BY COLLIN WOODARD
The Chevrolet Corvette Z06 is no longer the most powerful Corvette you can buy, but it’s still an absolute monster on the track. Well, at least it is now that Chevrolet seems to have fixed some of its early issues. But what would happen if a mad genius ripped out the Z06’s engine, added an electric powertrain, and gave it more power than the new Corvette ZR1? Well, you’d have the Genovation GXE.
Genovation says its goal is to show that electric vehicles don’t have to be dull transportation appliances and can instead be legitimate performance vehicles that are truly fun to drive. To do this, the team has built an all-electric Corvette it calls the GXE that makes 800 hp and 700 lb-ft of torque. Genovation says its Franken-vette can hit 60 mph in less than three seconds and has a top speed of more than 220 mph.
Those figures are nothing to sneeze at, especially considering that Genovation says the GXE will come with an optional manual transmission if you don’t want the paddle-shifted automatic. So if you want, you’ll be able to shift your own gears behind the wheel of an 800-hp Corvette. Whether you like electric cars or not, that’s pretty awesome.
There are, however, two downsides to the Genovation GXE. Since there’s a limited amount of space for batteries in a sports car that was never designed to be electrified, the GXE only has a range of around 130 miles. And the price of this 800-hp electric Corvette is absolutely astronomical. It’ll take $750,000 to put one of the 75 planned GXEs in your garage.
To make the cost of the GXE more palatable, though, Genovation says it will offer bespoke paint and a custom-tailored interior that will fit each customer’s requirements. Then again, for that kind of money, that kind of service is pretty much a requirement.
Look for the production-spec Genovation GXE to debut next month at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
Source: Genovation
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