[VIDEO] Corvette Team’s Trevor Hall and David Simpson Present the 2024 Corvette E-Ray

Here’s another look at the 2024 Corvette E-Ray from Corvettes at Carlisle. During the weekend, engineers were hosting their own seminars from the Corvette Engineers tent and this discussion is held by Trevor Hall, Corvette Engineering Manager for the Corvette E-Ray and David Simpson who is the Program Quality Engineer for the Corvette’s transmission, which for the E-Ray also includes the battery and front drive motor.

The new E-Ray integrates a 1.9 kWh battery and a 166-hp front drive unit in the front of the car to power the front wheels, while also featuring the Stingray’s tried and true 495-hp LT2 engine for powering the rear wheels, and both of these propulsion systems are connected only through software.

Despite all the discussion on the car since its reveal on January 17th, the engineers keep having to reinforce that you don’t plug in the E-Ray to recharge the batteries as they recapture energy from the road through braking. It’s one of the things that really sets the E-Ray apart from traditional plug-in hybrids, and yet we heard more than one question asked about external charging of the E-Ray’s battery pack.

One of the benefits of electric cars is the unlimited torque available, and the engineers say there are modules in the E-Ray that analyze throttle inputs so it knows when the driver wants more torque and then which of the front wheels to apply that torque to. On a 0-60 mph wide-open sprint, that torque is 100% on the front axle. Trevor says that the front electric motor helps to pull the car while the LT2 “ice engine” is ramping up its torque through the rear wheels. That allows for maximizing the grip without breaking traction in the rear, and it’s all done very seamlessly.

On starting the car, the driver can select to go into one of the EV-only modes which Trevor describes as a “secret handshake” to get into those modes. With the E-Ray there is an extra step performed first by turning the Drive Mode Selector and then selecting one of the three options. You can choose the normal ICE start-up, or one of the two EV modes: Stealth or Shuttle Mode.

One of the interesting tidbits is that when in Stealth or Shuttle modes, the car is running with its HVAC systems off. We’ve heard that the ICE motor turns on at 45-mph or it comes on when the battery is low, but an alternative way to perform “the flying start” with the ICE engine is to turn on the heat or A/C in the car. That’s because the HVAC systems all use the regular electrical system powered by the 12v lithium-ion battery and the not the 1.9 kWh batteries used for front propulsion.

Trevor also discusses Stop/Start on the E-Ray and he says that the eAWD system makes the whole process seamless because the front wheels start moving the car even as the LT2 is coming to life.

David takes over and discusses the battery and front drive propulsion. The battery is rated at 300 volts and the LG cells are packaged in four separate 20-cell groups for 80 total cells, and then they are stored in battery pack assembly inside the aluminum structure that is located between the seats. The packaging actually adds rigidity to the frame and it was planned from the ground up.

David says they can completely discharge the 1.1 kW battery in a quarter mile drag race, and that it will recharge fully by the time you slow down and return back to the start for another run. It’s designed to charge as fast as possible to get as much performance as possible.

The drive motor was also designed to be compact, and it features a single planetary gearset in it and then a transfer gear coming out of it. There is an integrated differential in there to output the power to the wheels. The battery and the drive motor together weigh less than 200 lbs total, again which is significant as the 160-hp generated gives it a pretty impressive power to weight ratio in addition to, and on top of, the 495-hp 6.2L V8 in the rear.

This was a pretty fascinating discussion of the E-Ray, so check out the whole seminar which all includes a Q&A session at the end.

Source:
MDK9950 / YouTube

Related:
[VIDEO] Watch the 2024 Corvette E-Ray Presentation with Team Corvette from Carlisle
[VIDEO] 2024 Corvette E-Ray with Harlan Charles Plus Q&A Session from Carlisle
2024 Corvette E-Ray to Start Production on Monday, October 23rd

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