Replacing coolant in an electric car: Why and how?
September 26, 2023
The world’s first ever electric Chevrolet Corvette is on sale, priced at $100,000.
Surprisingly, it was born in 1993, 30 years before the Corvette E-Ray. It all happened when technology company Motorola converted a 1987 C4 Corvette convertible with electric batteries. The project was conceived by electrical engineer Sanjar Ghaem, director of technology for Motorola’s automotive division.
He presented the electric powertrains to senior management, saying they will secure the company’s future. Working with a colleague named Ken Gerbetz, Ghaem set out to build a demonstration model for Motorola. They built a single-seat race car called the EX-11 that beat both Toyota and GM in the 1993 Arizona Public Service Solar and Electric 500 competition. The win impressed Motorola’s top brass, so Ghaem and Gerbetz launched a more ambitious project, an electric conversion to a muscle car. Using the electric drivetrain previously installed on the EX-11 and $25,000 from Motorola, the team built the world’s first-ever all-electric Corvette at the company’s Northbrook, Illinois, facility.
First discovered at an Illinois salvage yard last year, the Corvette was recently listed for sale on eBay. If you’re interested in adding such a rare and mysterious piece of automotive history to your collection, the price is $100,000. The car’s odometer reads 104,000 miles. This shouldn’t worry you, as it had covered most of the mileage before it was electrified.
However, there are many questions surrounding this prototype, including its electric drivetrain. No battery or electric motor specs are available, but we do know that the car has the original four-speed manual transmission that drives the rear wheels. It was also capable of matching the performance of contemporary gasoline-powered sports cars, according to automotive news specialist The Drive. However, the batteries will need to be replaced to get the car back on the road, as the car has been in storage for nearly 30 years.
The seller says this electric Chevrolet Corvette doesn’t currently run or drive, so whoever buys it has to spend more money to get it in working order. The original batteries will probably be impossible to find, but if you put modern batteries in it, the performance could be incredible.
With information from InsideEVs.
