Chevy Camaro eCOPO Envisions A 700-Horsepower Electric Drag Racer
Racing is electrifying. And we don’t just mean that it’s exciting for fans. It’s actually going electric, from Formula E to touring cars to rally. And if Chevy gets its way, drag racing could be next. The Bowtie brand is showcasing this conceptual Camaro drag racer at the SEMA show this week. It’s called the eCOPO Camaro, and it packs 700 horsepower (522 kW) along with 600 lb-ft (814 Nm) of torque – all of it from electric motors. Chevy started with the existing COPO Camaro, designed as it already is for drag racing, and replaced the V8 engine with an electric motor assembly with a huge battery pack in the trunk. The system is based on a pair of BorgWarner HVH 250-150 motors, each generating 300 lb-ft (407 Nm) of torque, and connects to a conventional Turbo 400 automatic transmission. In the back, it installed four 200-volt battery modules, each weighing 175 pounds (79 kg), to give it a combined 800 volts of electrical power. It even extended the roll cage rearward...