Chevy Hypes Up the Silverado EV Trail Boss with 1100-HP ZR2 Race Truck
The ZR2 is a race truck that will run at the Mint 400, and it features an 1100-hp tri-motor powertrain.
Other upgrades include 37-inch BFGoodrich tires, Multimatic spool-valve dampers, and locking differentials.
Chevy is launching the Silverado EV Trail Boss this summer, which will bring off-road upgrades to the road-legal electric pickup truck.
Electric pickup trucks haven't yet garnered the same interest as their gas-powered brethren. While Chevrolet Silverado EV sales got fully underway in 2024, the 7428 units sold were just a blip on the radar compared with the regular Silverado's 560,264 total sales. Still, Chevy hopes to spark more interest in its full-size electric truck with a new racing version, developing the Silverado EV ZR2 to compete in the Mint 400, an off-road race in Nevada that kicks off this week. Better yet, the race truck hints at a road-legal Trail Boss off-road trim coming later this year.
The Silverado EV ZR2 was developed over just five months and features around 98 percent GM production parts. Compared with a normal Silverado EV, the ZR2 features beefier front and rear suspension parts specifically tuned for off-roading. The truck also has a substantial lift, with the taller ride height also resulting from its 37-inch BFGoodrich KM3 mud-terrain tires.
Another crucial addition to the Silverado EV ZR2 is the exotic Multimatic semi-active spool-valve dampers. Described as prototype units, Chevy says they allow for more than 13 inches of front and rear wheel travel. The ZR2 race truck also features locking differentials and underbody skid plates to protect the vital components.
Even more intriguing, Chevy says the race-ready ZR2 has a tri-motor electric powertrain that churns out 1100 horsepower. That's substantially more than the road-going Silverado EV RST, which maxes out at 754 ponies with its dual-motor setup. The race truck's powertrain is likely adapted from the tri-motor configuration found in the most potent version of the Hummer EV pickup, which shares its bones with the Silverado EV.
Chevy claims the ZR2's powertrain produces 11,500 pound-feet of torque—matching the claimed output for the tri-motor Hummer—but we believe this is measured at the wheels in a similar way to the misleading number GM touted in its 2020 Super Bowl ad. Measuring torque in a more traditional way would likely result in an output of around 1000 to 1100 pound-feet of torque, still a mightily impressive figure.
The Silverado EV ZR2 will race alongside the gas-powered Silverado ZR2 and Colorado ZR2 race trucks, with the trio being entered by Chad Hall Racing. The Silverado EV ZR2 will run as the only entry in the Open Production EV class. Chevy engineers will work closely with the race team, and Chevy says the learnings will be applied to production vehicles and performance accessories.
The Silverado EV ZR2 also emerges as Chevrolet readies the 2026 Silverado EV Trail Boss for its launch this summer. Chevy first showed a Trail Boss version of the Silverado EV way back in 2022, but Silverado EV production took longer to ramp up than expected, and the Trail Boss seems to have fallen by the wayside as the brand worked to get other Silverado EV variants on the road.
Now, Chevy is ready to introduce the off-road trim, which will receive a factory-installed lift, 18-inch wheels wrapped in 35-inch all-terrain tires, red tow hooks, and a dedicated Terrain mode. The Trail Boss appears here in a red-orange hue, showing off its redesigned front bumper and model-specific wheels. Chevy says more details on the Silverado EV Trail Boss will arrive soon.
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