General Motors started with a regular-cab, short-box (6-foot (180 cm) bed) S-10 pickup, with a base-level trim package plus a half-tonneau cover.

The S-10 EV charges using the Magne Charger, produced by the General Motors subsidiary Delco Electronics.

The performance is much better for the 1998 model year with the nickel–metal hydride battery, at an approximately 90-mile (140 km) range and an acceleration time of 10.9 seconds at 50% charge.

This corresponds to the NiMH version of the vehicle having a 357-pound (162 kg) lighter battery pack than the lead-acid model.

Standard equipment for the S10 EV included an AM-FM stereo radio with two door-mounted speakers, air conditioning, a vinyl-and-cloth-trimmed bench seat, and dual airbags.

The S-10 EV was preceded by at least two commercially marketed S-10 electric vehicle conversions performed by third parties: While the standard S-10 moved to a redesigned front fascia in 1998, the S-10 Electric kept the same front fascia as the '94-'97, with the exception of composite headlamps in 1998 versus the previous year's sealed-beam headlamps.

The interior was also updated in 1998 along with internal combustion models, adding a passenger side airbag, a new AM-FM stereo radio, new instrumentation with a digital odometer and trip meter, a new bench seat design, new interior door panels, and a new steering wheel with airbag cover.

Aside from this header panel, a unique lower bumper valance, and a stylized 'Electric' decal on the bottom of the doors, there is little difference externally between the appearance of an Electric and a stock S-10.

Unlike the EV1, of the 492 S-10EVs assembled about 60 were sold to fleet customers,[2] rather than just leased through restrictive programs, mostly due to the prior Department of Transportation crashworthiness evaluations done on stock S-10 pickups.

The goals were to test the capability of that type of vehicle, to understand that customer base and see how this vehicle would fit that profile, and to test what relevance it would have to those customers' needsIn 2004 GM converted an S-10 EV to rear-wheel drive, using prototype in-wheel electric motors instead of an under-hood motor.