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JIM McGOWAN

JIM McGOWAN

2025 CORVETTE E-RAY: CHEVY’S CROWN JOULE ALL-ELECTRIC CORVETTE IS COMING. DO NOT RESIST.

In the interest of keeping up with current events, we thought you’d get a charge out of this news: Chevy’s legendary Corvette will not only be “electri ed” (suggesting a hybrid gas-and-electric driveline) as early as next year, but the company signaled that an all-electric Corvette is also en route. GM president Mark Reuss slipped this bombshell into an interview that aired on cable channel CNBC in April. Don’t act shocked.

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The C8’s chassis architecture was designed so that a module (consisting of electric motors, control hardware, and other components) could mount in the front; this was likely one of myriad reasons for moving the engine back behind the driver. This will give next year’s “electri ed” and the later allelectric Corvettes all-wheel-drive capability. Little is known about the Corvette EV, beyond it most likely debuting in 2024 for the ’25 model year. (Reuss would only admit that it would be coming “somewhere down the road,” which means it will be a while yet.) The electric Corvette could also adapt current nomenclature and be known as the E-Ray.

One key lies within GM’s ever-evolving Ultium battery. Supplied by LG, the Ultium cell uses a nickelcobalt-manganese-aluminum mix of metals but requires substantially less of the expensive element cobalt than past versions of similar batteries, which reduces costs and makes the switch to electric a nancially viable option. What’s more, spokespeople claim that repeated DC fast-charging won’t impact the battery’s ability to charge to a full 100 percent repeatedly. With costs seemingly under control, GM’s next goals are to make the batteries lighter and to expand their range. In a dozen years’ time, GM plans to have electri ed its entire passenger-car and light-truck eet.

Electricity is proving to be a boon to performance enthusiasts and as high-end European exotic marques gear up for the Continent’s upcoming internal-combustion ban after 2030, Corvette seeks to play its perennial role as spoiler, offering performance equal to or better than the European greats for a fraction of the price. Surely GM will tout how eliminating fossil fuels will help the environment, as well.

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