GM confirms it will offer an all-electric Corvette sports car

General Motors is confirming what President Joe Biden told the world about 18 months ago: There will be an all-electric Corvette. 

On Monday, GM President Mark Reuss announced that, in addition to the new Chevrolet Corvette Z06 and other gas-powered variants coming, “we will offer an electrified and a fully electric, Ultium-based Corvette in the future.”

An “electrified” version means a form of electrification that is not a full EV, said GM spokesman Shad Balch. Balch declined to comment further on the specific type of application.

Reuss first said it on CNBC and then wrote about it on his LinkedIn page. He said the electrified Corvette will come out “as early as next year” and said more details “and names” will come at a later date.

The news is not totally unexpected. In an 80-second campaign spot posted on Biden’s Twitter account in August 2020, Biden talked about his love of the Corvette and the American car market. In it, he says, “They tell me that GM is making an all-electric version of its iconic sports car that will go 200 mph.”

The Detroit Free Press was first to confirm there would be an electric version of the Corvette two years ago. A person familiar with production of the Corvette at GM’s Bowling Green Assembly in Kentucky told the Free Press  in 2020 the vehicle was about two years out, noting it will follow GM’s performance versions of the car due to market in 2021 and 2022. The person declined to be named because there was no authorization to speak to the media.

On his LinkedIn page Monday, Reuss wrote: “Some time ago we moved the Corvette team into the EV space in Warren, Michigan, and when we revealed the new mid-engine Corvette, I said there would be ‘more to come.’ “

GM has said it will have an all-electric lineup across its brands by 2035, with Cadillac being the lead brand for that technology. Cadillac’s boss has said the brand lineup will be nearly all-electric by 2030. The automaker has also said it will bring at least 30 new EVs to market by mid-decade and plans to sell 1 million EVs globally starting at that time. 

The gasoline powered 2023 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 3LZ convertible will start production at Bowling Green Assembly this summer. GM has not released the starting price.

On April 11, GM auctioned the yet-to-be-built first gas-powered Z06 at Barrett-Jackson Palm Beach Auction. The car was sold to NASCAR racing legend Rick Hendrick, one of the biggest Corvette collectors in the world, for $1 million.

The car can go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 2.6 seconds, if equipped with the Z07 performance package. This is the first time the Z06 convertible is being offered with a hardtop. 

Reuss said in his LinkedIn post that GM is also announcing Ultium Platform’s energy recovery system. Ultium is the proprietary platform that will underpin and power all of GM’s future EVs.

The energy recovery system is a patented onboard system that takes the heat generated by EV batteries and uses it to warm the cabin, create more efficient charging conditions, and even increase vehicle acceleration, Reuss said. The energy recovery system can boost the vehicle’s range by about 10%.