Hybrid Corvette at SEMA 2013. Say What?!
One of this year's more interesting cars is the 2013 Corvette presented by Quanta Hybrid Performance. Yes, we just used "Corvette" and "hybrid" in the same sentence.
The logical question here is, "Why?" Why would someone make a Corvette gasoline/electric hybrid? Gary K. Whiting, PhD and lead engineer on the project, explains that it is not to make the car more fuel efficient, after all, that would be like putting a dash of sugar on a jalapeño - The real reason is because it makes the car accelerate more quickly and ultimately faster. And...because Gary loves Corvettes.
Under the hood, it retains the original LS7 motor. In fact, there are extremely few modifications on this vehicle, except the extreme electrical system and the heavy duty coil-overs to compensate for the excess weight caused by the battery array. Gary explained that this prototype will lead to other conversions for those who are looking for something different and unique.
The car's creators, which also include Gary's daughter, Hillary, and Derek Barger of High Tech Systems, who designed and invented the batteries, are claiming to get 770 hp out of this beast using two electric motors and slightly more than 600 batteries to increase torque. However, they just completed the car last week and have not taken it to the track for testing. They expect to do that in the next few weeks - and when they do, we will have an article on the project posted at DrivingLine.com. -John McCabe
