One of the headline-generating cars from this year’s SEMA Show in Las Vegas was the Chevy Project X Concept – a 1957 Chevy 210 hot rod that had its supercharged LSx V8 engine swapped out for a battery-electric Chevy concept powertrain.
GM Authority has now learned the electric motor that powers the Chevy Project X is actually the same electric motor that will feature in the 2023 Cadillac Lyriq. This motor, which is from GM’s Ultium Drive family of next-gen EV motors, produces 340 horsepower and 330 pound-feet of torque. For reference, the 2023 Cadillac Lyriq Debut Edition that will go on sale early next year is also rated at 340 horsepower, but has slightly less torque at 325 pound-feet.
Various GM Ultium Drive electric motors
The Chevy Project X draws power from a 400-volt, 30 kWh battery that is “being evaluated for potential use as a next-generation Chevrolet Performance product.” Chevy says this battery has been developed around a modular concept that would allow customers to scale the pack capacity based on range, cost, packaging and weight considerations. Put simply, owners could easily add or remove cells from this concept battery pack, allowing them to create a right-sized battery based on their wants and needs.
Chevy says the Project X was developed to show SEMA showgoers and Chevy fans online what can be done to classic vehicles in the age of electrification.
“The reinvention of Project X is a reminder that our vision for a world with zero emissions includes classics like the Tri-Five Chevys,” said Prashant Ahire, Chevy’s eCrate regional chief engineer. “As General Motors rolls out its trailblazing EV technology, Chevrolet Performance plans to offer EV propulsion solutions for enthusiasts looking to modernize their project cars.”
Chevy eCrate battery pack in the back of the 1977 K5 Blazer-E
GM debuted its first-ever eCrate powertrain at last year’s online-only SEMA360 show. The Chevy eCrate powertrain consists of a 60 kWh battery and the electric motor from a Chevy Bolt EV and is factory rated at 200 horsepower and 266 pound-feet of torque. The automaker installed the eCrate powertrain in a 1977 Chevy Blazer K5 for last year’s SEMA Show, which it dubbed the Blazer-E.
The Chevy Project X, which was built as part of a collaboration with auto media company Motor Trend, is a continuation of the eCrate idea, offering a more powerful electric motor and a next-generation battery pack that can be easily scaled up or down based on the application.
“As the auto industry shifts rapidly toward electric vehicles, this Project X build is just the latest in its celebrated legacy of adapting hot rodding to the powerful technology of tomorrow,” Douglas Glad, group content director, MotorTrend Group, said of the battery-electric Chevy.
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Comments
What a way to wreck a great project car. Let me hear the motor run with 409 music out of big speakers… how about dead mans curve…
Blasphemy!!!!
Ford did the same thing with an F-100. At least Mopar has the balls to not do this. The only electric muscle vehicle they have done so far that I know of is the forthcoming electric modern muscle car. No classic should be treated like this though. This is worse than an engine swap from another brand.
Truth 👆
The Ford has 480 hp.
Now the classic Chevy Bel-air can last forever, only needing tires every few years.
Bulloney ! Wait ’till it needs a new battery pack, genius. Another short-sighted, ignoramus EV fan-boy.
People like that have no respect for classic cars. They need stick with their Priuses and Volts which are merely transportation appliances-not cars.
Rubbish !
Hope it doesn’t catch fire!
they should recreate the final scene of hollywood knights, so we can see how lame it looks without any sound
That’s like kissing your sister. It’s just wrong.
Are they going to put cards on the spokes to make motor sounds ?
That is nice, but what is GM doing in EV production? I thought that GM had a nice lead in electric vehicle tech but all we hear about is the Cadillac Lyric or the stupid Hummer which dont come out til next year and cost 100k or more.
Did the Bolt fires send everything back to the drawing board? Everyone else seems to be bringing out models and leaving GM in the dust.
While I too don’t approve. Project X was built to display the latest trends and other ideas going on in the industry. Of course when it was practically covered in billet aluminum was almost as bad.
Don’t get me wrong EV’s have a time and place BUT Project X should always be that Blown beast the Tony Danza and Michelle Pfeiffer tooled around in The Hollywood Knights! NOT what they turned it into… Pick another Tri-five to convert….
I have been driving and building Chevys and other GM cars for 60 years. 100% Chevy man. I am now ashamed to even think how stupid and ignorant the people running GM are. I can’t believe they have bought into the false money grab hatched by the tree huggers thinking they can change the climate that only GOD controls. I guess they think electricity grows on trees. What a shame!!
The problem is that the tree huggers are in charge worldwide.
You also choose one last year, and now you have to deal with that reality.
The eu is banning the sales of new ice cars by 2030.
And most cities are banning the use of ice cars by 2030, and no exception for oldtimers!
So either change oldtimers to electric, or park them in a museum.
That’s the sad reality voting for liberals bring.
Oh Hell Naw