Chevrolet revealed its all-electric drag racer concept, the eCOPO Camaro, at the 2018 SEMA show last October, but now the race-prepped monster has made its first pass.
Video published to YouTube last Monday shows the eCOPO Camaro makes hardly a peep as it launches off of the line and pulls a wheelie on the way down the dragstrip. Don't be confused by the rumbling and lumpy idle present in the video. That's the pickup truck the electric Camaro lines up against. It's easy to hear the (lack of) sound the eCOPO Camaro makes when the driver does a burnout to warm up the tires.
When Chevrolet revealed the concept, the brand said the electric powertrain makes more than 700 horsepower and 600-plus pound-feet of torque. According to the video description, the eCOPO Camaro actually makes more than 780 hp and 780 lb-ft of torque. Power comes from a pair of BorgWarner HVH 250-150 motor assemblies. They're connected to a standard COPO Camaro's 3-speed automatic transmission and power heads to a solid rear axle.
Chevrolet eCOPO Camaro concept
The battery pack that supplies the power is made up of four 200-volt modules placed throughout the car for optimal weight distribution. At the end of the development period, engineers managed a 44/56 front-to-rear weight ratio.
The run shown in the video was apparently done with the power cranked up to just 80 percent of the eCOPO Camaro's potential.
All of the engineering time surely paid off in the eyes of Chevrolet. The eCOPO Camaro rocketed down the dragstrip in just 10.14 seconds at 130.85 mph. Yet, Chevrolet said it is confident it could achieve 9-second times with the car, so we have a feeling the team will be back, and eventually, dip into the 9s.
