VIDEO: Watch pure-electric Corvette set world speed record
Genovation GXE breaks land speed record for street legal electric vehicle by hitting 330km/hA Chevrolet Corvette-based pure-electric sports car has set what's claimed to be a new world record for the fastest production electric vehicle by recording a top speed of 330.9km/h at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida.
The speed, said to be verified by the International Mile Racing Association, was set by a Genovation Extreme Electric car (GXE) that began life as a petrol-powered C6 Corvette ZO6.
Converted to a pure-electric sports car by a team of engineers based at Genovation's HQ near Washington DC , the GXE modifications see the Corvette trade its 377kW 7.0-litre V8 for two electric motors that, combined, produce 492kW/814Nm.
Instead of mounting a motor on each axle, in the same way Tesla does with its Model S, the GXE is rear-wheel drive and combines both electric motors to power a single shaft to the Corvette's six-speed manual transmission.
An inverter is used to reduce the rpm to preserve the Chevrolet's transmission.
A single reduction gear was considered, but would compromise 0-100km/h times, says engineers in the project.
Powering the twin motors is a 44kWh lithium-ion battery that's said to provide the GXE with a range of around 210km.
In normal use, on the road, the GXE can be driven in third gear everywhere, but all six forward gears were used for the record-breaking run.
Race driver Johnny Bohmer achieved the 330.9km/h maximum, which beats last year's 300.6km/h that was also set by the GXE.
It's understood that neither speed has been officially verified by Guinness World Records.
The latest record run is also some way off the outright verified land speed record for an electric vehicle that was set, and still stands, at an incredible 495.1km/h.
That record was set back in 2010 at the Bonneville Salt Flats, by the Venturi Buckeye Bullet 2 developed by engineering students from Ohio State University. It was far from road legal.
Genovation says it will create a limited-edition commemorative version of the GXE to go on sale in the third quarter of 2016.
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