Chevy electrifies Corvette with $128,798 E-Ray awd hybrid

DETROIT — Chevrolet is giving the Corvette all-wheel drive and a hybrid powertrain for the first time, but it's not quite ready to make the famed sports car fully electric.

The Corvette E-Ray, available later this year as a 2024 coupe model, will start at $128,798, Chevy said Tuesday. It will be available in removeable roof coupe and hardtop convertible models. Pricing includes shipping.

The E-Ray will be the quickest Corvette yet, according to Chevy, capable of accelerating from zero to  60 mph (96 km/h) in 2.5 seconds. That's one-tenth of a second faster than the track-ready Corvette Z06, which costs several thousand dollars more.

It features an eAWD system with a 160-hp electric motor over the front axle and a 495-hp, 6.2-litre small-block V-8 powering the rear wheels for a combined 655 hp — making the E-Ray the "Swiss Army knife" of Corvettes, said Bradford Franz, marketing director for Chevy cars and crossovers.

"It can perform in all weather conditions," Franz said. "It's a bridge to the future, if you will. This is just a fantastic opportunity for us to take this and push this Corvette brand somewhere it's never been."

General Motors, which is rolling out electric versions of several popular nameplates this year, has confirmed it is developing a fully battery-powered Corvette as well. Officials wouldn't say when that car will arrive.

"We're certainly on the road to that, but in the meantime we have a lot of technology bandwidth that we can still unpack with Corvette," said Steve Majoros, Chevy's marketing director.

The E-Ray is 3.6 inches — or 9.1 centimetres — wider and about 200 pounds — or 90 kilograms — heavier than the standard Corvette Stingray. Its compact electric motor preserves space in the front storage compartment, Chevrolet said, while an active fuel management system can operate the V-8 engine in four-cylinder mode to boost efficiency. It channels the extra 160 hp and 125 pound-feet of torque through the front wheels via a 1.9-kilowatt-hour battery pack located between the seats.

Drivers can start the car in Stealth Mode to silently exit their neighborhood on battery power at up to 45 mph.

Chevy decided not to make the E-Ray a plug-in hybrid, instead designing it to recharge the battery mostly during coasting, braking and normal driving.

"Plug-in hybrids are designed more for energy and range," said Mike Kutcher, lead development engineer for the Corvette. "The mission of this vehicle was performance, performance, performance. Every kilogram or pound and gram had to earn its way in from a mass standpoint."

The E-Ray's battery pack is sourced from LG, though development of the car predates GM's Ultium Cells joint venture with LG. GM will build the car at its Corvette assembly plant in Bowling Green, Ky.