Just last week, we brought you coverage of an interesting button spotted inside the cabin of the up-and-coming hybrid Corvette E-Ray. At first, the purpose of this button was a mystery, but now, the symbol it displays has been identified, providing further insight into what the hybrid Corvette will offer.
Thanks to a few eagle-eyed GM Authority readers, the mystery symbol on the button has been identified as the Regen on Demand symbol used previously with various electrified Chevy models, including the Chevy Volt, and the Chevy Bolt EV / Bolt EUV. The symbol includes a battery split with the bottom half in white and the top half in black, with an arrow pointing towards the middle.
As such, we can surmise that the new hybrid Corvette E-Ray will likely feature regenerative braking technology and possibly one-pedal driving.
For those readers who may not know, GM’s Regenerative Braking technology is a system that essentially “captures” braking energy to recharge onboard batteries. This energy is typically wasted, but with Regenerative Braking, the vehicle is slowed using an electro-hydraulic setup that provides more electricity for forward motivation.
In addition to the Chevy Volt and Chevy Bolt EV / Bolt EUV (and now, the hybrid Corvette E-Ray), this system was also offered on the Cadillac ELR. Several levels of braking are offered provide increasing levels of battery regeneration. The highest levels will even allow for one-pedal driving, with the vehicle slowing as soon as the driver’s foot is removed from the throttle, all without stepping on the brake pedal.
Not only is this more convenient, but extra juice in the battery means more power when you want it.
As a reminder, the hybrid Corvette E-Ray is equipped with the naturally aspirated 6.2L V8 LT2 gasoline engine, the same as the standard C8 Corvette Stingray. However, the E-Ray also comes with a front-mounted electric motor, making it all-wheel drive. Total output is expected to hit at about 600 horsepower.
Subscribe to GM Authority for the latest mid-engine Corvette news, Corvette C8 news, Corvette E-Ray news, Chevy news, and around-the-clock GM news coverage.
Comments
Regen is also included on our 2018 CT6 2.0E plug-in with 4 being normal regen and 1 being most aggressive and enough for one pedal driving. The single pedal driving along with hold feature that uses the electric motor to hold the car at stop lights so you can take your foot off the brake, make it very easy to drive in urban environment or when traffic maybe slamming on their brakes. Because as soon as you lift off Throttle the car starts to slow before you can out your foot on the brake.
Quick question, How much of a hold on the car does this this type of regen have? ie, being rear-ended at a light and being punted forward? And I will say, every electric forklift I have ever driven over the last 40 years has had ‘thrumb’ braking, if I’m remembering the term properly.
I am excited to see this.
We have a 2019 Bolt that my wife loves, and it is really cool that you charge the battery and slow the vehicle at the same time. the way my wife drives the car, her expected distance is always between 270 and 280 miles.
Is that expected distance before or after it catches fire?
13 Bolt fires, 141k sold. That’s a 0.009% for any one Bolt to catch on fire. You’re much more likely to get in an car accident.
No, 0.009% is the amount of Bolts that have already caught fire. It is not a rate and does not in anyway represent your odds of catching fire. If another 13 bolts catch fire, this number will double. That doesn’t mean the chance of any particular bolt catching fire doubles. It just means more did.
GM knows what the odds are, and they freaked out, so odds are pretty high!
BTW this is a much higher percentage than Tesla.
Well up until now is almost 4 years of Bolt sales. We’re not talking about 13 fires that occurred on the same day, month, or even year. So you can easily argue the yearly rate is even less.
Yes it is higher than Tesla. But Tesla will just cap your capacity via OTA and deal with lawsuits later (see Model S). In addition Tesla doesn’t recommend you charge to 100% on a normal basis. So most Tesla owner only charge to 80-90%. If GM had the same limitations/warnings would there have been as many fires?
When I worked for the Army, we did classified experiments on LI-ion batteries. We discovered the fire issues with this battery technology, and provided the battery vendor(s) feedback on the results of our experiments. The battery vendors began to look at different chemistries to address the problem. Also, it was not long after we published our classified report that the video of the laptop catching fire showed up on the internet. A lot of work has been done to improve the safety of Li-ion batteries; and there is research on battery technology, and other approaches for energy storage, to improve both the safety and energy density. See the Motor Trend issue that highlights electric motor and battery technologies.
Yeah it’s a developing technology, I love when battery detractors talk about how electric cars catch on fire, but forget that they drive in a vehicle that has a tank full of flammable juice that when installed in other cars had tendencies of catching fire (ask any Ferrari owner)
Remember the Ford Pinto issues, and people died.
yeah pinto, amc gremlin, anything with an external oil line near something hot… it’s funny when you think that we ride in things that actually maintain small fires, and where everything gets really hot such that in an accident it burns immediately… but yeah a battery fire is just as bad too.
Even if the cars ran on tightened springs (like the old toys) stored potential energy is always going to release all of a sudden when an accident makes an easy pathway for it to get out. Hell you can drive a car off of a cliff and the potential energy there won’t do you any favors..
