[Steverino]

GM's been playing around with EV's for quite a while. Before the EV1, Chevy was showing a Corsair converted into an EV. It was called Chevy Electrovair II. It was never sold but was used as an engineering exercise. This Gen 2 Corsair had a different suspension than the one that made the Gwn 1 Corsair infamous.

Its air-cooled engine was mounted in the rear, making it fairly simple to swap out the flat-six for a 115-horsepower AC induction motor. The conversion to electric drive added close to a thousand pounds to the curb weight, primarily from the addition of a 532-volt, silver-oxide battery array. It was housed up front, in the Corvair sedan's spacious "trunk," giving the Electrovair II a range of 40-80 miles.

Forgotten Concept: 1966 Chevy Electrovair II - Autoblog https://www.autoblog.com/2010/08/13/forgotten-concept-1966-chevy-electrovair-ii/

GM's long road back to electric cars - Electrovair II (3) - CNNMoney.com https://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/autos/0809/gallery.gm_electric_cars/3.html

 

[Kabloona]

There are a few "Electrovair" videos on YouTube...

 

[Steverino]

Here's a guy who has a Volt (wife) and a Bolt (his). who did a 1962 Corvair Electric Conversion. 75 miles range worst case. In slow LA traffic he gets more range.

A cute short video with what sounds like the original GM ad for the Electrovair

 

[Steverino]

Here's an official video from GM at the time:

 

[Kabloona]

I'm a longtime fan of the Corvair, would be great to see Chevy make a 2+2 retro Corvair-inspired EV coupe....with Ultium 55 kwhr battery pack, rear wheel drive, and decent performance....at a reasonably cheap price.

Not gonna happen, since Corvair is regarded as a massive flop by GM....but I'd still like to see something coming from the "domestic" auto industry other than endlessly repeating the same old small crossover and/or SUV body style....

Meanwhile, I'll happily jump on the Equinox EV wait list as soon as they let me sign up in 2023... 😉

 

[ef1973]

I'm a longtime fan of the Corvair, would be great to see Chevy make a 2+2 retro Corvair-inspired EV coupe....with Ultium 55 kwhr battery pack, rear wheel drive, and decent performance....at a reasonably cheap price.

Not gonna happen, since Corvair is regarded as a massive flop by GM....but I'd still like to see something coming from the "domestic" auto industry other than endlessly repeating the same old small crossover and/or SUV body style....

Meanwhile, I'll happily jump on the Equinox EV wait list as soon as they let me sign up in 2023... 😉

GM's been playing around with EV's for quite a while. Before the EV1, Chevy was showing a Corsair converted into an EV. It was called Chevy Electrovair II. It was never sold but was used as an engineering exercise. This Gen 2 Corsair had a different suspension than the one that made the Gwn 1 Corsair infamous.



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Forgotten Concept: 1966 Chevy Electrovair II - Autoblog https://www.autoblog.com/2010/08/13/forgotten-concept-1966-chevy-electrovair-ii/

GM's long road back to electric cars - Electrovair II (3) - CNNMoney.com https://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/autos/0809/gallery.gm_electric_cars/3.html

I think you meant "Corvair".

 

[Steverino]

would be great to see Chevy make a 2+2 retro Corvair-inspired EV coupe

With GM on the record saying no more sedans, it's a long shot for sure. But who knows? There's a small possibility GM will release an Ultium-based sedan, but I think it would be a large sedan if they did.