account for driving mode and recent efficiency.

Recurrent cannot independently see a separate signal saying "towing mode is active," but we do not need to guess whether these specific periods were towing. We know from our trip history that they were.

The Repeat Disney Trips Are Especially Interesting

The July/August 2025 and July 2026 Fort Wilderness trips each contain two remarkably similar towing range segments.

One pair spans approximately 929 miles in 2025 and 931 miles in 2026. A second pair spans approximately 719 miles in 2025 and 720 miles in 2026.

These are not complete round trip distances. They represent portions of the outbound and return journeys during which GM’s range estimator was consistently in the low range towing mode. The truck was driven normally while at the destination, which separates the towing periods in the telemetry.

The June 2026 Hilton Head trip is also visible in the data, but only about 360 miles of that towing period can be cleanly identified because it overlaps the confirmed GM/API range data outage.

But we now know that both sets came from trips to Disney's Fort Wilderness using the same truck and the same trailer.

That makes them a particularly useful repeat use comparison, even though weather, traffic, charging stops and the exact route may not have been identical.

How Far Will a Silverado EV Actually Tow?

This is probably the question I receive more than any other.  Our long term telemetry provides a surprisingly clear answer.

When I analyzed the relationship between state of charge and GM's reported range, the observations separated into two very distinct groups.

There is more than a 100 mile gap between the highest observations in the towing group and the lowest observations in the normal driving group.

The separation is striking.

The Actual Battery Consumption Confirms It

I did not want to rely solely on GM's range estimator, so I also measured how many miles the truck actually traveled for each percentage point of battery consumed.

Using carefully filtered segments from the higher frequency telemetry:

That's approximately a 59% reduction in miles traveled per percentage point of battery.

Put another way, the telemetry suggests approximately 184 to 186 miles of 100% battery equivalent towing range under the conditions represented in our data.

Does the Data Match What I've Actually Experienced?

Yes.

When towing the Grand Design, I typically see somewhere around 0.8 to 1.0 mi/kWh, depending on speed, weather, wind, elevation and other conditions.

The Silverado EV officially has a roughly 205 kWh Max Range battery pack (though usable shown in car scanner pro is estimated somewhere between 210 and 215 kWh)

At 0.8 mi/kWh, 205 kWh corresponds to approximately 164 miles.

At 1.0 mi/kWh, it corresponds to approximately 205 miles.

The telemetry derived figure of roughly 186 miles falls almost exactly in the middle.

So the data and my real world experience tell essentially the same story.

But 186 Miles Is Not How I Plan a Towing Trip

For actual trip planning, I would not call this a 186 mile between chargers tow vehicle.  At least not with our travel trailer.

Nobody wants to plan on reaching a charger at 0%. If you watched my 2,000 mile towing road trip video you know you can trust me on this point.

Using the observed 1.84 miles per percentage point of battery:

An 80% to 10% towing leg works out to approximately 130 miles.

A 90% to 10% leg works out to approximately 150 miles.

A more aerodynamic trailer could do considerably better. Strong headwinds, higher speeds, cold temperatures or significant climbing could do worse.

 

What Does Nearly Two Years of Data Say About Battery Degradation?

This is where the analysis becomes more complicated.

Recurrent confirmed that the range value comes directly from GM. GM does not provide Recurrent with the battery, energy or temperature signals necessary to directly calculate battery state of health for this Silverado EV.

There is no hidden usable capacity or degradation field elsewhere in the Recurrent dataset. The data we received is all of the raw telematics Recurrent received from the vehicle.

That means we cannot directly measure battery degradation. What we can do is determine whether the truck's range behavior is deteriorating over time.

Why You Cannot Compare Two Random Dashboard Numbers

Our own data demonstrates why dashboard range is a poor direct measurement of battery degradation.

During normal driving, the Silverado EV's 100% range estimate varies by roughly 8% to 10% across the seasons.

That is enormous compared with the long term trend we're trying to measure.

So instead of comparing a warm September reading against a cold January reading, I compared equivalent months in 2025 and 2026.

The average year over year change in the normal driving range estimate was:

The exact calculated result was approximately -0.347%.

That seemed almost suspiciously small, so I changed the analysis several different ways.

• 10% to 100% SOC: -0.39%
• 20% to 90% SOC: -0.35%
• 30% to 90% SOC: -0.35%
• 40% to 90% SOC: -0.35%
• 50% to 90% SOC: -0.35%

Changing the state of charge window barely changes the result.  Then I looked only at observations when the truck was at exactly 80% state of charge.

That independent comparison produced a year over year change of approximately:

-0.34%

Once again, essentially the same answer.

