All-electric Genovation GXE breaks its own speed record
The Genovation GXE — the initialism standing for Genovation Extreme Electric — is a C7 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport that turned in its small block V8 for a big block battery pack. The latest specs we got on the coupe at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show promised a 60-kWh battery juicing two electric motors that pack something like 800 horsepower and 700 pound-feet of torque. The Rockland, Maryland-based Genovation just set a new top speed record for street-legal electric vehicles: 210 miles per hour.
The benchmark breaks the previous record set in 2016, also by Genovation. In February of that year, the company’s first-gen GXE hit an unequaled trap speed of 186.8 mph. They outdid that a few months later by going 205.6 mph. The first-gen car ran with a 44-kWh battery and was about 100 hp and 100 lb-ft down on the latest GXE. Then, as now, all the superfast runs happened at the Johnny Bohmer Proving Grounds at the Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida, with none other than Johnny Bohmer at the wheel. The International Mile Racing Association was again on hand to see to certification and all of the official particulars.
Genovation still plans a 75-unit run for the GXE at a price of $750,000 per, last we heard — a long way from the first-gen’s $330,000 price. That will get buyers a C7 ‘Vette tweaked with those batteries, a 175-mile range, plus a programmable active suspension, a huge set of Brembos behind carbon fiber wheels, a 10.4-inch infotainment touchscreen, and a 10-speaker JBL stereo to shatter the sounds of electric silence. Beyond the record-setting vitesse, the GXE offers two transmission options as yet unseen on any other EV: a seven-speed manual or an eight-speed automatic. Deliveries to the fast and few will should begin in early 2020.
