Electric Trucks CAN Tow Cheaper? 2026 GMC Sierra EV AT4 Towing With a 30′ Camper Shocker

testerdahl

testerdahl

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Many people hate on electric trucks for towing, but is it really that bad? I towed the 2026 GMC Sierra EV AT4 with a 30′ camper was shocked. The Sierra EV AT4 was part of my regular rotation of review vehicles and I connected it to our new 2024 Coleman 30′ double-axle camper with one slide out. It has a dry weight of around 5,300 pounds empty and 7,000 pounds loaded. I charged the Sierra EV up at home on my 220 volt outlet to 100%, normally you keep it charged at 80% as the truck tells you to do […] (read full article...)
 
It is getting closer, you're absolutely right. For me it's still a hard no ... Only because of the range I need for my camping trips. I just got back from our annual family camping trip to the beach in SW WA. That's 220ish miles one way. The thought of having to charge before the destination is an absolute killer. My other yearly trip is up on Mt Baker, only 80 miles but a heck of a climb, not coming down until the way home.. The thing is I don't stay at the campground while I'm camping the whole time. We usually include a day out exploring the area. We're usually on site for 4-5 days so the break away is nice. To explore the mountains or the beach.

Also, a lot of the campgrounds in my area are hard no(s) for charging EVs from campground power. Some of them do have dedicated EV charging stations but they're large campgrounds and I wouldn't want to sit there while it charges.

Getting close though...real close.
 
It would probably work for my needs. Shorter towing distances for my boat etc. I’ve only put on 13k miles in 2 years…
I have two(maybe 2.5) big stumbling blocks.
1. How long it would take to make back the extra cost of buying an EV and installing the charger through fuel savings.
2. What battery tech does it use and how susceptible is it to thermal runaway? I would be reluctant to park it in my garage due to the thermal runaway risk. This is a negative for wintertime in Canada (I prefer not to scrape the windshield). I know I could precondition the battery and warm the interior but I have no set schedule(retired).
I know some of these gripes are convenience gripes.
2.5-lol, an added gripe would be the cost of installing a charger at my cottage and the higher price of electricity at my cottage. 2/3rds of my electricity cost at the cottage is delivery because of the remote location.
Just some thoughts.
 
Glad you guys are open minded to this story. I struggled with this headline, rewrote it at least a dozen times, and with even publishing it. Talking about EVs on a truck channel in any sort of positive light seems like suicide at times. The fact is they tow loads really well and I think most truck guys understand it. And once you get past all the politics and environmental noise, they are really cheap to operate. I think the gas savings is the thing the geeky outlets miss and that's the information truck guys want.
 
testerdahl said:
Glad you guys are open minded to this story. I struggled with this headline, rewrote it at least a dozen times, and with even publishing it. Talking about EVs on a truck channel in any sort of positive light seems like suicide at times. The fact is they tow loads really well and I think most truck guys understand it. And once you get past all the politics and environmental noise, they are really cheap to operate. I think the gas savings is the thing the geeky outlets miss and that's the information truck guys want.
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There is a lot of noise against EV’s from people who think it was being forced on them.
I can see the practicality of them. Recently, I compared an RST spec Silverado EV with the long range battery pack(not max) with gas trucks in my area with money on the hood. I could get a new RAM sport for $30k Canadian dollars cheaper.
The RST long range was at $95k CAD and the discounted RAM sport ( slots between the big horn and the Laramie) was $65k CAD.
Just a specific example in my area.
Those would be the 2 trims I would be looking at rightly or wrongly.
 
My problem is the 500 mile drive I do. I leave this Thursday and will be pulling my 4K trailer. It's a long enough day of driving as it is so adding a multiple 45-60min charge stops is just not practical. I do two gas stops that combine with food for 15 mins. max. With no electricity at the destination, it's a big negative for me. The Ramcharger style would be different.
 
Same for me. Just did a 450 mile round-trip with 120 of those off-road and on top of that, half of those 450 miles were while pulling a small trailer. I would have added several hours to the trip and I'm not sure I could've made the off-road portion with an EV truck.

Picked up the stuff left by my grand-pa at the moose hunting camp.
IMG_8130.jpeg
 
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TheDo114 said:
Same for me. Just did a 450 mile round-trip with 120 of those off-road and on top of that, half of those 450 miles were while pulling a small trailer. I would have added several hours to the trip and I'm not sure I could've made the off-road portion with an EV truck.

Picked up the stuff left by my grand-pa at the moose hunting camp.
View attachment 1070
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I truly think if EVs are to ever take off automakers need to create programs were they loan people them for a few weeks to try them out. There's a lot of what ifs and probably's that people think right now about them. Not saying those aren't all true, just saying, I think once you live with it for a few weeks those obstacles aren't as big as they used to be.

Nice truck by the way.
 
testerdahl said:
I truly think if EVs are to ever take off automakers need to create programs were they loan people them for a few weeks to try them out. There's a lot of what ifs and probably's that people think right now about them. Not saying those aren't all true, just saying, I think once you live with it for a few weeks those obstacles aren't as big as they used to be.

Nice truck by the way.
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Thank you!

That would be a nice program for consumers, and I would love to try it but I fall into the 1 or 2 percent of people that it would not actually work for. Unless they really upgrade the charger network, battery chemistry and how fast it charges.