No, That Does Not Mean the Battery Has Only Degraded 0.35%

That would go beyond what the data can prove. The range estimator is not a battery capacity meter.

It is affected by recent efficiency, temperature, driving behavior, towing, HVAC use, software calibration and other variables.

So my conclusion is narrower:

Whatever physical battery degradation has occurred has not produced an obvious deterioration in that metric. This is an important and encouraging result.

Recurrent added an important qualification to this kind of long-term analysis. Its team said that for one vehicle with one owner, the long term trend in real world range can stand in for battery degradation once season is controlled for, but only when several conditions remain reasonably consistent.

• Driving patterns remain broadly consistent. Significantly more towing or adding something like a roof rack could change the result.
• Tires remain properly inflated and are replaced when worn.
• No major software update changes vehicle efficiency.
• The automaker is not gradually releasing reserved battery buffer over several years to hold range steady.

When those conditions do not hold, Recurrent said the long term history can still show whether a vehicle is behaving normally compared with its peers and can flag sudden changes worth investigating.

The Recurrent team also stressed one particularly important point: "All of this applies to real world range measured through telematics, not necessarily to the range shown on the dashboard."

Seasonal Variation Is Much Larger

The normal driving range estimate moved by approximately 9.76% across January through September 2025.

During the corresponding period in 2026, the swing was approximately 7.77%.

The matched month year over year change was only about 0.35%.

In other words, seasonal and operating condition effects are roughly 20 to 30 times larger than the long term year over year change we're detecting.

That is why someone looking at 450 miles on the dashboard one day and 420 miles several months later should not automatically conclude that the battery has degraded by 6.7%.

When I asked Recurrent how owners should think about dashboard range when judging battery health, its answer was simple: "In short: they shouldn't use it for that."

Recurrent explained that dashboard range comes from automaker formulas that owners cannot see, and automakers can change those formulas for their own reasons.

In some vehicles, Chevrolet included, Recurrent said dashboard range can provide a useful indication of what the vehicle can do right now if the driver continues driving in a similar way. In other vehicles, the displayed number may be closer to an aspirational estimate.

The one potentially useful battery health warning signal in dashboard estimated range, according to Recurrent, would be a sudden, significant drop that cannot be explained by recent driving, a trip computer reset or a software update. Recurrent said that kind of unexplained change could indicate that it is worth having the vehicle checked at the dealership.

My Charging Habits Are Also Important

For our Silverado EV, the configured charging limit is usually 80%.

Across the historical observations, readings at 95% or higher occur on only 11 calendar days, many of them clustered around travel periods when additional range was needed.

Because Recurrent does not continuously sample the vehicle, I would not turn that into a precise percentage of the battery's lifetime spent at high SOC.

But it does provide a useful data point. This truck normally lives around an 80% target rather than sitting at 100% every day.

Recurrent's team also specifically noted that our charging habits are helping. The battery generally stays between 20% and 80%, while we avoid relying heavily on public DC fast charging.

One More Winter Caveat

Our Silverado EV is normally parked in a garage. The data clearly shows seasonal range variation, but our truck usually is not sitting outdoors overnight with the battery fully cold-soaked in freezing temperatures.

An otherwise identical Silverado EV stored outdoors through a cold winter may experience a larger initial efficiency and range penalty, particularly before the battery and cabin warm up. This would almost certainly result in a larger seasonal variation.  So I would not treat our winter numbers as a worst case cold weather test. They represent our actual use case.

Now Let's Talk About Software

This may be one of the most interesting parts of the data.

Our 2024 Silverado EV RST First Edition was originally rated at 440 miles of EPA range.

For 2025, Chevrolet increased the Max Range RST figure to 460 miles.

SO...What changed?

Silverado EV and Sierra EV Share the Same Pickup Powertrain Architecture

The Chevrolet Silverado EV and GMC Sierra EV are mechanical siblings on GM's BT1 electric truck architecture.

Comparable Silverado and Sierra configurations use the same battery pack options and the same corresponding front and rear electric drive unit combinations.

Across the BT1 pickup lineup, GM uses 14-module, 20-module and 24-module battery configurations representing Standard, Extended Range, and Max Range options.

The related Cadillac Escalade IQ uses the large 24-module battery configuration with a dual-motor setup, while the GMC Hummer EV can also use a tri-motor configuration.

GM has publicly explained that silicon carbide power electronics, along with additional drive unit upgrades, contributed to a 20 mile range increase in the Sierra EV for the 2025 model year.

Given that the Silverado EV and Sierra EV use the same corresponding pickup battery and drive unit combinations, I believe it is reasonable to conclude that the equivalent 2025 Silverado EV received the same underlying silicon carbide inverter and drive unit efficiency improvements.

