C8 Corvette E-Ray Powertrain Technology: New Details Revealed
C8 Corvette E-Ray will be the most advanced Corvette ever. It will also be the furthest departure from the traditional Corvette.
Ah the Corvette. Front-engine, rear-wheel drive, V8-powered American sports car. It is a formula that you can set your watch to. It has been the same general recipe for decades. With the C8 Stingray that all changed. Well, not quite all of it. It thankfully retained V8 power, and it is still rear-wheel drive. However, that big V8 no longer lives up front.
With the move to a mid-engine design the Corvette suddenly went from sports car to super car. The Corvette went from hunting Porsches to hunting Ferraris. And we are talking just the base Stingray model. Once the Z06 hits the streets, that monster will have the chops to go up against even hyper cars. Following on the heels of the Z06 is going to be the Corvette E-Ray and that is going to blow the whole traditional Corvette formula out of the water.
The folks over at Muscle Cars & Trucks have learned a bit more about the details that will make the E-Ray such a different Corvette. Are you ready for an all-wheel drive, electrified, hybrid Corvette? If not, you better get ready because it is coming.
It appears that Chevrolet is going to let the Z06 be the racetrack dominator. They seem poised to make the Corvette E-Ray more of the grand tourer in the Corvette lineup. That doesn’t mean it will be a performance slouch by any means. Let’s dig into the details that Muscle Cars & Trucks recently shared.
The Corvette E-Ray is expected to be visually similar to the Z06 model. It will wear the same wider body and similar front fascia. However, the E-Ray will have different wheels and no center exhaust outlet at the rear. The hybrid Corvette will also eschew many of the high-performance options found on the Z06.
There will be no cup tires or high-downforce rear wing. That makes sense, as you hardly need those if you are simply driving the E-Ray to visit your in-laws in the next state. So that is what the E-Ray won’t get, but what will it have?
Well, for one it is destined to be a global car, so it will be built in both LHD and RHD configurations. The Tremec 8-speed dual clutch automatic transmission will remain. It will also retain the 6.2L LT2 V8, which will develop the same horsepower it does in the base Stingray model. However, the E-Ray will complement the V8 with a battery pack and motors which should push the total output to near 650 horsepower.
Now we are talking. And helping to put all that power down is going to likely be the first all-wheel drive system ever fitted to a Corvette. Chevy engineers benchmarked the E-Ray against the Acura NSX which is another all-wheel drive hybrid sports car. So, it makes sense the E-Ray would follow the same recipe.
The battery pack in the E-Ray will run through the spine of the chassis. The drivetrain will incorporate a fully electronic front axle, which was described as an “e-booster.” This is designed to allow the E-Ray to travel on electric power only up to about 35 mph. Just like the $625,000 Ferrari S90 Stradale.
The E-Ray might not be a direct competitor to the Ferrari but it likely won’t be too far behind in the performance department despite being way behind in the price department. A price for the E-Ray has not been announced but we highly doubt it will be even a third of the price of the Ferrari.
As far as on road performance goes, there is still much that remains unknown. However, consider the base Stingray can go from rest to 60 mph in under 3 seconds. The Corvette E-Ray will likely be quite a bit heavier than the base car. But it will have about 150 more horses under the hood and all-wheel drive to get it off the line.
We expect the E-Ray could hit 60 in the low 2-second range. Not bad for a grand tourer. However, it is likely that the E-Ray will not hit the market quite that fast. With chip shortages still wreaking havoc, it is tough to provide a definitive timeline.
However, the plan is to reveal the car in 2023 as a 2024 model. No matter when it arrives, it will be a Corvette like we have never seen before.
Photos: General Motors
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