Peak Hurricane Season Runs: The Silverado EV Trail Boss as a Generator

In Wide Open Watts mode Trail Boss can produce up to 725 horsepower and 775 lb-ft, and with the Max Range battery it can achieve a GM-estimated range of up to 478 miles , together with a maximum offboard power output of 10.2 kW when the optional equipment is used.

The Atlantic hurricane season reaches its statistical peak in mid-September. Although Connecticut rarely suffers direct hits, we do experience the aftermath, and that aftermath is significant. In recent years the power has been knocked out in the Farmington Valley for several days at a time. Should you have a well, the power cut means that you will have no water; if you have a sump pump then your basement will be wet.

Then people ask whether an electric truck could be used to power a house.

Certainly, within certain real limits. Here is the straightforward version.

Start with what this is not

You wouldn't purchase the Silverado EV Trail Boss to use as a generator. A Max Range Trail Boss costs many times more than a whole-home standby generator when installed, and the generator is able to start itself in the middle of the night regardless of whether you are at home or not or whether you had thought about it or not.

If you are trying to solve the problem of having backup power, then you should buy a generator.

If you had already decided to buy a truck, the spare power will be included with it. That aspect is something else and it's important to know precisely what you are getting.

What it actually puts out

The Silverado EV is equipped with a PowerBase system that can provide up to 10.2 kW of external power, but this maximum amount requires the optional fittings such as the accessory power bar. The basic outlet system, on the other hand, provides less power. According to Chevrolet, the Work Truck version has six 120-volt outlets arranged on two 20-amp circuits together with one 240-volt, 30-amp outlet in the bed, the total system draw being limited to 7.2 kW. It is important to check the number and position of the outlets on the particular truck you are planning to purchase since this can differ depending on the model.

The L14-30 connector is used with the 240-volt bed outlet, since this type of connector is commonly found on a number of portable generator setups. Instead of making an assumption, you should compare your current cord with the connector.

The capacity covered by 7.2 to 10.2 kW during an outage:

• A refrigerator and a chest freezer, both running

• A well pump, which is usually the reason people care

• A gas or oil furnace blower and controls

• A sump pump

• Router, modem, phone chargers, and a few lamps

• A window air conditioner or a space heater, but not several

It is a genuine outage kit, not central air conditioning together with an electric range and an electric dryer.

Two ways to use it, and one you should not

The easiest solution is to use extension cords. You just need to park the truck, open the tailgate, and then connect the cords to both the fridge and the freezer. This method works, requires no installation, and you can carry out these steps on the first night that you own the truck.

The best option is GM Energy's home system, which involves using a PowerShift Charger along with a Vehicle-to-Home Enablement Kit and having an electrician carry out the installation. After it has been set up, the truck supplies power to your electrical panel via the correct transfer arrangement, your circuits automatically come back on and you no longer have to run cords through a window when it's raining. Chevrolet states that the system is capable of supplying power to the essential loads in an ordinary home for up to 21 days if power is used carefully.

The wrong way to deal with this is to connect the panel with a cord. This could cause power to be fed back onto the line and might injure someone who is working on restoring the supply. All the electricians in the state will say exactly the same thing. If you want the truck tied to the house, you had better pay someone to carry out the job properly.

The battery is the actual story

The Max Range battery has a capacity of about 205 kWh. To put this into perspective, an average home battery has a capacity of 10 to 15 kWh. The truck therefore has a battery that is more than ten times as large.

Which is why the idea of twenty-one days is reasonable. You're not operating the house on a small reserve; you're running it on a battery capable of moving a truck that weighs more than four tons for 478 miles.

But two limits come with that:

Each kilowatt-hour that you supply to the house is one that you can't use yourself. In the case of a regional power outage and with the chargers also not working, you'll be using up your sole fuel supply to keep the fridge cold. Early on, decide how much of the battery you are prepared to spend and fix a minimum level that you won't go below.

You can't refuel it at home when the grid is down. The gas generator will only keep running so long as you can locate gasoline. The truck will continue to run until the battery is depleted. These are separate types of failure, and the truck's failure is the more difficult one to overcome at the 60-hour mark.

The rest of the spec sheet

The Trail Boss, when using the Max Range battery, produces up to 725 horsepower and 775 lb-ft in Wide Open Watts mode. It is equipped with a two-inch factory lift and 35-inch all-terrain tyres. It features Sidewinder diagonal steering as well as four-wheel steering. Super Cruise is included as a standard feature on the Max Range model, and it is the only hands-free system available which remains active when towing.

The fact that it has backup power is nothing to do with the reason for purchasing this truck. The ability to export power is a bonus which you might use once every ten years and it shouldn't be the thing that leads to the decision.

Where O'Neill's Chevrolet comes in

Use them for the home side: the GM Energy equipment, what it costs, who installs it locally, and the lead time. That kind of discussion should take place before storm season, not during it. It's not something you want to appear on an electrician's calendar in the week following a storm.

An electric truck does serve as a genuine backup power source; the Silverado EV Trail Boss can produce up to 10.2 kW when the appropriate equipment is used, has a battery capacity of about 205 kWh, and can therefore keep essential home appliances running for a long time if you handle it properly.