Its important to note however that GM's published silicon carbide explanation specifically names the Sierra EV. I have not found a separate Chevrolet release that explicitly says, "the 2025 Silverado EV changed to silicon-carbide inverters." Do note however that both gained 20 miles of Max Range for 2025.

Hardware Still Cannot Explain Everything We're Seeing

Our truck is a 2024. Its physical inverters and drive units did not change when the 2025 model arrived.

Yet our 2024 now routinely displays considerably more range than it did when it was new, and Recurrent currently estimates 484 miles of expected range.

That tells us that hardware alone cannot explain every change in the range number shown to the driver. The vehicle's software and calibration logic are also part of the equation.

We Have Actual Records of the Software Updates

Our Silverado is somewhat unusual because I own GM's MDI2 diagnostic interface and periodically use GM's SPS programming system to check for and install available module updates.

That means I also have records from several programming sessions that we can compare with the Recurrent telemetry.

On April 5, 2025, I performed a broad vehicle programming session that included:

• Battery Energy Control Module
• Drive Motor Control Module 1
• Drive Motor Control Module 2

Battery Energy Control Module was also programmed again on March 25, 2026 and June 15, 2026.

The April 5 session is particularly useful because it included not only the Battery Energy Control Module but also both drive unit controllers.

The normalized 100% range estimate was approximately 445.8 miles before the session and 446.0 miles afterward. There was no meaningful change.

The March 2026 BECM update was followed by a small increase of approximately 0.42%, while the June update was followed by a slight decline.

None of these programming events looks anything like a sudden 20 or 30 mile range increase.

So Did Software Add Range?

Software unquestionably participates in how the vehicle calculates and displays range.

GM's own range field reflects recent efficiency and operating conditions, and the battery management and propulsion systems themselves operate according to software calibrations.

But our data does not support the idea that one identifiable software update suddenly added 20 or 30 miles to our truck.  The increase appears more gradual and more complicated than that.

The physical battery is one component. Vehicle efficiency is another.

Temperature matters.

Recent driving matters.

Towing matters enormously.

And software determines how many of those inputs are translated into the number displayed on the screen. 

Towing Proves the Point Better Than Anything Else

When our Grand Design is connected, GM's implied 100% range estimate can fall from roughly 465 miles to around 186 miles.

Did the battery suddenly lose 60% of its usable capacity? Obviously not. The truck clearly changed its expectation of how efficiently it would use the energy stored in the battery.

That same principle applies on a smaller scale when weather changes, recent driving changes or software changes how the vehicle interprets its inputs. That is why Silverado EV dashboard range alone is such a poor battery health measurement.

Battery Health, Expected Range, and Real World Range Are Three Different Things

This may be the biggest lesson from this entire analysis.

Battery health describes the physical condition and remaining usable capacity of the battery.

Expected range is a prediction of how far the available battery energy should take the vehicle under anticipated conditions.

Real world range is what actually happens once speed, wind, temperature, traffic, elevation, HVAC use and towing enter the picture.

They are connected. They are not interchangeable.

For our truck, Recurrent sees very strong range performance. The long term telemetry shows almost no measurable year over year deterioration in GM's normal driving range estimate.

But because GM does not expose direct battery capacity or state-of-health data through the telematics available to Recurrent, I still cannot responsibly assign this battery a precise degradation percentage.

So What Has More Than 28,000 Miles of Data Taught Me?

First, the Silverado EV remains an exceptional long distance EV truck when it isn't towing.

Recurrent estimates our truck at about 484 miles of expected range, despite more than 28,000 miles and nearly 2 years of use.

Second, towing changes everything.

With our large, aerodynamically demanding Grand Design travel trailer, both the telemetry and my actual towing experience point toward approximately 180 to 190 miles of 100% battery equivalent towing range. For road-trip planning, 130 to 150 miles between charging stops is a much more useful expectation.  Note that these numbers are specific to our travel trailer.  Your trailer will vary depending on many factors including aerodynamic profile, weight, number of axles, etc.

Third, I cannot find evidence of significant deterioration in the truck's normal driving range performance. The matched month year over year difference is approximately 0.35%, while seasonal and towing effects are measured in tens of percent.

Fourth, the Silverado EV's software has clearly evolved during our ownership, including confirmed battery-management and drive unit programming. But none of the updates we can directly compare produced a large or persistent reset in the truck's range estimate.

And finally, this data reinforces why I do not think dashboard range should be treated as battery state of health.

A range number is an estimate. The battery is the energy source underneath everything.

 

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