An electrified Corvette and an all-electric Corvette have been officially announced! We have a few details and video!
The electrified Corvette will have an all-wheel drive system that appears to be similar to the one used in the Acura NSX. That is to say, it will have a conventional real transaxle hooked up to a gas engine. The big difference is the electric motor that powers the front wheels. That’s why you’re seeing these images and videos taking place in the snow.
We don’t know if there will be a second motor/generator hooked up to the gas engine, nor do we know what type of gas engine will be offered. It’s a pretty good guess that it will be hooked up to either the LT2 6.2-liter ir LT6 5.5-liter V8. I’m going with the new 5.5-liter; but that’s just an opinion.
Finally, we are very curious if the Corvette hybrid will have a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) variant. On top of that, what kind of battery will GM use in the hybrid Corvette? Will it be a small Ultium battery, or something else? We added a quote below about some updates to the Ultium battery system as well.
All-Electric Corvette!
Yes, in the same announcement, the all-electric Corvette was mentioned as well. There is absolutely no information about the platform, power or anything else other than it will be powered by an Ultium battery system. Normally, the Ultium setup is a skateboard-like platform that is combined with the batteries. This is the setup used on the GMC Hummer EV, and the upcoming Chevrolet Silverado EV, but we expect it to be different with the Corvette. Some speculate that they will use a skateboard Ultium platform, and place a Corvette shell upon it. Other think that there is enough space with the current Corvette platform, to allow for a unique battery and motor setup.
Right now, there is only this vague announcement.
“Yes, in addition to the amazing new Chevrolet Corvette Z06 and other gas-powered variants coming, we will offer an electrified and a fully electric, Ultium-based Corvette in the future. In fact, we will offer an electrified Corvette as early as next year. Details and names to come at a later date. In addition, we also announced today Ultium Platform’s energy recovery system, a patented onboard system that takes the heat generated by EV batteries and uses it to warm the cabin, create more efficient charging conditions, and even increase vehicle acceleration. And it can boost the vehicle’s range by about 10%. It’s a perfect example of how developing a ground-up EV platform like Ultium enables unique features not easily done with a retrofit.“
GM President, Mark Reuss (Via: Linkedin)
