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Something special expire down in the desert outside of Las Vegas this weekend : Two electron volt ask on the Mint 400 for the first time .
Since the Mint 400 found back in 1969 , vehicles in this iconic desert endurance race have been power by dead dinosaurs . Spectators and slipstream participants likewise are used to the smell of airstream fuel in the air as everything from V8 - motivated Trophy Trucks to base Class 11 gunstock Volkswagen Beetles fly over jumps , clamber over rock , and go flat out on the teetotal lake layer .
That all vary in 2024 when a group of brother introduce a Rivian R1 T and Mint personal organizer Matt Martelli make an EV Production grade . This year , Chevrolet get into the game and entered the Silverado EV ZR2 off - route race truck concept , a qualify version of its truck EV . The concept ’s reveal comes as Chevy prepares to launch the 2026 Silverado EV Trail Boss , its first off - road - point EV variate , this summertime .
While the Rivian is very much a lineage motortruck save for the upgraded 35 - inch BFGoodrich tire , the Silverado EV got plenty of special parts .
The foresighted control arms were taken from the Hummer EV to allow for 13 inches of travel . The air break was nixed in favour of dual - coil springs in the front — with a spring rate of 1,600 pounds per inch — and unmarried coil spring in the rear . These do n’t have to back quite so much weight and sit at “ only ” 978 pounds / inch . Hey , that ’s what happens when a motortruck weighs nearly 10,000 pound .
The tall springs and 37 - in BFGoodrich tyre mean the Silverado EV raceway hand truck sits 15 inches off the ground . However , the motortruck itself is so big that I originally estimated it to be only 11 or 12 inches high . Such is the mightiness of proportion .
Also taken from the Hummer is the tri - centrifugal system , with two motor in the rear and one in the front . Chevrolet says all together they produce 1,100 horsepower and 11,500 pound - feet of torque .
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Do n’t get too jazzed about that torsion figure , though . Chevrolet is talking about cycle torque , which is n’t the measuring the industry commonly uses to talk about torque . The society has n’t given up all the numeral to do the mathematics , but it ’s secure to say the motor produce over 1,000 pound - foot of the stuff . Still nothing to sneeze at .
Chevy did n’t deepen the 205 kWh battery . In the street truck , that ’s good enough for 440 miles , in possibility enough to race all four lick at the Mint 400 . However , ride height , tyre size , tread , breeze pressure , and the dirt all take their bell .
Tim Demetrio , mathematical group manager for Off Road Performance at Chevrolet , tell me that in a limited amount of examination , the hand truck average out .5 miles / kWh in the shit . But he did n’t really know how the electric battery and drive units would respond to hard desert racing .
Not quite a square-off
The chance to see Rivian and the modified Chevy Silverado EV square off at the Mint was disrupted by a triviality . Although both vehicles did wash , they were in different classes .
The Rivian competed in the EV Production course of study ; the Chevrolet , as a fomite that is currently not proffer to the public , was in the EV candid year . And each hand truck was in a class of one .
What ’s worse , the Rivian R1 T got to make two lick of the 73 - mile track , the Chevrolet only one lick . It ’s common for production fomite to get fewer laps than the adult Trophy Trucks , but I was hoping both motortruck would duke it out for two laps to try both efficiency and charging .
When I take Martelli about the discrepancy , he said , “ The Rivian has already raced and completed one lap in last yr ’s race . When we are shepherding in any new stratum , we test to still them into it . We do n’t want them to fail . That ’s not good for anybody . So we attempt to manage that by giving them a little bit more each time . ”
Call it the Mint 73
As soon as the trucks came off the start line , I immediately ran to the line Silverado EV Chevrolet lent me to motor for the weekend .
The first pitfall is at race mile 21 , and the initial part of the course is very immobile . Teams get to go directly out over a lake bed and through a few sections of whoops and tackle some sandy laundry . By the time I got to the first quarry , I had missed the truck .
The second cavity arena is a quick drive for pursual vehicles , but the Chevy only has to traverse 16 mile of race course of instruction . We found a spot to park just in meter to see the Silverado EV silently whizz along around the turning point out of the pitfall country in a swarm of dust .
The motortruck bilk the finish line with a 40 % state of armorial bearing . That signify it averaged .6 miles / kWh — a bit better than the team was expecting . It took the team 2 minute and 10 mo to fill in the grade , so their average amphetamine was about 34 Roman mile per hour . Not too shabby for a big ol’ truck .
Both driver Chad Hall and atomic number 27 - driver Mark Stielow were in good spirits after the raceway .
“ We just cruise , ” pronounce Stielow . “ No problem at all . ”
For Rivian, it’s the Mint 146
After leaving the Chevy , I hightailed it over to the Electrify America chargers to check on the Rivian .
Yes , the Rivian has to load its 149 kWh stamp battery to make the two lap and luckily there is a 350 kW charger just a mere quarter Admiralty mile from the race class . The team only has to enter and exit the course at the same point .
I come at a scene of controlled topsy-turvyness .
The R1 tetraiodothyronine blew an melodic phrase bound at race nautical mile 50 or so . The squad was fussy repairing it while the truck charge .
Driver Nick Paris told me they arrived at the charging station with 20 % state of burster , putting their lap 1 efficiency at the same .6 mile / kWh as the heavy Silverado .
He admitted to having a routine of a lead metrical foot , hitting 110 miles per hour on the dry lakebed . “ We saw the Chevy in front of us , ” tell Centennial State - driver Brett Rieser . “ And we said , ‘ Let ’s go ’ and zoooop ! ” The Rivian made the pass and the race was on .
charge to 90 % , the Rivian leave on its second lap . The vehicle waste a front muffler but was only down for 15 instant .
The Rivian squad arrive at the conclusion line with a 10 % State Department of explosive charge and despite crowd the truck to 128 miles per hour on the lakebed , their lap 2 efficiency remained .6 miles / kWh .
With their charge time - out , it ’s knotty to get an mean speed , but I would put it at a shade deadening than the Chevrolet . Chad Hall is , after all , a professional race motortruck number one wood . The Rivian team is just a bunch of delightfully nerdy privateers .
Regardless , since both truck finished , both are regard socio-economic class winners and will take home a first - station prize .
Where are Ford, Jeep, Tesla?
While battery denseness and consign infrastructure mean these negatron - power trailer truck wo n’t be free-enterprise with ICE race cars and trucks , there certainly is room for more eV to infix the fray to test their charging speed , scope , and durability .
Ford Performance , when y’ all entering the Lightning ? Hey , Jeep , how about enter a Wagoneer S next year ? Heck , I ’d even be in favour of Uncle Elon entering a Cybertruck . GMC can throw in the Hummer , possibly Porsche could field a Taycan Cross Turismo . I helped Volkswagen get the ID4 to the conclusion line in Baja in the Mexican 1000 a few years ago , so let ’s contribute that little guy wire in too . Imagine the spectacle of all these fomite battling for electric scandal supremacy .
