A Corvette is Now the World’s Fastest Street-Legal Electric Car

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Posted on 07 March 2016 by Zach Doell

                                  

No, you didn’t misread that. The poster child of V8 sports cars just set the mile record for the fastest street-legal electric car at 186.8 mph, that is… minus the V8 of course. 

 

Genovation Cars, a company which engineers battery electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, took a 2006 Chevrolet Corvette Z06, stripped away its 7.0-liter V8, and replaced it with an all-electric drivetrain. The result, which the firm calls its Corvette GXE, now boasts 700 horsepower, 600 lb.-ft. torque, and one very substantial speed record.

On February 23rd, the GXE raced down the runway at the Kennedy Space Center’s Shuttle Landing Facility, notching a top speed run with racer Johnny Bohmer at the wheel, the man behind the 300 mph Ford GT. Take a look at the highlight reel from that record-setting pass, below.

The record-setting run was officiated by the International Mile Racing Association, which confirmed the Corvette’s top speed over a previous record run of 177 mph. Genovation says the record was achieved on the first day of testing the Corvette GXE, and hopes to extract even more speed from the EV still.

You weren’t mistaken if you spotted some rather slick shift work too. That’s because the Corvette retains its six-speed manual gearbox in order to get the optimum performance out of its electric motor.

According to Autoblog, Genovation can build you an EV Corvette to these same specifications—noted to get around 130 miles of range in normal driving conditions—however its price is a rather large one. $330,000.