I need a minimum of 350-400 miles while towing and off-roading since recharging in the middle of the bush is practically impossible. Right now I can bring 4 x 5 gallons jugs of gasoline with me and be good to go on the fly.

I’m not oppose to EV, in fact, I’m buying an EV for my wife since she puts around town and pretty much all of them works for her even in winter.
I just need them to build one that fits my use case for when I need a truck the most.
 
TheDo114 said:
Thank you!

That would be a nice program for consumers, and I would love to try it but I fall into the 1 or 2 percent of people that it would not actually work for. Unless they really upgrade the charger network, battery chemistry and how fast it charges.

I need a minimum of 350-400 miles while towing and off-roading since recharging in the middle of the bush is practically impossible. Right now I can bring 4 x 5 gallons jugs of gasoline with me and be good to go on the fly.

I’m not oppose to EV, in fact, I’m buying an EV for my wife since she puts around town and pretty much all of them works for her even in winter.
I just need them to build one that fits my use case for when I need a truck the most.
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Just curious, have you searched for charging stations? You can do that on most map apps by putting in your route then clicking EV charging. My parents swore they had zero around them and were shocked.
 
testerdahl said:
Just curious, have you searched for charging stations? You can do that on most map apps by putting in your route then clicking EV charging. My parents swore they had zero around them and were shocked.
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Why would anyone want to dedicate a few hours and inconvenience during a vacation or trip to sit at a charging station? That's If there's space, a working charger ...and disconnect the trailer?
 
testerdahl said:
Just curious, have you searched for charging stations? You can do that on most map apps by putting in your route then clicking EV charging. My parents swore they had zero around them and were shocked.
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There’s plenty of chargers around where I live, the problem is the closest charger to where I enter the bush is 60 miles away and is only a level 2. The closest level 3 is right by my home lol. With a Silverado EV, since it’s the one that has the most range, I’m looking at adding almost a full day and a half of travel. I need it to be at 100% to have a chance to go in the bush and making it back and then I need to charge it to 100% again as I need to make it back home. There’s no charger between the level 2 and where I live.

I’m usually towing both ways when I go. This trip was actually an easier trip than usual since I was only towing for half of it.

Most of Canada is actually empty and pretty remote, we tend to live close to the US border, but as soon as you head north, there’s pretty much nothing.
 
TheDo114 said:
There’s plenty of chargers around where I live, the problem is the closest charger to where I enter the bush is 60 miles away and is only a level 2. The closest level 3 is right by my home lol. With a Silverado EV, since it’s the one that has the most range, I’m looking at adding almost a full day and a half of travel. I need it to be at 100% to have a chance to go in the bush and making it back and then I need to charge it to 100% again as I need to make it back home. There’s no charger between the level 2 and where I live.

I’m usually towing both ways when I go. This trip was actually an easier trip than usual since I was only towing for half of it.

Most of Canada is actually empty and pretty remote, we tend to live close to the US border, but as soon as you head north, there’s pretty much nothing.
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You sure have that correct. Once you head north in most of Canada there’s a lack of a lot of things.
I’m in south eastern Ontario and good luck finding fast charging north of highway 7 in my area. There are some level 2 chargers in that area (campgrounds etc) but not a lot of level 3. I looked at the charging map and a lot of these remote charging locations have only 1 or 2 ports.
It comes down to what your needs are and how much of an inconvenience it would be to you.
I’m curious what rate people have been seeing when they fast charge on the road?
I’ve seen YouTube videos of people paying $.40 USD per kWh for charging. Is this a normal rate?
 
James-kd2cm said:
You sure have that correct. Once you head north in most of Canada there’s a lack of a lot of things.
I’m in south eastern Ontario and good luck finding fast charging north of highway 7 in my area. There are some level 2 chargers in that area (campgrounds etc) but not a lot of level 3. I looked at the charging map and a lot of these remote charging locations have only 1 or 2 ports.
It comes down to what your needs are and how much of an inconvenience it would be to you.
I’m curious what rate people have been seeing when they fast charge on the road?
I’ve seen YouTube videos of people paying $.40 USD per kWh for charging. Is this a normal rate?
Click to expand...

We are .22 -.40 per kwh in the greater Seattle area, level 3.
 
James-kd2cm said:
You sure have that correct. Once you head north in most of Canada there’s a lack of a lot of things.
I’m in south eastern Ontario and good luck finding fast charging north of highway 7 in my area. There are some level 2 chargers in that area (campgrounds etc) but not a lot of level 3. I looked at the charging map and a lot of these remote charging locations have only 1 or 2 ports.
It comes down to what your needs are and how much of an inconvenience it would be to you.
I’m curious what rate people have been seeing when they fast charge on the road?
I’ve seen YouTube videos of people paying $.40 USD per kWh for charging. Is this a normal rate?
Click to expand...
I’m actually north of highway 7 hahahaha.
 
Fightnfire said:
We are .22 -.40 per kwh in the greater Seattle area, level 3.
Click to expand...
I did some searching looks like it can vary from .29 to .70 CAD here depending if it’s at peak time or not. Unfortunately some stations charge by the time at the charger and not by how many kWh of energy you received. If I had an EV I would be avoiding those stations.
There is no signage apparently for the rates or how they are charged you have to look in the app.
 
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