E-Ray, the Corvette goes electric?! (or plugin hybrid)
 

The rumored next gen Chevrolet Corvette might be mid-engined, the engine parallel with electric motors on the front & rear axles and also work as generators. A layout makes a very advanced high-performance all-wheel-drive hybrid powertrain (like the Porsche 918). Further supporting the mid-engine Corvette hypothesis is Chevrolet also trademarked new platform architecture named Zora, the iconic engineer/designer of the Corvette. If Chevrolet E-Ray goes down the electrified hypercar route, will it still keep its venerable V-8?

https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...82&oe=56D7E13C

Is Chevy Working On Electric Corvette E-Ray? | GM Authority

E-Ray would suggest a full electric, no?

I imagine there will be V8 corvettes in one form or another for some time to come, even if the top models gain hybrid (Hy-Ray?) and smaller engines, more basic versions will still be 8's.

Makes sense. The Corvette has always been the test bed for the next technologies. Hybridization and electrification are undoubtedly amongst them.

Looks like the 2017 concept could still hold a supercharged small block V-8 amidships but with front end e-motors too. They try to hide the expected multiple exhaust tips. Car and Driver

You mean like ever since the 1970s?

Even if it doesn't go the mid-engine way, a hybrid 'Vette wouldn't sound impossible at all. An electric motor can go between the V8 and the gearbox, instead of the torque converter or the clutch.

Why not put it aft of the gearbox unless it is one of those infernal transaxles?

...next C8

http://corvette-concepts.tripod.com/...res/86indy.jpg
http://corvette-concepts.tripod.com/id6.html

http://cdn.lsxtv.com/image/2012/04/alessi-3.jpg
http://www.lsxtv.com/news/alessi-ar-1-supercar-the-mid-engine-corvette-we%E2%80%99ve-always-wanted/

In 1947 Ferrari shipped a 1497cc V12. This suggests a 1-liter V-8 is possible.

1.0L in a 'Vette sounds odd, as this displacement range is seen as a povertry feature in my country.

I don't believe the next 'Vette would get rid of the transaxle.

It's natural 'Murican mid-engined supercar rival is the $400K 2017 Ford GT, with its gorgeous flying buttress design, full-carbon fiber structure and body panels, 7-speed dual-clutch automatic and somewhat strange-sounding to 'Murican ears, a V-6.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cogJb9lazMY

But the GT has its rear-engine feature as a tradition since the original GT40, so it makes sense to have a rear-mounted engine. The 'Vette, OTOH, wouldn't be the same with a rear engine...

It was to establish a lower bound. To paraphrase Bill Gates, 1.6 liters should be enough for anybody. :)

Just add 300kW in electric motors and an 85kWh battery pack.

Aussies already make a 1.0 V8:

Ian Drysdale’s Spectacular Drysdale 1000 V8

I do not remember enough about the conversation to want to find it, but I believe someone told me that having many tiny cylinders (for deactivation?) created excessive friction losses.

Well, yes, the higher the number of cylinders, the higher the losses, more bearings, valves and followers. A 2x small pistons will have a greater circumference then a single bigger cylinder (of the same displacement), that means there's more surface area to run on the cylinder walls creating more friction. Think of a rubic's cube. How many faces would there be if each block was a separate cylinder?* Now think about how many faces are hidden when combined into a full cube?*

Most car 1.0's are 3 cylinders for a reason. My Fiat's a 2 cylinder ;)

Maybe they'll go the Mustang route of a turbo 4?

*Answers: 162 vs 54 Ok, the tops and bottoms don't add friction, but you get the idea.

What a four-cylinder rear-engined Corvette might look like, in 1971.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Up-y47U74O...77400693_n.jpg
Just A Car Guy : Dick Dean Kustom Bug: 1971 Shala-Vette Hardtop

At least for the next decade I don't believe the 'Vette would get rid of pushrods definitely.

Anyway, it might sound like a pipedream, but a 2-stroke V6 similar to some outboard powerheads would be a nice powerplant for a 'Vette...