The Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray Is a Lightning-Quick Hybrid

The Chevrolet Corvette Stingray did a 180-degree spin in 2020 when it was redesigned with its engine behind the driver for the first time in history.It was a radical move that ruffled the feathers of the Corvette faithful but turned out to be exactly what the 67-year-old sports car needed.Sales went through the roof and Chevrolet has been having trouble keeping up with demand ever since. Any talk of its retirement has been delayed indefinitely.Now Chevrolet has put a motor back in front of the car, but it didn’t take the other one out.A detail of the 2024 Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray. Courtesy ChevroletThe 2024 Corvette E-Ray is the first hybrid Corvette, but it’s not mainly about fuel efficiency.Chevrolet kept the Stingray’s 495 hp V8 driving the rear wheels and installed a 160 hp electric motor between the front wheels.The result is also the first all-wheel-drive Corvette, so plan your Alaskan vacations accordingly.A 1.9 kWh battery mounted down the center of the vehicle charges under braking, and then uses the captured energy to help accelerate. With four tires to work with, the Corvette E-Ray has no trouble finding traction for its 655 hp combined output and can hit 60 mph in 2.5 seconds. That makes it not just the quickest Corvette ever, but the quickest vehicle General Motors has ever built. It will also cover a quarter-mile in just 10.5 seconds, which is similarly elite speed.The rear of the 2024 Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray. Courtesy ChevroletExperiencing this kind of acceleration is truly an out-of-body experience, as your soft tissue feels like it is trying to tear off your skeleton as it zips away from a standstill. The sound the car makes is unlike any other Corvette’s, as it blends the V8 exhaust with a digitally enhanced electric motor whirr.Despite all that, The Corvette E-Ray is set up to be more of a comfortable grand touring car than a track attacker. It has trunks in the rear and under the nose, computer-controlled suspension can provide near-luxury comfort and the interior is roomy enough for passengers taller than six feet before you even take the removable roof panel off. There’s also a hardtop convertible version that can do that for you. NBA power forward mode engaged.The Corvette E-Ray’s price starts at an eye-popping $106,595 for the coupe and $113,595 for the convertible, but they can be optioned much higher than that. A fully loaded example with features like a set of $15,500 carbon fiber wheels will put it near $140,000. That’s still a lot less than the quarter-million European supercars it aims to compete with, none of which can deliver this kind of power and performance and still get 19 mpg.While it’s not a plug-in hybrid that can normally operate in a fully electric mode, it can for short distances at low speeds. There is a Shuttle setting that limits it to 15 mph for quietly moving it around garages and parking lots emissions-free, as long as there’s some charge in the battery, and a Stealth mode that can do that up to 45 mph for up to a couple of miles until you run out of juice. It will kick in the V8 if you press firmly on the accelerator, however.The interior of the 2024 Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray. Courtesy ChevroletOn the other end of the speedometer, the electric motor only operates up to 150 mph, after which the Corvette E-Ray reverts to being a V8-powered rear wheel drive car up until its top speed of 183 mph.The Corvette E-Ray seems like a fitting bridge to the future, as General Motors has announced plans to launch more hybrids as the EV adoption rate slows down. There is talk of an all-electric Corvette coming in the future, but the Corvette E-Ray makes for a nice present.

The Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray Is a Lightning-Quick Hybrid

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