A curious spy photographer found something interesting while trolling the US Patent and Trademark office: a trademark, registered by GM, for the words “Corvette E-Ray.” What’s Chevrolet up to here? An electric ‘Vette-based concept car for the Detroit Auto Show? A hybrid Corvette? A mid-engined ‘Vette that runs on eggs?
Chances are pretty damn good the ‘E’ in ‘E-Ray’ stands for ‘electricity,’ not eggs or eels or evangelism. A reworking of the current C7 to be a hybrid seems sort of improbable, as does a production, all-electric Corvette, at least right now.
An electric concept Corvette, though, that seems like something that could be happening, right around the corner. With Teslas reminding everyone that electric cars can be ludicrously fast, and with companies like Porsche prepping new all-electric Tesla-fighting fast sports sedans, the idea of a two-seater electric sportscar can’t be far behind (I mean, there was the Tesla roadster already, even.)
So, my guess is this will most likely turn up first as a concept, and perhaps eventually there will actually be a production Corvette E-Ray. Maybe it will be electric, maybe it will be a high-performance hybrid.
Who knows? Nature has already provided a template, since an Electric Ray is already an existing animal; not some exotic concept animal you can only see at the Detroit Aquatic Animal Show, but an actual, available-now, ocean-dwelling Torpediniform.
These things can discharge up to 220 volts! That’s enough for a European wall outlet! I guess that means I need a step-down transformer if I want to plug any of my stuff into one. Good to know.
Contact the author at jason@jalopnik.com.