1987 Electric Corvette

[Terry M.]

I have had some unusual phone calls over the years, but today's tops them all -- so far.

Caller (who is a former student of mine) reports he has seen, and helped move, a 1987 Corvette that is all electric. The story, details of which are still unfolding, is that Motorola (yes, the radio people) built three 1987 Corvettes. This example, of course it is a red convertible, has been stored where my former student works for the last six or so years. The owner, a former Motorola employee, just passed and another storage location has been found.

He asked if any of us "Corvette nuts" (his term; but, full disclosure, he is into Meyers Manx buggies -- the real ones) would like to see it. Based on his description, at this time it looks like a "barn find" and is covered in dust deep enough he could write his name in it. It is in the greater Chicagoland area.

Given I saw a Hybredized C6 at the NCM last year (long story on that one and it involves something like 200 additional horsepower to the rear wheels and a Virginia Tech College and an NCRS member), and GM has recently trademarked "e-Ray", electric Corvettes are around. But who would have thought of electrifying a Corvette in 1987? The answer apparently is Motorola.

[Michael J.]

Re: 1987 Electric Corvette

Terry, you should go and document this one as a Bowtie sign-off, the other two may emerge for judging........

[Richard M.]

Re: 1987 Electric Corvette

Terry, I'd really like to see pictures of the car and some detail shots of the Motorola modifications.

Motorola was a very diverse electronics company over time which developed much more than radios. In the 80's and 90's I used to work with Motorola and their microelectronic integrated circuit development team in Chandler AZ and visited there with them on occasion. Awesome company to work with and their IC technology was far above others at the time.

Motorola did much of our custom IC fabrication for high end engineering work stations at Apollo Computer in the 80's, and when I moved to Kendall Square Research in the early 90's, a manufacturer of high end Supercomputers, we used their custom IC technology for our 1,088 processor integration development.

Rich

[Joe R.]

Re: 1987 Electric Corvette

Terry,

Not from Missouri but this is one of those "Show Me" stories!

JR

[Terry M.]

Re: 1987 Electric Corvette

Terry,

Not from Missouri but this is one of those "Show Me" stories!

JR

I had hopes of getting someone who knows a lot more about C4s than I do to come with me, but it sounds like the peanut gallery has at least some interest. We will see what it is, but it will not be a shore term project.

[Ray G.]

Re: 1987 Electric Corvette

Terry;
Looking forward to your future posts on this adventure.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.
Ray

[Joe R.]

Re: 1987 Electric Corvette

Hi Terry:

I have followed the development of electric cars for about 40 years, and the C4 conversions you describe do not sound unusual. I suspect they are the real deal, but probably not tied to GM.

Even GM built an electric Corvair in the 1960's, called the ElectroVair. I think there may also have been an ElectroVette in the 1970's. Lots of other conversions were done on a low-volume production basis in the 1990's, to satisfy a government mandate that some percentage of electric utility fleets had to be electric vehicles.

During the 1990-2010 period, a robust hobby developed where ordinary hobbiests converted gas vehicles to electric drive trains. Lots of different cars were converted, and some web sites emerged where people could show what they had done. These conversions were generally successful, but limited in range because most people used simple DC motors and affordable lead-acid batteries. Now that the major car companies offer electric cars with three-phase AC motors, regenerative braking, and lithium-ion batteries, the conversion hobby has declined.

In 2005 I helped my local high school convert a Chevy S10 pickup to electric power. When it was time to select a second project, I considered converting a C4 Corvette. I found an example conversion on one of the electric conversion web sites, and the overall layout of the motor, controller, and batteries looked promising. In the end, we converted a Mazda Miata instead, mostly because the cost of the donor car was less than a C4 (another reason was that as an NCRS member, I was queasy about cutting up an original Corvette).

In any event, the C4 conversions you are hearing about are probably actual projects undertaken by a third-party company other than GM itself. It would be interesting to learn the history of that development.

[Terry M.]

Re: 1987 Electric Corvette

Hi Terry:

I have followed the development of electric cars for about 40 years, and the C4 conversions you describe do not sound unusual. I suspect they are the real deal, but probably not tied to GM.

Even GM built an electric Corvair in the 1960's, called the ElectroVair. I think there may also have been an ElectroVette in the 1970's. Lots of other conversions were done on a low-volume production basis in the 1990's, to satisfy a government mandate that some percentage of electric utility fleets had to be electric vehicles.

During the 1990-2010 period, a robust hobby developed where ordinary hobbiests converted gas vehicles to electric drive trains. Lots of different cars were converted, and some web sites emerged where people could show what they had done. These conversions were generally successful, but limited in range because most people used simple DC motors and affordable lead-acid batteries. Now that the major car companies offer electric cars with three-phase AC motors, regenerative braking, and lithium-ion batteries, the conversion hobby has declined.

In 2005 I helped my local high school convert a Chevy S10 pickup to electric power. When it was time to select a second project, I considered converting a C4 Corvette. I found an example conversion on one of the electric conversion web sites, and the overall layout of the motor, controller, and batteries looked promising. In the end, we converted a Mazda Miata instead, mostly because the cost of the donor car was less than a C4 (another reason was that as an NCRS member, I was queasy about cutting up an original Corvette).

In any event, the C4 conversions you are hearing about are probably actual projects undertaken by a third-party company other than GM itself. It would be interesting to learn the history of that development.

Joe
Your experiences are interesting.

In the 1990s the Community College where I was instructing converted many vehicles (no Corvettes) to Compressed Natural Gas. We had training programs for conversions and certification to inspect CNG storage tanks. There was a gas company service center near us, and they were required to have a certain number of CNG vehicles in their fleet. We did a lot of training for their personnel. I was not directly involved in any of those projects or classes, but it was close enough that some of it could not be ignored.

As the weather moderates and new school term begins I'll follow up on that Corvette Electric Vehicle and get some pictures for y'all. Last I heard they had found the batteries and the construction plans. There is no indication that GM had anything to do with the electrification of those cars, but the story is entirely too murky at this time to be sure. We will see what unfolds.

[Joe R.]

Re: 1987 Electric Corvette

Hi Terry:

I would be very interested to see some photos and documentation of the overall configuration. Please let me know what you find out.