Unfortunately for everyone on the forum my car is still waiting to be picked up for shipment which means I'm not driving it. This means all I do is think about driving it, track it via onstar in hopes the delivery company gets their earlier, surf corvette forum, watch YouTube C7 videos, and think about how to make the car faster

So, since I'm extremely busy I was thinking about something crazy today.

After watching the F1 race in Bahrain I turned on the formula E race in long beach. I thought it was pretty cool the FIA now has electric car racing. It shows progression in tech which I love. Put that together with an earlier experience where I test drove a tesla and almost bought one over a C7 after falling in love with the instant torque and boom! There it was. The idea hit my brain and started to grow. What if I drove my new corvette too hard and the engine where to blow, the warranty had expired, I had a couple million sitting around, and my schedule continued to stay as busy as it is today, how would I build an electric C7?

Before I get into my idea, it should be known I am super excited about my new car. I think Tommy Jr. Is going to block my number because I keep texting him all the time checking the status of my delivery. I love the roar of a V8, the LT1 and A8 are a great combo and I can't wait to get off the forum and drive! I'm about cool tech while at the same time having amazing performance. So please don't debate NA vs EV. This was just a random thought for some fun chat.

So here was my train of thought. Initially I wanted to replace the engine with a motor and bolt it right to the A8 where the engine was. The question then came up in my mind, where would I put the batteries so they were accessible for Mx while at the same time keeping a low CG, and the car balanced. I thought of having two power packs. One in the front and the other in the rear. A carbon fiber plate protecting the packs from road debris. Then I started to rethink things. We all know there is efficiency loss in automatic transmissions, what if we were to remove the engine and transaxle completely. What if we put the motor where the transaxle was a have a direct drive. Or what if we did this setup with a high and low gear. We could then put the batteries in the center tunnel. I have no idea how much batteries and motors weigh but I'm pretty sure they would be heavier than the engine and transaxle. So we would need to probably beef up the suspension but the weight trade might be negligible. Our team of imaginary engineers could just strip the C7 and put it on a bathroom scale to figure out the weight reduction and we could use the weight ratings from the FedEx label to track the new parts going on.

We could probably start stripping a lot of stuff that wouldn't be needed since there is no engine. We would need to add in a heater and some AC but who needs comfort Most importantly, we would have to add some big bose speakers where the exhaust was and Program some LT1 engine notes from track mode to blast whenever we hit the go fast peddle. I could go to night school and learn to write some software code to manage the electric drivetrain so that's covered.

What do you guys think? Is it feasible? Keep in mind we would want at a minimum the same performance of a Z06. So let's get the big motor
I'm game for building it in my garage at night if you guys want to come hangout. We'll find an investor and make sure beer and tequila is included so we can get the job done quickly without over thinking things.

Happy Monday everyone!

 

nah

 

It will not happen. We'll get a mid-engine car first (and that won't happen either).

 

You must have just read my subject line and not the message.

 

Go for it. I'll stick with the regular old V8 gasoline engine but I wouldn't be surprised if there were eventually at least a hybrid setup in the Vette.

 

Tadge Juechter said in an interview, or perhaps in response to a forum question, that Corvette will be the last car to convert to electric. Who knows what the future will hold but for now its not going to happen.

 

C7 = V8. Simple math!

 

 

My father use to say" you can have anything you want all you have to do is pay for it" of course you can replace your V8 with electric

 

I can see The Corvette getting an electric motor assist in the future if only to keep pace with the other world class sports cars. Unfortunately, that change will likely spell the end of a V8 in the car.

 

The Roadster sold 2500 cars , a dismal failure.

The Tesla S can on one or two runs n keep up with a C7 in the 1/4 mile but soon the batteries become an issue as they decline. Overheating a real problem on the Nurburgring, when a Tesla S finally completed a lap the number was in the 9's, some trucks have done it faster. Many tries though as the original runs suffered from the batteries over heating and the software lowering output, pretty sad. The Tesla S weighs as much as a Ford Explorer thanks to the batteries needed. Really what is the point? In no way does a Tesla S compare to the C7 except in a very limited one or two run out of the hole performance.

http://insideevs.com/expected-tesla-...l-power-video/

The E cars on the F1 circuit have a top speed of 140 mph and change cars after 25 minutes as the batteries are shot. They use two cars in each 50 min race. Not exactly race car performance.

You don't have enough money to create a EV C7 that can match a Z06 in any way. Unless you think 1 or 2 runs on a 1/4 mile is sufficient, hardly. The Tesla is more sizzle than steak.


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I guess I should have rephrased my post. I'm curious about the engineering, not if it will happen. Who cares if it happens or not. We are all car guys who love mechanics. How could you take a C7 strip it, add what needs to be added, and make it as fast or faster than a z06? This is meant to be a creative conversation not a debate if we would like an electric vet or not.

I added my thoughts about how I would try setting it up above. How would you guys build it?

 

I'm saying you can't , the batteries are just too heavy. You can't get a fast durable car given todays technology limitations that will handle thru the corners and provide V8 like performance over a period than longer than a few minutes. That is why I mentioned the weight of the Tesla S, the performance the issues they had in Germany making it thru the Nurburgring, this guy had billions to build that one.

 

Well, if that's what you want to know, its already been done and the Corvette set a world record for an all electric street legal car.
http://www.autoblog.com/2016/03/05/e...-record-video/

 

This was exactly what I saw that made me think we could design a better car using the C7. I thought the car change was pretty boring. I think the FIA should make the teams replace the power supply, charge, or do something that happens with the driver sitting in the car. Allowing for drivers to change cars doesn't allow for progress. Putting a requirement in that made the teams think outside the box to re-power the car does.

I was thinking with the C7 if you put the batteries in the torque tube you could easily design a system that allowed them to drop out the pack for a quick changed during a race. Maybe have the car jack up, a specialized dolly goes under which releases the pack and locks onto the dolly, the team slides the dolly to the side, and on the other end of the dolly is a new pack the team puts back in the car. In theory could be done in less than 5-6 seconds if designed properly.

 

That E Vette again did that for a very short time frame, it's a 100 meter sprinter , put it in the 400 m and it dies. My point about E vehicles , their track performance sucks. All we hear about is these quick runs , mostly straight line performance, anything more than a few miles , the batteries die. How can you put one of those up against a Z06 as a comparison? That was the original question...the technology, the batteries just aren't there yet.

On the E Vette...
The car has a range of 130 miles during normal driving operation with a near 50/50 weight distribution and is optimized for a low center of gravity.

Here an electric Miata does 142 mph in the 1/4 , not really a big deal but the batteries are good for one run ....

 

An electric C7, don't think so but there maybe an electric C8 someday.

 

I can think of a lot of better investments.

Then again, if you really like throwing money away, go for it.

 

There is at least one guy that has done it with a C4. Has upgraded the motor, batteries, etc a few times.

I would rather do it with a kit car like a Factory Five GTR or 818 for example before I tore apart a C7.

 

I would put the batteries where the engine compartment is and follow the drivline to the rear with them. I don't think you need a transmission do you?

Since we are dreaming maybe a bench seat lol?