The battery-powered ‘Vette is dubbed GXE, an acronym that stands for Genovation Extreme Electric. Official pictures have not been published yet because the car is still being built, but the automaker hints that the GXE started life as a 2006 Corvette Z06 (pictured).
Although technical details are vague at best, Genovation promises it is using state-of-the-art inverters, batteries, and electric motors to zap the drive wheels with over 700 horsepower and 600 foot-pounds of torque. As a result, the eco-friendly ‘Vette will be able to sprint from zero to 60 mph in about three seconds and go on to a top speed of at least 200 mph.
By comparison, the C6 Z06’s LS7 V8 engine made 505 horsepower at 6,300 rpm and 470 foot-pounds of torque at 4,800 rpm, enough to send the 3,147-pound coupe from zero to 60 mph in 3.5 seconds and on to a top speed of nearly 200 mph. In other words, the GXE is considerably more powerful than the stock Z06 but it’s not a whole lot faster, at least not on paper.
The Z06’s near-perfect weight distribution has been retained, while the addition of a battery pack has lowered the center of gravity. The GXE will be capable of driving for up to 150 miles on a single charge.
Once it’s completed, Genovation’s GXE prototype will immediately enter a three-week testing phase in order to put all of the electric components through their paces. If everything checks out, it will embark on a tour of race tracks all around the nation in a bid to set new records for street-legal electric cars. Notably, Genovation aims to shatter the 177-mph top speed record, which was set last summer by a Finnish prototype car.
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