‘Never Say Never:’ An Electric Corvette Isn’t Completely Off the Table

Chevrolet debuted its first electrified Corvette, the E-Ray, in 2023 with a 1.1-kilowatt-hour battery pack designed to give Chevy’s ubiquitous eight-cylinder engine a bit of extra boost. Now there’s a Corvette ZR1X, which uses a similar battery pack with 26 percent more energy, helping deliver a whopping 1,250 horsepower combined.

So what’s the next logical step? Many may point to a purely electric Corvette, in line with other battery-powered hypercars like the Rimac Nevera or Pininfarina Battista. But Chevy isn’t so convinced—at least, not yet.

In a virtual press conference with Chevy executives and engineers ahead of the ZR1X’s debut, Corvette Chief Engineer Josh Holder was asked whether or not an electric Corvette is on the horizon. His answer:

‘Not soon. We’re here today to show this performance hybrid, and what Corvette can do with the ultimate expression of technology, planned from the beginning with the eighth-generation Corvette.’

But that’s not to say Chevrolet is ruling out the idea of an electric Corvette entirely—or even more powerful variants down the line:

‘I never say never. As engineers, we’re always trying to improve performance. But this is certainly the pinnacle… the ZR1X really is a Corvette hypercar.’

Photo by: DW Burnett / Motor1

As we predicted last year, it was only a matter of time before Chevrolet unleashed an even more powerful version of the Corvette ZR1. We’ve seen electrified prototypes testing on the Nürburging for months prior to its debut.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t have the name that many enthusiasts had hoped: Zora. The internet was adamant that Chevrolet would use the name ‘Zora’ for its most powerful Corvette after famed Corvette engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov—also known as the father of the Corvette.

But, a Chevy spokesperson noted that this model was always meant to be a ZR1 from the beginning:

‘The ZR1X and ZR1 were developed together, and they were meant to be a true family. So… that is its name.’