Arguably the most polarizing Corvette of all time, the E-Ray is the first-ever production 'Vette with all-wheel drive and hybrid assistance. In the so-called Stealth Mode, which allows the E-Ray to be driven on electric power for three to four miles at up to 45 mph (72 kph), it also happens to be the first series-production Corvette with front-wheel drive.
It's no wonder this version of the C8 polarizes opinion so much, especially among the New Balance-wearing loyalists who barely accepted the switch to a mid-engine configuration. The naysayers might have forgotten that Zora Arkus-Duntov, a.k.a. the guy who convinced GM to shoehorn a small block in the engine bay of the C1, advocated for a mid-engined Corvette for the most part of his 1953 to 1975 stint at General Motors.
Gifted with the wider bodyshell of the Z06 and the direct-injected small block of the Stingray, the E-Ray features 1.9 kWh worth of battery cells in the center tunnel. Said battery pack is connected to a front-mounted electric drive unit rated at 160 horsepower and 125 pound-feet (170 Nm) of twist.
The rear wheels are connected to a familiar eight-speed transaxle, itself paired to a 6.2-liter V8 with 495 horsepower and 470 pound-feet (637 Nm) of torque on tap. Still, how many of those horses and pound-feet really get to the front and rear wheels?
Graham of Paragon Performance is much obliged to answer with a dyno testing video. First and foremost, he used a linked dyno for to prevent going into dyno mode or shutting down the hybrid side of the powertrain. That said, the dyno graph shows 573.04 hp at nearly 5,300 revolutions per minute and 630.07 lb-ft (855 Nm) at approximately 4,000 rpm.
Photo: Paragon Performance on YouTube
The math doesn't check out, though. GM advertises the E-Ray with 655 horsepower, but system total peak torque remains a mystery to this day. 470 pound-feet for the V8 engine plus 125 pound-feet for the front-mounted electric drive unit would be an incorrect way of calculating system total peak torque, but due to the lack of a manufacturer-claimed torque figure, we'll have to go with 595 lb-ft (807 Nm).
573.04 horsepower at the wheels of the pictured E-Ray is nearly 87.5 percent of the claimed 655 horsepower, while 630.07 pound-feet is 105.89 percent of the aforementioned 595 pound-feet. Even so, there is no mistaking the E-Ray is torquier than both the glorious-sounding Z06 and the Stingray.
To whom it may concern, Graham says the bone-stock Z06 and Stingray made 437.40 hp/419.56 lb-ft and 610.71 hp/424.33 lb-ft on the dyno. In percentage points compared to the crank numbers, we're dealing with drivetrain losses of 11.6 percent/10.7 percent and 8.8 percent/7.7 percent.
630.07 pound-feet at the wheels compared to the theoretical max torque rating of 595 pound-feet is – without a shadow of a doubt – impossible. That said, how many pound-feet do you think the 2024 Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray makes at the wheels?
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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