GM Engineer Reveals What Makes the Corvette E-Ray So Special – Even in the Snow

Chassis Development Engineer Cody Bulkley goes into detail about how GM made the Corvette E-Ray such an incredible all-season performer.

In spite of its many unique qualities, the Corvette E-Ray was bound to make history no matter how good or bad of a car it ultimately was. After all, this is the first hybrid Corvette ever – or electrified model of any kind – as well as the first such model equipped from the factory with all-wheel-drive, even though the Corvette has been around for seven-plus decades to this point. However, there’s a lot more to the Corvette E-Ray than those two wholly unique features, and in this video from Gary’s Rides, Chevrolet Corvette Chassis Development Engineer Cody Bulkley goes in depth on much of the car’s amazing tech that helps it conquer terrain in any kind of weather.

Bulkley kicks things off by showing us some footage of the Corvette E-Ray hitting a snowy track as part of a special drive event, and the results are truly impressive. In one particularly memorable clip, we see the car get completely sideways – at a 75 degree angle, in fact – at which point Bulkley simply floors it. While this might otherwise prove disastrous in most cars, that certainly isn’t the case with the Corvette E-Ray – rather, the electric motor up front quite literally pulls that end of the car around until it’s straight again.

This certainly isn’t a feat that most cars can accomplish, and Bulkley even notes that he’s received feedback from drift racers that were quite envious of that outcome alone. While these cars were equipped with off-the-shelf snow tires – Bulkley notes that they were nearly as capable with the stock all-seasons, regardless – this ability comes from the E-Ray’s sophisticated all-wheel-drive vehicle dynamics model, one that’s capable of calculating vehicle side slip to rear wheel slip, along with determine what the driver is trying to do.

From there, the system splits the torque from front to rear as needed to keep the E-Ray pointed in the right direction, even in this case, when traction control was turned off. This allows users to keep the ability to drift and have some fun, but if things get too hairy, it also steps in by moving torque around a bit. As far as durability goes, the engineer discusses how he used and abused the E-Ray on track for the better part of four years, and in its 24-hour validation, the car didn’t break. In fact, the E-Ray wound up making it all the way to 45 hours of non-stop track use before the development team got tired and simply gave up.

Interestingly, while Bulkley notes that he had traction control turned off completely during his snow testing to get the absolute best lap times, he also points out that the car’s performance traction management mode – though it was never really designed for snow and ice – does a great job of handling those types of conditions as well. Even the regen system was designed for optimize track use, as it won’t interfere with the car when it’s getting sideways to prevent slip, too.

For those thinking about modifying their Corvette E-Ray, Bulkley goes beyond the standard corporate response of saying that the car is optimized from the factory and simply notes that adding power to the rear axle will upset the car’s all-wheel-drive system balance, which may not be a horrible thing in terms of straight line performance – but it will impact handling, regardless.

Finally, Bulkley touches on the E-Ray’s regen function and how it operates on the track, which is fascinating, indeed. If one is in charge plus mode on the track, the car automatically pulls down energy on the track to preserve it in a more linear manner, tapering off as one comes out of a corner to keep some energy for consistency’s sake. Otherwise, max deplete is designed to deliver all of the car’s power for maximum straight line performance that isn’t necessarily repeatable. Either way, the E-Ray will never lose its all-wheel-drive capability – just that extra bit of boost – making it suitable for everything from hot laps to longer days at the track.

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