Sitting behind the wheel of his Goodwood Green 1967 Corvette, Biden says: “I believe we can re-own the 21st century market by moving to electric cars. And, by the way, they tell me, and I look forward to – if it’s true – to drive one, that they make an electric Corvette [that] can go 200 miles per hour. “
The ad caused an uproar among car industry insiders: Did Joe Biden just reveal that General Motors is making an electric Corvette that can go 200 miles per hour?
Maybe. But maybe not.
Asked about Biden’s comments, a GM spokesman declined to comment on the allegations.
“As you know, GM has committed itself to an all-electric future and we are excited to see where that will lead us in the future,” GM spokesman Kevin Kelly said in an email.
Even if GM is working on an electric Corvette, that does not necessarily mean it will be based on the current Corvette model. Until the 1996 EV1, GM has from the beginning shown a preference for designing electric cars rather than electric ones instead of adapting earlier petrol-powered models. (There were exceptions, such as the Chevrolet S-10 EV pickup from that era, but it was clearly an exception.)
The Corvette is meant to be a platform for GM engineers to see their best work. It then seems likely that it will not be an all-electric version of a car that was originally designed to be a petrol-powered V8 – does not matter how good that sports car is. My bet is that an electric Corvette will come later, and that it will only be engineered and produced as a fully electric plug-in sports car.
But what if Biden by “making” meant that these cars were assembled today? If that’s what he meant, he’s not talking about General Motors.
Who else could make a Corvette though? Well, no one else, because this would be trademark infringement. But there’s a Rockville, Maryland-based company called Genovation that has been developing an electric car based on the latest generation Corvettes for a few years now.
The Genovation GXE is a front-engine seventh-generation Corvette with the engine replaced by batteries and it can indeed go more than 200 miles per hour, according to the company. The GXE has two electric motors that produce a maximum of 800 horsepower.
Spokesmen for the Biden campaign did not say which company or car Biden is talking about. A spokeswoman only noted that concept over an electric Corvette has been around for a long time.
It seems likely, however, considering the 200-mile-per-hour detail that Biden was talking about on the Genovation GXE. In which case the Democrat The candidate’s promising future – at least in terms of an electric Corvette – is already here.
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