Joe Biden Hints at “200-Mph Electric Corvette” and the Internet Goes Crazy
Joe Biden, the Democratic candidate to the upcoming U.S. presidential election, appears in a new campaign video where he claims that the country “can own the 21st century market again by moving to electric vehicles.”
An avid Chevrolet Corvette enthusiast (he still drives the second-gen 1967 Corvette Convertible his father gave him as a wedding present), the former U.S. vice president under Barack Obama makes a specific statement that sent the sports car community and the media into a frenzy for the past couple of days.
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"And by the way, they tell me that they're making an electric Corvette that can go two hundred miles an hour. You think I'm kidding? I'm not kidding," he says with a laugh at the end.
Does Joe Biden have inside information we don’t? Back in December of last year, Corvette chief engineer Tadge Jeuchter admitted that a battery-powered Corvette is inevitable at some point, though he couldn’t be more specific.
Of course, it’s easy to play with words. Biden may have alluded to an electric Corvette simply because it has one or more electric motors, but it could actually be just a hybrid. In fact, the latest rumours point to the next ZR1 going hybrid.
We hear it would get a twin-turbo V8 engine and two electric motors in an all-wheel drive setup. Output could exceed 850 horsepower, roughly 100 more than the current ZR1 and a new best mark for a production Corvette. And let’s not forget the 1,000-horsepower Corvette ZORA hybrid that’s reportedly in the works and coming in 2025.
As for the speed Biden refers to, it’s no big deal. After all, the Corvette ZR1 already achieves 212 mph (341 km/h). The new 495-horsepower 2020 Corvette Stingray, meanwhile, can reach 194 mph (312 km/h).
Whether as a hybrid or fully electric car, the Corvette’s future will include electrification. We’re anxiously waiting for a battle between Chevy’s sports car and the upcoming Tesla Roadster, which is apparently going to unleash 1,000 horsepower and sprint from 0-100 km/h in two seconds—or 1.1 second when equipped with SpaceX-developed cold-gas thrusters.