This is indeed the Regen-On-Demand Button but I think for the E-Ray it won’t be a press and hold button to engage regen, more like a button to select how much (different levels) regen you want when letting off the accelerator.
Man that is low. Accurate but low nonetheless
It’s not low if your hand can reach it without bending your back away from the steering wheel.
If gm makes an eray with only 600 hp… That would be a waste of time effort common sense
The point would be when the torque is available. This thing would be great off the line and coming out of corners. After that the ICE takes over. It’s a good blend of electric and ICE.
I Hope it goes into hummer, escalade and other vehicles.
600? I smell chassis limitations. GM does like to waste time and effort.
And you know this how? Just wait till both the Z06 & E-Ray to come out and judge and compare the two. These two separately will far exceed expectations than any of us will imagine.
I didn’t say I know anything as denoted by the question mark. 600 is a low mark and I do know there was engineering changes made to appease the gods of removable roofs. It was a question, nothing more.
That was not an actual question, it was more of a critic observation. There is a difference. Here is a question for you though. Why would Chevy want to produce the most HP/torque for the E-Ray while planning for the ZR1 and Zora? What is the point for the upper crust models if the E-Ray produces the equal amount hp/torque like the ZR1 & Zora? The E-ray will sit in between the Z06 & ZR1 for performance.
The E-ray is the Grand Sport Replacement. Just like the past.It may not make sense to you, but their will be a substantial price difference between the E-ray and the ZR1/ Zora. Gm is brilliant, offer various lineups. To me its like cereal, saturate the market with variety to appeal all tastes, all under one company. One stop shopping.
“Chassis limitations”? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Go sit in the corner.
How constructive those emojis are for someone with nothing to say. Almost like I hit a sore spot.
Braking regeneration is one of the best features of any hybrid or electric car. Normal braking converts the kinetic energy into heat which is thrown away into the environment. Regeneration puts that energy back into the battery to be used again to move the car, which you can never do with gasoline power only. I bet this hybrid Corvette will be the first hybrid sports car that can give over 30 MPG with 600 HP and incredible instant torque!
It’s most likely regen on demand, but to get a useful amount of regenerative braking you need a genenerator big enough to generate a serious amount of kilowatts and a battery big enough to handle the large amount of regenerative power. I have no doubt the one or more motor/generators that will be used can generate a significant amount of power but I’m not sure they can stuff a battery big enough to handle the heavy currents required during charge and discharge cycles.
I personally wish this button was for a kinetic energy recovery system like that used in Formula 1 cars. A motor/generator capable of generating about 160 hp supported by a small lightweight energy storage device capable of quickly storing massive amounts of energy during braking and also capable of releasing this energy on demand to give the driver all of that power for around 30 seconds. The only thing I can think of to meet these energy storage requirements is ultracapacitors, batteries would be too large and heavy and wouldn’t be able to handle the charge/discharge currents required.
this looks sweet!
Hypermilers try to coast as much as possible, and use steering wheel-mounted paddle to use regen as a brake. I’ve tried the one pedal driving and it feels weird – like it’s either constantly accelerating or braking.
my first Vettes were all stick shift and i learned to down shift to help slow down the car and to save the brakes. My 98 C5 6 speed stick went 90,000 on front pads and 120 miles on the rear pads. I found down shifting to be easy to accommodate. EXCEPT, with no brake lights on the cars slows without any outward warning and i was rear ended by a Honda one day. I wonder if GM thought to light the brake lights with auto Brake ReGen applied. I think I will like especially in stop and go traffic. Dennis
Every time you let up on the accelerator or engage the regen paddle, the brake light comes on. You learn to drive more efficient and smooths out the ride. I find my self spilling less coffee while diving. 🙂
I have a 2014 Z51 3LT with 10,000 miles how and when is a good time and place to trade to the E Ray??
Want Factory Delivery, H-top Vert, Z51, Mag Shocks.
When, where, how to order????? This is a Vette I will drive till I die. At 72 that might might be 20 years but I am ready to settle down and this one seems to fit the bill. Owned Vettes since 1966, 1st was a 1964 365 HP 4 speed Triple White Vert with red white interior. I slept in the car the first night Dec 16 1966. I am ready to lock in a deal.
I have a Cadillac 2014 ELR with Regen braking. Can be done in from the engaging the the shifter to L mode, which every time you let up on the accelerate peddle, the brakes light comes on as you decelerate. You have to learn how to ease up on the peddle so the brake light doesn’t come on and the car doesn’t nose dive. It rally makes you learn how to smooth out your ride. Otherwise you piss off everyone behind you, cause you brake light goes on off all the time. That is why I like the free wheel mode where the car coast as you let up on the accelerate pedal. When you want to brake, instead of pushing the brake peddle, your using the paddle on either side of the steering wheel to brake. I can’t wait for the E-ray and finally be able to drive in some bad weather during winter months in Chicago.