Corvette E-Ray wins Best Performance Car of 2023

Carbon Revolution plc (Geelong, Australia), a Tier 1 OEM supplier and global manufacturer of automotive carbon fiber wheels, announces that the 2024 Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray, optionally equipped with Carbon Revolution’s lightweight carbon fiber wheels, won The Drive’s Best Performance Car of 2023. The 2024 E-Ray marks the first time a General Motors (GM, Detroit, Mich., U.S.) hybrid electric product has used Carbon Revolution’s carbon fiber wheels.

“The GM Corvette Z06 has been one of Carbon Revolution’s most successful high-volume programs,” say Jake Dingle, CEO of Carbon Revolution. “We expect that, given the recent performance awards for the E-Ray, this program will continue the trend of success.”

Carbon Revolution has been awarded 18 programs with six global OEMs, including Ford, Ferrari, GM, Jaguar Land Rover, Renault and a major German automaker program announced in December, as demand grows among global automakers for its weight-reduction and efficiency technology.

“E-Ray brings technology and pace once reserved for seven-figure hypercars down to the relative masses,” writes Peter Holderith of The Drive, who praised the trickle-down of technology into North America’s most popular sports car. 

The E-Ray’s optional five-spoke carbon fiber wheels, made by Carbon Revolution, cut 41 pounds from the Corvette’s unsprung, rotational curb weight compared with the forged aluminum option, reducing total weight by 40-50%, and providing an increase to EV vehicle range of up to 5%-10%. Driving on the track, journalists have noted the vehicle’s control, improved braking performance and a sharper turn-in, thanks to reduced unsprung rotational mass. Moreover, in testing, GM engineers found Carbon Revolution’s carbon fiber wheels reduced the Corvette’s lap time by 1.5 seconds over a 2-minute lap compared with the standard aluminum wheels, all other factors being the same.

MotorTrend writer Scott Evans says that the improved steering and braking feel was noticeable when swapping to a Z06 with the lighter carbon fiber wheel option: “If the base Z06 feels like it’ll stop right now, the Z07 feels like it already stopped yesterday … The steering response is immediate and pinpoint precise.”

The E-Ray’s carbon fiber wheels — the widest Carbon Revolution has produced to date — are also available on the 2024 Corvette Z06.

The Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray has also been recognized for the 2023 Vehicle Engineering Team Award.