170,000 Chevy Silverado EV Reservations so far

[administrator]

GM has revealed that it currently holds more than 170,000 reservations for the Silverado EV.

Per GM's Q3 2022 earnings report, the number of Silverado EV reservations has increased from more than 150,000 in Q2 2022, and from 110,000 in Q1 2022.

Note however: according to a study preformed by Recurrent Auto, only 20 percent of Chevy Silverado EV reservations holders actually intend to purchase the Silverado EV that they have reserved.

 

[LLninja]

So they might get to my Silverado RST sooner than I expect. There must be a bunch of people who put in reservations for everything hoping to make a quick buck flipping it. On the other hand, I might very well get a Denali EV, then change my mind again if a Subyukonade EV gets announced.

 

[4sallypat]

GM has revealed that it currently holds more than 170,000 reservations for the Silverado EV.

Per GM's Q3 2022 earnings report, the number of Silverado EV reservations has increased from more than 150,000 in Q2 2022, and from 110,000 in Q1 2022.

Note however: according to a study preformed by Recurrent Auto, only 20 percent of Chevy Silverado EV reservations holders actually intend to purchase the Silverado EV that they have reserved.

Good news, but not sure about the conversion rate of 20%.

I think the people who put in a reservation and paid $100 are more likely to buy if offered to order.

Knowing that there is a percentage of those who did multiple reservations with different dealers to gain better chance at ordering and those duplicates will cancelled.

The Ford Lightning conversion (reservation to order) has been around 50%.

Many original reservation holders have either bought something else, finances changed, loss of liquid assets, family or job disruption, etc....

 

[Roy2001]

Note however: according to a study preformed by Recurrent Auto, only 20 percent of Chevy Silverado EV reservations holders actually intend to purchase the Silverado EV that they have reserved.

Depend on price. If they have plenty of trucks under $50k, they can sell a lot.

 

[LLninja]

Depend on price. If they have plenty of trucks under $50k, they can sell a lot.

Unfortunately, the first trucks coming out will likely be the RSTs at well over $110k fully optioned. That's a disturbing pattern that the manufacturers are doing, but when the demand is high, they can get away with it. The beancounters will want to maximize their profits based on the supply of lithium. The decontenting to get one of these below $50 might not be what you want.

 

[4sallypat]

Unfortunately, the first trucks coming out will likely be the RSTs at well over $110k fully optioned. That's a disturbing pattern that the manufacturers are doing, but when the demand is high, they can get away with it. The beancounters will want to maximize their profits based on the supply of lithium. The decontenting to get one of these below $50 might not be what you want.

Yup, the first ones out are usually the high end trims.

Look at the GMC Denali Sierra EV truck - $107,000 for first reservation holders - only for the Edition 1.

I wanted the base Elevation trim, but don't think that will materialize any time soon...

 

[LLninja]

Yup, the first ones out are usually the high end trims.

Look at the GMC Denali Sierra EV truck - $107,000 for first reservation holders - only for the Edition 1.

I wanted the base Elevation trim, but don't think that will materialize any time soon...

Normally I’d go for the 2025 model to let them work the gremlins out of the first model year, but I’m guessing the Sierra and Silverado are pretty much identical except for sheet metal, lights, styling, etc. I wish I got a reservation in for a Sierra EV, but forgot about the reveal and missed it. That’s OK, I really want a Subyukonade.

 

[WXman]

That 20% will decrease heavily after official pricing is released.

 

[LLninja]

That 20% will decrease heavily after official pricing is released.

Plus, over time, more options will reveal themselves causing people to choose something else. I am amazed that Tesla had the upper hand on electric vehicles, then did something so revolutionary that it delayed their Cybertruck release (it's the Model X with falcon wing doors all over again). I truly think they should have taken the Model S, stretched it, lifted it, and slapped on a traditional body and shipped it to get to the market quickly then introduce the CyberTruck as their truck 2.0. Similarly, where's the Roadster 2.0? It would be crazy if RAM were to beat CyberTruck to market with an EV truck.

 

[EVTrucking]

The conversion rate will mostly depend on the economy more than anything else.

GM is getting into the game rather late and are shot gunning release of a bunch models. Time will tell if this is a good approach or not.

Simultaneously, Tesla, Toyota, Stellantis will be launching their EV trucks while Ford and Rivian learn and build market share.

Lastly, while #of reservations indicates interest it is by no means a commitment by customer or by GM of anything else, hence the nominal fully refundable fee of $100.00. To further devalue the reservation is the insertion of dealerships and the fine print of dealerships setting the final price, hence greedily tacking on ADM.

The net IMO is that conversion rate, given global conditions, looming recession, competition, ADM, Range, immature charging network, price, GM reputation, continued introduction/supply of attractive ICE trucks(Big Oil will not go quietly into the night) will keep the conversion rate quite low.

