For 70 years, the Corvette has been an icon. While Chevrolet has flirted with all-wheel drive (AWD) in earlier concepts, it wasn't until 2015's E-Ray patent filing that excited the internet about an electric Corvette.
As it turns out, it's only half-electric; it's a hybrid. But beyond that significant distinction, it's hard to imagine anyone accurately predicting what this thing would be. With the E-Ray, Chevrolet has not only created an AWD Corvette and added 160 horsepower in the process but has also effectively pushed the Corvette into a new segment.
Or sub-segment, anyway. Chevrolet is positioning the E-Ray as a grand tourer, a subtle but important distinction from the Stingray, which is a sports car, and the Z06—a pure track-day terror. Chevy intended for the E-Ray to cover sports car duties and be more than capable on the track, but its primary remit is high-speed, high-performance, long-distance running.
As such, it has to be good on the highway. It has to be comfortable enough to stay seated as far as a gas tank will carry it. And it has to offer enough cargo space to bring enough luggage along for the ride. To see if it fit the bill, I headed out to Denver, Colorado, for a few days behind the wheel, on the road, and at the track.
Photo: Tim Stevens
When assembling the E-Ray specification, Chevrolet product planners picked quite liberally from the Corvette parts catalog to create a desirable specification on even base models.
The most significant part is the LT2 V8 engine, which makes 495 hp—up 5 hp from the base Stingray. Chevrolet's Magnetic Selective Ride Control adaptive suspension is standard here, as are carbon-ceramic brakes from Brembo. Chevy covers those brakes with 20-inch wheels up front and 21s at the rear, with Michelin Pilot Sport All Season 4 tires all around, measuring 275/30ZR20 in front and 345/25ZR21 at the back. However, summer-specific Pilot Sport 4 S tires are available for those who don't want 4-season capability or will be fitting snow tires for the winter.
Even the base 1LZ E-Ray, which starts at $104,495, includes all that. Stepping up to the 2LZ package brings the price up to $109,995. It adds a few niceties like a 14-speaker Bose sound system, front and rear high-definition cameras, and the track-focused Performance Data Recorder.
Finally, the $115,445 3LZ adds more leather and premium materials to the interior, like leather and carbon fiber, plus higher-end GT2 bucket seats.
I drove a 3LZ with $8,260 in primarily appearance-related options, including polished wheels, the Engine Appearance package, painted calipers, and chrome badging. It carried a $123,705 sticker price, including the $1,595 destination charge.
Photo: Tim Stevens
From the outside, there's little to differentiate the E-Ray from the other flavors of Stingray that have come before. The biggest clue will be the E-Ray badge just aft of those massive side intakes, but there are other indicators. The extra cooling demands of the electric system necessitated borrowing much of the Z06 bodywork, while you can also option out an Electric Blue stripe that is available only on the E-Ray. But beyond that, it's still a C8 here; love it or leave it.
Well into its third year of production, the eighth-generation Corvette still looks a bit too angular from most vantage points for my taste. However, outfitted with the right pairing of interior and exterior colors, it certainly will turn heads.
While Corvette engineers didn't radically change the look to accommodate the front electric motor, thankfully, they didn't change the interior layout either. Regarding cargo room, Chevy didn't alter the E-Ray's front trunk or "frunk." That, paired with the larger trunk out back, means 12.5 cubic feet of overall cargo space.
For better or worse, most things have stayed the same on the interior. Slot into the driver's seat, comfortable and supportive as ever, and you're still assaulted by the same line of buttons tracking from stem to stern, forming a barrier between driver and passenger. If that's not enough, a new button called Charge+ toggles maximum regeneration. This button instructs the car to do everything possible to fill up the 1.9-kWh battery in the transmission tunnel next to the driver's hip.
Beyond that, you can access everything through the same rotary mode knob next to the shift buttons or via the 8.0-inch touchscreen. Steering wheel controls are also there for changing the car's following distance. Still, without adaptive cruise control, it's not particularly useful here.
For a low, laid-back sports car, the Corvette offers generous room for two people, even tall, reasonably long-legged ones. Pop off the removable hardtop or opt for the convertible, and naturally, the headroom becomes even more commodious. But even with the roof on and with a helmet on, I barely fit. At six feet with short legs, that's a rare luxury for me.
Photo: Tim Stevens
Chevrolet builds its Infotainment 3 Premium system on the Android Automotive platform and, as such, offers easy access to all the wonders of the Google ecosystem. Sign in with your Google account, if you have one, and all your contacts will immediately be there, including recent destinations within Google Maps.
Google Maps itself is among the best ways out there to navigate. Having that baked right into the infotainment system is great. But, the issue is that Android Auto still lacks in many other apps. You can also run Android Auto or Apple CarPlay on your smartphone, enabling easy, wireless access to many more.
