Answering the Question: How Fast Can an Electric Camaro Go
In some ways, it’s quite unfortunate that automotive manufacturers are first, and foremost, a business. As Elon Musk has recently been discovering, a manufacturer can’t keep making what it wants to make, it has to make what its customers want to buy. Because of this, most exciting concept cars are left at just that: a concept. As in a ‘We could make this cool car, if we thought anyone would buy it” car.
At this year’s SEMA Show in Las Vegas, however, Chevrolet debuted a car that does not appear to have been created for Mr. Ben Franklin—the Chevrolet eCOPO Cmaaro.
The car in question is based on the recent, limited edition, drag-strip-ready COPO Camaro; which Chevy debuted earlier this year. The one they brought to SEMA, however, ditched the seven-liter V8 for a pair of electric motors with a claimed power rating of more than 700 horsepower and 600 pounds-feet of torque.
What makes the eCOPO (yes, another brilliantly creative EV name) so interesting, is how Chevy went about creating it. Unlike most other EVs of the moment, the two BorgWarner electric motors put their power through a traditional Chevy Turbo 400 automatic transmission and light up the rear tires through an “old school” solid rear axle.
Crate EV Motors?
Similarly, the batteries–of which there are four 200-volt modules–are located around the original structure of the car; two replace the back seats and two are in the trunk. This means that what Chevy has created with their eCOPO could be the beginnings of the first EV crate motors.
What’s exciting about this way of building EVs is that, potentially, any car could be converted to run on wind and solar power. Currently, if you love your 1995 M5, but also love the idea of EVs, you’re a bit out of luck. What Chevy could be providing is the ability to update any car that has wheels and a transmission that can handle massive electric torque. For those who are worried that EVs will kill the world of performance modification, this could be the answer.
Equally as exciting, those of you who can count may have realized that the battery pack of the eCOPO totals 800-volts; double what most current EVs have. This higher voltage battery (which should also be featured in some upcoming Porsche models as well) allows for much faster battery recharge. In fact, charge times could drop to as little as 10-15 minutes.
Total range for the eCOPO, and other technical specs have not been officially released yet, but as long as it can go more than a quarter-mile between charges, who really cares?
OMG, a 9 second 1/4 mile. How can this speed be controllable on the street
@Samuel Salamay,
I suspect they’ll use the same brakes and suspension parts found on the slower ICE cars. 😉 –ed.