Chevy teases 2024 AWD Corvette E-Ray, NYC reveal slated next week
Chevrolet posted a teaser of the upcoming “Electrified” Corvette E-Ray complete with internal combustion engine revving noises and silent EV “stealth” driving, side-by-side. While we’d obviously prefer to see a fully electric Corvette, we’re certainly still interested to see what Chevy has got in store…
In April of last year, GM president Mark Reuss finally spilled the tea, announcing:
We will offer an electrified and a fully electric, Ultium-based Corvette in the future.
While we haven’t heard about the all-electric Corvette EV drop, a strange report came in a few months ago that Chevy was going to spin up a Corvette EV brand including SUVs (a’hem, Mustang Mach-E) and four-door variants. If you think an electrified Corvette is going to ruffle some feathers (and head to the Instagram comments for overwhelming proof of that), a four-door SUV Corvette is going to cause some heads to explode.
The electrified bit of the puzzle is set to drop on January 17 in New York City, on the 70th anniversary of the unveiling of the original Corvette in 1952 at the Waldorf Astoria:
Corvette unveiled at GM Motorama
On January 17, 1953, a prototype Chevrolet Corvette sports car makes its debut at General Motors’ (GM) Motorama auto show at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. The Corvette, named for a fast type of naval warship, would eventually become an iconic American muscle car and remains in production today.
Perhaps most interesting is the AWD component and if the ICE and EV powerchains intermingle and if so, how?
For instance a rear drive ICE could add charge the FWD EV motor via regen or an alternator. Chevy notes that the AWD could be the first Corvette that doesn’t immediately slide into a ditch when snow falls.
General Motors has been promising “EVs for everyone” for years, yet we’re still early stages of fulfilling that promise with only the low volume/high-end Cadillac Lyriq and GMC Hummer EV – and the Electrek Car of the Year 2022, the Bolt EV – on the value end of the spectrum.
While an Electrified E-Ray Corvette isn’t going to fill out the middle, Chevy alone has three big launches slated for later this year: The Silverado EV (Fleets only) in spring, the speedy Blazer SS EV in summer, and the value-focused Equinox EV in the fall.
Electrek’s Take
Assuming the E-Ray is a plug-in and not a mild hybrid which would make most of this post and the car itself moot, I’m torn. Plug in Hybrids will be obsolete, I think, within a decade – but I also see some value in them while the world transitions to EVs, in two separate areas:
- Infrastructure: Today, we don’t have the infrastructure to get everywhere with just EVs efficiently. We’re getting closer, but there are still edge cases which some people still rightfully can’t fully go electric. Yes, this is probably under 10% of the population and shrinking, but they do exist. So a large plug-in battery which they can use every day on commutes works, and then they can visit Grandma’s house in the woods in a charger desert which can also be accomplished with gas.
- Batteries are going to be the bottleneck to EV adoption for the next decade. If you’ve got 100kWh of batteries, should you put them all in one Tesla S/X, Rivian, or F-150, or should you split them up between 5 PHEV vehicles where the full charge of the battery will be used to offset gas use every day? Smaller PHEV batteries will remove more gas overall. Therefore, holistically, PHEVs are still valid until the battery supply can catch up to demand.
As for the Corvette E-Ray, I’m not sure GM won’t be upsetting two different groups. The ICE traditionalists are already all over the Instagram post saying, “If it is electrified, it isn’t a Corvette.” Meanwhile, the EV purists are asking why even include an internal combustion engine when a pure EV is so much faster, smoother, and quieter, and often has better driving dynamics? (I’m in the latter group, obviously.)
Timing-wise, the 2024 E-Ray will line up well with the 2020 Tesla Roadster “Vapor,” which should launch within the decade or so.
The proof will be in the E-Ray reveal next week, but if you have any questions, I’ll be able to answer speculate a lot more on Friday’s podcast.
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Tesla has inked its first deal to build a grid-scale battery power plant in China amid a strained trading relationship between Beijing and Washington.
The U.S. company posted on the Chinese social media service Weibo that the project would be the largest of its kind in China when completed.
Utility-scale battery energy storage systems help electricity grids keep supply and demand in balance. They are increasingly needed to bridge the supply-demand mismatch caused by intermittent energy sources such as solar and wind.
Chinese media outlet Yicai first reported that the deal, worth 4 billion yuan ($556 million), had been signed by Tesla, the local government of Shanghai and financing firm China Kangfu International Leasing, according to the Reuters news agency.
Tesla said its battery factory in Shanghai had produced more than 100 Megapacks — the battery designed for utility-scale deployment — in the first quarter of this year. One Megapack can provide up to 1 megawatt of power for four hours.
“The grid-side energy storage power station is a ‘smart regulator’ for urban electricity, which can flexibly adjust grid resources,” Tesla said on Weibo, according to a Google translation.
This would “effectively solve the pressure of urban power supply and ensure the safe, stable and efficient electricity demand of the city,” it added. “After completion, this project is expected to become the largest grid-side energy storage project in China.”