 

[LLninja]

The conversion rate will mostly depend on the economy more than anything else.

GM is getting into the game rather late and are shot gunning release of a bunch models. Time will tell if this is a good approach or not.

Simultaneously, Tesla, Toyota, Stellantis will be launching their EV trucks while Ford and Rivian learn and build market share.

Lastly, while #of reservations indicates interest it is by no means a commitment by customer or by GM of anything else, hence the nominal fully refundable fee of $100.00. To further devalue the reservation is the insertion of dealerships and the fine print of dealerships setting the final price, hence greedily tacking on ADM.

The net IMO is that conversion rate, given global conditions, looming recession, competition, ADM, Range, immature charging network, price, GM reputation, continued introduction/supply of attractive ICE trucks(Big Oil will not go quietly into the night) will keep the conversion rate quite low.

Gotta wonder how many Cybertruck reservation owners are looking elsewhere because if Elon’s Twitter antics. I for one do not want to be first in line for any of these trucks, but am happy for others to be Guinea pigs and let us know how things work out. Waiting for second model year versions and some assurance that the wheels don’t fall off (Toyota’s EV had an early recall because of wheels falling off… legendary Toyota quality is no more).

 

[WXman]

I'm not the only one who just endured that winter storm with temperatures below zero, wind chills below minus 30, crippling wind, roads that were solid ice, and utility companies who were doing "rolling black-outs" because they couldn't meet energy demand. And the thought that crossed everyone's mind was: if 80% of our vehicles were EVs we'd be SCREWED.

My guess is reservation numbers are going to end up being heavily bloated, and actual buyers may be far less than 20% now that people are seeing that an EV world likely means no driving in winter not to mention an EV truck is 25-50% more money.

 

[LLninja]

I'm not the only one who just endured that winter storm with temperatures below zero, wind chills below minus 30, crippling wind, roads that were solid ice, and utility companies who were doing "rolling black-outs" because they couldn't meet energy demand. And the thought that crossed everyone's mind was: if 80% of our vehicles were EVs we'd be SCREWED.

My guess is reservation numbers are going to end up being heavily bloated, and actual buyers may be far less than 20% now that people are seeing that an EV world likely means no driving in winter not to mention an EV truck is 25-50% more money.

I don’t agree. Nearly every EV has the ability to program it to automatically charge at night instead of when you first plug in. So if we had 80% EVs, the power companies and the government could ask users to use that feature. This would allow power companies to not have to spin up generators during the days and spin them down at night. Nuclear reactors are hard to spin up and down, but if the overall usage was more level between daytime and nighttime usage, then they could run the reactor at a higher capacity and augment less with coal or natural gas. Same goes with hydroelectric. Obviously solar and wind are dependent on nature’s tendency to change weather patterns.

Plus rolling blackouts shouldn’t affect most EVs because people’s commutes are rarely at the EV’s max range. If I had a 200+ mile battery, I could end up charging less than once a week. A multi-day blackout might strand someone who is vacationing, traveling long distances., and cannot refill, but how many times does that happen? I’ve only experienced one multi-day blackout in my lifetime and that was because a tornado took out a power substation a few miles away and it took them awhile to find replacement parts. Most of our blackouts so far have been 10 min to 4 hours, which is a non-issue for EVs.

 

[Charjd]

I'm hoping that with all the interest (170000 reservations) and the competition, Chevy / GM finds a way to expedite the production and get them out faster than what they have said. Maybe there will be an end to all the shortages.

 

[LLninja]

I'm hoping that with all the interest (170000 reservations) and the competition, Chevy / GM finds a way to expedite the production and get them out faster than what they have said. Maybe there will be an end to all the shortages.

Having just retired from the tech industry and having weekly meetings about supply chain, the big boys making consumer electronics would pay a premium to buy up all the fab time at TSMC causing the smaller players to be pushed further to the right. It didn't help that the previous administration banned Chinese fabs - even though on the surface that seems to help American products, so many American products rely on some tiny part that they cannot get as the line became longer and longer at TSMC. Even Intel jumped in line to get key subcomponents to their parts made at TSMC because their own processes were stuck at 10 nm. Intel used to always make their own parts.

Finally, a whole bunch of companies started hoarding parts to shore up their supplies, even if they didn't need them immediately, further worsening the shortages. This caused side gray/black markets to materialize where well connected purchasers would trade parts that they hoarded for parts that they needed with other companies. Before all this, electronic component supply chains were well oiled machines accurately predicting demand and getting just in time supply to fulfill that demand. Combination of the pandemic, work stoppages, hoarding, transportation challenges, etc. just broke everything.

Long story short, GM faces the same challenges as everyone else in every industry that uses any electronics - everything from toys to cellphones to computers to LED light bulbs to that simple PCB board controlling a space heater. Don't count on any supply chain miracles anytime soon.