Chevy Silverado EV vs Rivian R1T: How two EVs managed the emblematic Mint 400 Off-Road Race

Something special went into the desert outside Las Vegas this weekend: two electric vehicles faced the Mint 400 for the first time.

Since the launch of Mint 400 in 1969, vehicles from this emblematic endurance race of the desert have been fed by dead dinosaurs. Spectators and participants in the race are used to the smell of racing fuel in the air, because everything, trucks of motivated Trophies in V8 to the humble of class 11 beetles, Volkswagen flies up, climbs on the rocks and goes flat on the dry bed.

Everything changed in 2024 when a group of friends entered an R1T rivian and the Mint Martelli Mint organizer created an EV production class. This year, Chevrolet has entered the game and entered the concept of Silverado EV ZR2 off -road truck, a modified version of its EV truck. The revelation of the concept occurs while Chevy is preparing to launch the Boss Silverado EV Silverado 2026, his first all-terrain-oriented variant, this summer.

While the Rivian is really an original truck, except for the 35 -inch improved BFGOODRICH tires, the Silverado EV has obtained a lot of special parts.

The longer control arms were taken from the Hummer EV to allow 13 inches of travel. The air suspension was nixed in favor of double coil springs at the front – with a spring rate of 1,600 pounds per inch – and single coil springs at the rear. They do not have to bear so much weight and to sit on “only” 978 pounds / inch. Hey, that’s what happens when a truck weighs nearly 10,000 pounds.

Tall Springs and 37 -inch BFGoodrich tires mean that the Silverado EV race truck is 15 inch from the ground. However, the truck itself is so large that I originally estimated it just 11 or 12 inches high. This is the power of proportion.

The tri-motor system is also taken from the hummer, with two engines at the back and one at the front. Chevrolet says that all together, they produce 1,100 horsepower and 11,500 pounds of torque.

However, do not be too jazz on this number of couple. Chevrolet talks about the wheels couple, which is not the measure that industry usually uses to talk about torque. The company has not abandoned all the figures to make the calculation, but it is sure to say that the engines produce more than 1,000 pounds of the substance. Still nothing to sneeze.

Chevy has not changed the 205 kWh battery. In the street truck which is good enough for 440 miles, in sufficient theory to run the four mint laps 400. However, the driving height, the size of the tires, the bearing strip and the air pressure, and the dirt weighs all.

Tim Demetrio, group director for off -road performance in Chevrolet, told me that in a limited amount of tests, the truck was on average 0.5 mile / kWh in dirt. But he did not really know how the battery and reader units would react to the hard races of the desert.

Not quite a square

The possibility of seeing Rivian and the Chevy Silverado EV, modified, the square of mint was disturbed by technicality. Although the two vehicles took place, they were in different classes.

The Rivian participated in the EV production class; La Chevrolet, as a vehicle that is not currently offered to the public, was in open class EV. And each truck was in a class of one.

Worse, the Rivian R1T was able to make two laps of the 73 -thousand course, the Chevrolet only one trick. It is common for production vehicles to obtain fewer laps than large trophies of trophies, but I hoped that the two trucks would manage for two laps to test both efficiency and load.

When I questioned Martelli on the gap, he said: “The Rivian has already run and ended a round in last year’s race. When we pass the new class, we try to mitigate them. We don’t want them to fail. It’s not good for anyone. So we try to manage this by giving them a little more each time. »»

Call it mint 73

As soon as the trucks came out of the starting line, I immediately ran to the Silverado Ev Chevrolet stock lent me to drive for the weekend.

The first pit is in Mile 21 race, and the initial part of the route is very fast. The teams can go flat on a lake bed, through a few sections of Whoops and tackle sandy washes. As I got to the first pit, I missed the truck.

The second area of ​​the pit is a quick training for Chase vehicles, but the Chevy only has to cross 16 miles of racing routes. We found a place to park just in time to see the Silverado evolve silently at the corner of the area of ​​the pit in a cloud of dust.

The truck crossed the finish line with a 40%load state. This means that it was on average 0.6 miles / kWh – a little better than the team expected. It took the team for 2 hours and 10 minutes to finish the route, so their average speed was around 34 miles per hour. Not too shabby for a big truck.

Pilot Chad Hall and co -pilot Mark Stielow were in a good mood after the race.

“We have just navigated,” said Stielow “no problem at all.”

For Rivian, it’s Mint 146

After leaving the Chevy, I highly have Hightail at Electrify America to check the Rivian.

Yes, the Rivian must load its 149 kWh battery to do the two laps and fortunately, there is a 350 kW charger just a quarter of the race course. The team only has to enter and leave the course at the same point.

I arrived on a controlled chaos scene.

The R1T blew up an air spring at the racing mile. The team was busy repairing it while the truck loaded.

The driver Nick Paris told me that they arrived at the charging station with 20% load of charge, putting their efficiency in turn 1 at the same 0.6 miles / kWh as the heavier silverado.

He admitted having a little lead, hitting 110 miles per hour on the dry bed. “We saw the Chevy before us,” said Co -Pilot Brett Rieseer. “And we said” let’s go “and zoooop!” The Rivian made the pass and the race was on.

90%charged, the Rivian left in its second round. The vehicle blew up a shock absorber, but was not broken for 15 minutes.

The Rivian team arrived at the finish line with a charge state of 10% and despite the thrust of the truck at 128 miles per hour on the lake bed, their efficiency on the turn 2 remained 0.6 miles / kWh.

With their died time, it is difficult to get an average speed, but I would put it a little slower than the Chevrolet. Chad Hall is, after all, a professional race truck driver. The Rivian team is only a lot of deliciously cheesy corsairs.

Anyway, since the two trucks have finished, the two are considered to be classy winners and will win a first place trophy.

Where are Ford, Jeep, Tesla?

Although the battery density and load infrastructure mean that these electric platforms will not be competitive with ice racing cars and trucks, there is certainly room for more electric vehicles to enter the fray to test their load, their scope and durability.

Ford Performance – When you all enter lightning? Hey Jeep, how about entering a wagoner next year? Heck, I would even be in favor of the uncle Elon entering a cybertruck. GMC can throw hummer, maybe Porsche could line up a Taycan cross. I helped Volkswagen get the ID4 on the finish line in Baja in Mexican 1000 a few years ago, so bring this little guy too. Imagine the spectacle of all these vehicles that fight for the supremacy of electric dirt.