The infotainment experience is often disappointingly unresponsive, but it's undoubtedly flashy. Toggling between drive modes—Weather, Tour, Sport, Track, and Individual—results in a quick animation of a Corvette sweeping across the screen. Nice looking, yes, but also a bit distracting.
As you toggle through the modes, the gauge cluster behind the steering wheel also dynamically reconfigures, going from tame to race-ready along with the rest of the car. The reconfigurability of the displays and even the drive modes is quite remarkable, the E-Ray offering numerous levels of Sport and Track plus in-depth customization all along the way.
If you like fiddling with sliders, this is a car for you. And if you like safety, the E-Ray has you reasonably covered. While you must step up to the 3LZ to get rear cross-traffic warning, just about everything else is standard, including automatic emergency braking, blind-spot warning, and lane-keeping assistance. Again, adaptive cruise is not available here, but the car will warn you if you follow too closely.
Regarding passive safety, as of this writing, neither the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) nor the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has evaluated the C8 Corvette's crashworthiness.
Photo: Tim Stevens
I spent my two days in the E-Ray's saddle across road and track, with lengthy highway stretches in between. It's a broad set of challenges for any car but a particularly appropriate selection for this new Corvette meant to do double-duty as a track-day toy and long-distance cruiser.
We'll start on the track, which in this case was Pikes Peak International Raceway—an ornery little road course that winds through the infield of a one-mile oval. The track surface has seen better days, with patches and broken asphalt galore, but if anything, that just made it a better test for the traction-finding capabilities of the E-Ray's new AWD system.
At first, the E-Ray feels like a normal Stingray. Come in hot into a corner, and the car has that familiar tendency to slide wide, overloading the front tires and pushing out toward the outside of the track. So much so similar.
Usually, to fix this, you either need to lift off the throttle to get a little more weight on the nose or take the corner slower. In the E-Ray, the solution is to turn the wheel in even more and mash the throttle. Applying throttle spins up that electric front axle and, almost magically, pulls the nose back in towards the apex. Do it aggressively enough, and the result is a sudden bit of oversteer, easily corrected thanks to the Corvette's quick steering.
It's an odd way of driving, not unlike the approach required in the Acura NSX. Once you get your head around it, it's actually quite fun. Though you'll need to be patient for the first half of the corner, once you're clear of the apex, you can go mad with the power and let the car pull itself around.
Out on the road, that dynamic is less noticeable, but that's because I wasn't driving nearly so hard. Out there on public lanes, when not pushing as hard as I could, the E-Ray is as sweet as any other Corvette, turning in sharply and gripping ferociously. That's despite the E-Ray I tested rolling on all-season tires (Michelin Pilot Sport All Season 4, to be exact) and the E-Ray carrying 438 pounds of extra weight to support that front-axle electrification. Yes, that's a fair bit, but most of that comes from the battery, which Chevy placed down low in the center of the car. The balance, then, is virtually unchanged.
What you most certainly will notice, though, is the extra power. It's great on the track, of course. But the instant throttle response afforded by the electric motor means the E-Ray responds immediately to your input on the throttle, even if the 8-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission is currently spinning the wrong ratio. If it is, it's easy to fix. Tapping on the large, carbon-fiber shift paddles results in immediate effect from the transmission. But, left to its own devices in Tour mode, it's as calm and cool as any automatic.
If you want to be especially calm, the E-Ray's Stealth mode lets you sneak out of your driveway without firing up that LT2. Sadly, it requires an extensive process of holding the brake and fiddling with the mode knob, but once engaged, you can drive for a few miles at
up to 45 mph. No, not very far nor very fast, but again, that electric motor is there to help the E-Ray go and turn, and it's very good at that.
The 2024 Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray is an exciting choice. While the base Stingray is a compellingly attainable sports car, Chevy can likely tempt those with a little more to spend or who want a little more with the 670-hp Z06. The problem with the Z06 is that driving in anything other than perfect conditions is miserable.
The E-Ray is a compelling alternative. It has the outright speed of the Z06, delivered in a way that's much more approachable on the street yet tuned in such a way as to make it a remarkably comfortable and practical daily option. And, with AWD, it's a compelling 4-season choice as well. Yes, it's a little heavier, and it's disappointing that there's little in the way of efficiency gains. Still, the E-Ray makes a lot of sense for most buyers, even those who might find the notion of a hybrid Corvette fundamentally appalling.
Tim Stevens is a veteran automotive and technology journalist with over 25 years of experience covering everything from smartphones to supercars. In addition to JDPower.com, his expert perspectives have appeared in numerous national and international outlets, including print, online, and broadcast television.
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