GM Confirms Hybrid, Electric Corvette Variants on the Way
It wasn’t really secret at all, but now it’s official: General Motors president Mark Reuss confirmed on Monday that hybrid and fully electric variants of the Chevrolet Corvette are on the way.
The former will launch in 2023, most likely as a 2024 model, while the latter will follow about a year later.
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Back in the summer of 2020, several Corvette engineers were moved from the Global Products Programs team to the Autonomous and Electric Vehicles program team. A couple of weeks earlier, the Internet went crazy after future U.S. president Joe Biden posted a video in which he said Chevy was making an electric Corvette that can go two hundred miles an hour.
Reuss didn’t reveal the names of the electrified Corvette models that are coming up (one of them could be called E-Ray according to rumours) or specify whether the hybrid variant would be a plug-in. For what it’s worth, we do have this short preview:
According to information obtained by the Society of Automotive Engineers in March of last year, the hybrid Corvette will combine the Stingray’s 6.2-litre V8 engine (495 hp, 470 lb-ft.) with a pair of electric motors and generate a total of more than 600 horsepower.
As for the Corvette EV, Reuss unsurprisingly said it will use GM’s Ultium platform in a specifically developed performance car application.
"Our Ultium platforms are going to be our strength, and our pipeline is fully loaded. Here we come," he told CNBC.
Meanwhile, GM today announced the Ultium platform’s energy recovery system, a patented onboard system that takes the heat generated by the high-voltage batteries and other components and uses it to warm the cabin, speed up charging, increase acceleration and boost the vehicle’s range by about 10 percent.
Speaking of which, it’s still too early to get an idea of how far the future Corvette EV will be able to go on a full charge. As usual, keep following The Car Guide for the latest news on the Corvette.
