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Chevy trademark for E-Ray may signal Corvette hybrid or EV

A spy photographer and friend of Autoblog Chris Doane spotted this trademark filing with the US Patent and Trademark Office, and there's not much to it: Chevy is calling dibs on the "Corvette E-Ray" name, and that raises more questions than answers. Being obsessed with this industry is an Autoblog core value, and Corvette is perennially a big deal. It's also historically, and famously, resistant to change. So what's going on here? Unless it's a pure show car, it's unlikely the E-Ray will be a C7-based hybrid. The current Corvette is a tightly-packaged thing, and batteries are bulky. That makes a concept of some sort all the more likely, especially with the Detroit Auto Show coming up. Unconstrained by the packaging of the real-world Stingray, this E-Ray concept may be a pure EV, or a hybrid, of any configuration. GM has built mid-engined Corvette concept cars in the past, and maybe we'll see one again in a few weeks. A gutted C7 with a pure EV drivetrain is also a remote possibility, although less likely – the Stingray wasn't engineered with that in mind, and we think GM's too big to show off a hack-job at a major auto show. Not that it is a Corvette competitor, but don't forget that the Tesla Model S P85D and it's P90D successor have taken pure EV performance into the mainstream – the upper end of the mainstream, to be sure. It has been enough to draw industry performance players into the genre. Look at Aston Martin's production-possible RapidE concept, a pure EV, and the confirmed-for-production Porsche Mission E. We've heard rumblings in the past that Corvette may become a marque unto itself, spawning a variety of variants (including the hypothesized mid-engined production car – don't hold your breath). Perhaps the gas-powered C8, in whatever form it takes, will be complemented with a greener version. We'll try to dig up insider information about what the E-Ray will reveal itself to be, but rest assured that if it shows up at Detroit we'll bring you analysis of every inch of it.Related Video: Featured Gallery 2016 Chevy Corvette Z06 C7.R Edition View 9 Photos Tip: Chris Doane/Facebook Green Rumormill Detroit Auto Show Chevrolet Electric Future Vehicles Hybrid Performance corvette stingray

Personal testimonies show real-world effect of plugging in with Chevy Volt

At this point, there are tens of thousands of individual stories about what it's like to live with a Chevrolet Volt. But it also remains informative to take a look at one of these in depth. For example, one Atlanta-area Volt owner says he's cut his cents-per-mile ownership costs by almost 40 percent compared to his previous car primarily because of his ability to drive almost all the time on electric power. Jeffrey Cohen told Clean Technica that he put about 14,000 miles on his Volt extended-range plug-in hybrid for the year that ended October 2013, and that more than 92 percent of those were on electrons. He estimates his "lifetime" miles per gallon rating at a whopping 384 mpg, a figure pushed upward by the fact that he installed a Level 2 charger at home while his employer added an external 110-volt charger at work. Cohen is spending 45 cents a mile for his car, compared to 73 cents in his Infiniti M35. As a result, he's spending 45 cents a mile for his car, compared to 73 cents a mile with his prior vehicle, an Infiniti M35. About two-thirds of those Volt costs are for the $349-a-month lease payments, while 15 percent is insurance, 11 percent is for the charger and seven percent for the gas and electricity that actually powers the car. Helping lower that last figure is an overnight electricity rate that's about 10 percent of Cohen's daytime rate. Chevy parent General Motors hopes such testimonies will re-trigger sales for the Volt in 2014. Last year, GM sold 23,094 Volts, down 1.6 percent from 2012. We expect our readers have similar stories they'd like to share in the Comments. Related Gallery 2011 Chevrolet Volt: Review View 22 Photos News Source: Clean TechnicaImage Credit: Lead image: AP Photo/Jae C. Hong Green Chevrolet GM Electric running costs

GM starting to talk seriously about 200-mile EV

We've been hearing word of a 200-mile EV from Chevrolet for a while now. First, there was General Motors then-CEO Dan Akerson hinting at a $30,000, 200-mile EV that would take the competition by surprise. Then Akerson confirmed that GM is working on a 200-mile EV in a speech in March. LG Chem, which supplies batteries to GM and other automakers, recently said it was working on batteries for EVs with a range of 200 miles. GM's head of global product development Mark Reuss just re-confirmed that there are plans for an EV with a 200-mile range, and sources have told Automotive News what that car will be. While Reuss didn't mention anything about a specific model or platform, two undisclosed sources with knowledge of GM's plans have said that an EV with a range of about 200 miles is indeed in the works, and that it will be based on the Chevrolet Sonic. The sources also gave a timeline for the car, saying it is slated for sometime in 2017. According to Reuss, the plan is for Chevy to offer a lineup of electric cars, with the 200-mile EV joining ranks of the Chevrolet Volt and the Spark EV. He didn't hint at a timeline, but if the sources are correct, we could see a Sonic EV being built within a few years. Reuss sees demand for it, too. When speaking of the Spark EV, currently only available in California and Oregon, he says that "people wish we would sell it all around the country." If he's right about that, it's not difficult to imagine people taking interest in Chevrolet's 200-mile electric car, whether or not it's a Sonic.