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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

EcoCar2 is on the hunt for a better, cleaner Chevy Malibu [w/video]

The students spent three years transforming an ordinary Chevy Malibu into a revolutionary vehicle. Not far from the building where General Motors once invented the Chevy Volt, a dozen or so college students are standing on the blacktop alongside a test track, watching a professional driver push the limits of a plug-in hybrid car they've built that's far more radical. These students, from Colorado State University, have spent the past three years transforming an ordinary Chevy Malibu into a revolutionary vehicle. At first glance, it still looks like a regular sedan. But under the hood, they've installed a hybrid powertrain that contains both hydrogen and electric power sources. Even by the standards of the Department of Energy competition they're participating in, it's an outlier. That's exactly what they had in mind. "We didn't want to come here and tell them how to build a better Volt," said Tom Bradley, faculty adviser for the Colorado State team. "They already know how to do that. We can tell them how to think about these possibilities in a whole new way." After three years of work, it all comes down to this. The Colorado State team was one of 15 that came to GM's Milford Proving Grounds last week for the final stretch of the EcoCar2 competition, which challenges regular college students who have no automotive experience to do nothing less than reinvent the American car. The teams have come from across North America, and include schools like Ohio State and Virginia Tech that have a long history of participating in similar competitions, and schools like the University of Washington and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University that are here for the first time. After three years of work, it all comes down to this. The teams have operated 24 hours a day for almost two weeks here at the Proving Grounds, running a gamut of tests that include a 310-point safety inspection, emissions and energy-consumption tests and road tests, in which professional GM drivers ensure they're road worthy. The winning team will be announced tonight in Washington D.C. Revolutionary cars, ordinary package While other green-car competitions encourage extreme designs, this one comes with a somewhat constraining twist: Yes, students must improve fuel economy and reduce emissions, but in the end, they still have to have a car that would appeal to mainstream customers. In practical terms, that means they must keep conveniences like air conditioning and trunk space.

2019 Hyundai Kona Electric First Drive Review | No compromises

The results of last week's United Nations climate study reveal that Earth's climate situation is much more dire than previously thought. Unless we do something drastic to stop pumping carbon emissions into our atmosphere, we'll do irreversible damage by 2030. It seems almost prophetic, then, that Hyundai is launching two vehicles — the hydrogen-powered Nexo FCV and an all-electric variant of the recently launched Kona crossover. The more compelling of the two is the Hyundai Kona Electric. It joins other purely battery-powered machines such as the Nissan Leaf, the Chevy Bolt and the Tesla Model 3, but the Korean automaker one-ups the competition by arriving in the form of a crossover. Americans can't get enough of them, and no other pure electric on the market offers it unless you're talking about the $83,000 Tesla Model X. The Kona EV's next closest competitor is the boxy electric Soul, and in case you didn't know, Kia's affiliate company is none other than Hyundai. In truth, the crossover moniker isn't entirely accurate. Like its internal-combustion-engined counterpart, the Kona EV doesn't really sit above regular car height. Rather than call it a compact crossover, it'd be more appropriate to label it a hatchback with some rugged-looking body cladding. The Kona Electric does, however, top nearly all of its EV rivals for cargo space, with 19.2 cubic feet. Only the Leaf tops it at 23.6 cubic feet, but the Kona's footprint is almost a foot shorter than the Nissan's. Visually, the Kona Electric is distinguished from its petrol-powered sibling by a grille-less face, replaced by an LCD readout grid pattern with the charging port neatly hidden beneath a panel on the left side. A new light bar spans the prow, connecting the upper driving lights in a digital wave pattern repeated in the lower front, side and rear skirts. It's meant to evoke the pathways in a circuit board, according to senior chief designer Chris Chapman. Inside, more differences serve to remind you that you're sitting not just at the helm of a crossover, but a shuttle to the future. An array of PRND buttons and an electronic parking brake await your instructions. Neither seemed necessary nor an improvement over the Kona classic's tried-and-true gear selector and handbrake, but there they were. The e-e-brake perhaps does permit the double-decker center console, though, the lower level meant for gadget recharging, whether via USB or Qi wireless.