Tuesday, July 14, 2015

High-Performance, 100%-Electric Corvette Almost Here

Concept Cars 2006-chevy-corvette-z06-orange

Published on July 14th, 2015 | by Zachary Shahan

Unfortunately, it's not "almost here" in the way that we have any actual photos to share, but Genovation Cars tells us that it is almost done with the prototype of a high-performance, 100%-electric Corvette it is calling the Genovation Extreme Electric (GXE).

2006-chevy-corvette-z06-orange

A 2006 Z06 Corvette.

For the gearhead-gone-electrichead among you, I imagine you just drooled on your shirt. Keep the mouth shut until we have some actual pictures, eh?

The GXE prototype will reportedly be completed by the end of this month, then it will be tested for 3 weeks, then it will be taken to some raceways to strut its stuff, and then it will be given to Gas2 for our great service to society (I wish).

If you thought "high-performance" and "Extreme Electric" were shameless attempts at hyperbole, maybe reconsider. The Genovation team aims to set lap records for a street-legal electric car — something not at all easy to do these days. In the fall, the team wants to set a record for highest top speed by a street-legal electric car. The current record, set last summer by a prototype electric car out of Finland, is 177 mph (285 km/h).

If the GXE survives all of that, it will be on display in Michigan in September at the Electric Vehicle Technology Expo (note that sister sites EV Obsession and CleanTechnica are media partners for that).

"The GXE is based on a 2006 Z06 Corvette," Genovation notes. "The car will have a range of 150 miles during normal driving operation and will have a near 50/50 weight distribution while being optimized for a low center of gravity."

"We are using state of the art inverters, batteries and electric motors that will produce in excess of 700-hp and 600 lb-ft of torque," said Genovation CEO Andrew Saul. "We expect the car to achieve 0-60 mph in around three seconds and have a top speed of over 200 mph. And, most of the parts are designed and built in America."

I certainly wouldn't call this a "Tesla fighter," and imagine it won't really compete with any Tesla models on cost and the built-in tech package (if it ever gets to market), but it'll be awesome to see another street-legal electric car out there with such a high level of performance. And I imagine it will excite many a Corvette fan.

Image via Super Chevy

Tags: 2006 Z06 Corvette, corvette, Genovation Cars, Genovation Extreme Electric, GXE

About the Author

Zachary Shahan is the director of CleanTechnica, the most popular cleantech-focused website in the world, and Planetsave, a world-leading green and science news site. He has been covering green news of various sorts since 2008, and he has been especially focused on solar energy, electric vehicles, and wind energy since 2009. Aside from his work on CleanTechnica and Planetsave, he's the founder and director of Solar Love, EV Obsession, and Bikocity. To connect with Zach on some of your favorite social networks, go to ZacharyShahan.com and click on the relevant buttons.


Source: High-Performance, 100%-Electric Corvette Almost Here

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