According to the company’s website, each Megapack retails for just under $1 million in the U.S. Pricing for China was unavailable.
The deal is significant for Tesla, as China’s CATL and carmaker BYD compete with similar products. The two Chinese companies have made significant inroads in battery development and manufacturing, with the former holding about 40% of the global market share.
CATL was also expected to supply battery cells and packs that are used in Tesla’s Megapacks, according to a Reuters news source.
Tesla’s deal with a Chinese local authority is also significant as it comes after U.S. President Donald Trump slapped tariffs on imports from China, straining the geopolitical relationship between the world’s two largest economies.
Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk was also a close ally of President Trump during the initial stages of the trade war, further complicating the business outlook for U.S. automakers in China.
The demand for grid-scale battery installation, however, is significant in China. In May last year, Beijing set a new target to add nearly 5 gigawatts of battery-powered electricity supply by the end of 2025, bringing the total capacity to 40 gigawatts.
Tesla has also been exporting its Megapacks to Europe and Asia from its Shanghai plant to meet global demand.
Capacity for global battery energy storage systems rose 42 gigawatts in 2023, nearly doubling the total increase in capacity observed in the previous year, according to the International Energy Agency.
— CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal contributed reporting.
Environment
BYD is testing solid-state EV batteries in its Seal sedan with nearly 1,200 miles of range
BYD has now begun testing solid-state EV batteries in its Tesla Model 3-rivalling Seal. Initial tests suggest that the total driving range could reach nearly 1,200 miles (1,875 km).
BYD begins testing solid-state EV batteries in the Seal
It has been over a decade since BYD first began researching and developing the promising new EV battery technology.
Last year, the company reached a milestone by testing its first solid-state battery cells with capacities of 20 Ah and 60 Ah. We knew BYD was planning to launch its first vehicles powered by the new batteries in 2027 after Sun Huajun, the CTO of BYD’s battery business, confirmed the timeline earlier this year.
At the 2025 China All-Solid-State Battery Innovation and Development Summit, Sun stated that BYD has officially installed solid-state batteries in its popular Seal EV and is now testing them on roads.
Once testing is finalized, which is expected to occur in 2027, BYD plans to begin installing solid-state batteries in its production vehicles.
Between 2027 and 2029, production will be limited during the first two years. However, in 2030, BYD plans to begin mass production. BYD has previously said that by the end of the decade, it expects “liquid and solid to be the same price.” In other words, solid-state batteries will be about the same cost as current liquid lithium-ion batteries.
The Seal, BYD’s Tesla Model 3-rivalling electric sedan, is expected to be the first EV available with solid-state batteries, starting in 2027. Other models will begin to hit the market in 2028 and the following years.
BYD’s solid-state batteries have an energy density of 400 Wh/kg, or nearly twice that of current lithium-ion batteries.
According to local reports, BYD’s solid-state EV batteries set a record by gaining 1,500 km (932 miles) range in just 12 minutes of charging.
The test charged the battery to just 80%, meaning total EV range could reach upwards of 1,875 km (1,165 miles). Keep in mind, that is CLTC range. On the EPA scale, it would be closer to 1,300 km (808 miles), which is still way more than enough.
BYD’s Seal currently starts at just 175,800 yuan in China, or about $25,000. When it initially hits the market in 2027 with solid-state batteries, the Seal will likely be priced higher.
Electrek’s Take
BYD is already dominating the global EV market. It just surpassed Tesla in Europe and the UK in monthly registrations for the first time, and this could be just the start.
With several new batteries and plenty of other EV technologies, including ultra-fast chargers, smart driving features, and advanced new platforms, BYD is laying the groundwork for more growth over the next few years.
Not only that, BYD is already known for its low-cost cars like the Seagull (Dolping Surf in Europe), priced under $10,000 in China. The new tech is expected to unlock longer driving range, faster charging, and lower costs.
BYD will compete with CATL, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Stellantis, Nissan, and several others that are also aiming to launch their first EVs with solid-state batteries around 2027 or 2028. Nissan’s director of product planning in Europe, Christop Ambland, confirmed the company’s timeline this week with Auto Express, saying, “We will be ready for SSB (solid-state batteries) in 2028.”
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This week on Electrek’s Wheel-E podcast, we discuss the most popular news stories from the world of electric bikes and other nontraditional electric vehicles. This time, that includes new e-bikes from Urban Arrow and VanMoof, testing of the Oh Wow Cycles Conductor Plus rickshaw tricycle, the new Olto electric moped, a Honda four-wheeled quad-bike, low cost Zero motorcycles, and more.
The Wheel-E podcast returns every two weeks on Electrek’s YouTube channel, Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter.
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Here are a few of the articles that we will discuss during the Wheel-E podcast today:
Here’s the live stream for today’s episode starting at 9:30 a.m. ET (or the video after 10:30 a.m. ET):
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