This Electric Corvette Just Set a New Land Speed Record

Extreme Electric Corvette

When there are helmets, sports cars, and helicopters involved, you know the situation is going to be pretty cool. The 2006 Z06 Corvette seen in the video below was recently recognized for setting a new world record for the fastest street-legal all-electric car.

 

As you might have guessed, this isn't your average Corvette. Dubbed the Genovation eXtreme Electric (or GXE), it's a heavily-modified version of the sports car from automotive startup Genovation, which is known for producing powerful electric motors and batteries.

This prototype GXE the company built features over 700hp and some 600 foot-pounds of torque.

The vehicle was being tested at the Johnny Bohmer Proving Grounds/Shuttle Landing Facility in Florida, conducting research to improve vehicle performance. During the course of testing, the car broke the record for the Top Speed Street Legal Electric Car category with a speed of 300 km/h (186.8 mph).

The record was certified by the International Mile Racing Association (IMRA). The previous record was 284 km/h (177 mph), set by a Finnish prototype car.

Breaking New Records

Breaking the record has gotten the company some great exposure. However, according to their CEO, their achievements don't end here. The company expects to top the record in the near future.

“We are thrilled that the result of our development testing led to the setting of this record,” said Genovation CEO Andrew Saul. “Based on our experience so far, we believe the car to be extremely robust as we set the record on our first day of testing. We fully expect the car to do a lot more," he concluded.

If Genovation doesn't top that speed, someone is bound to. The company has some heavy competition. A number of electric car startups are promising to launch all-electric supercars that can reach 321 km/h (200 mph), if not top it, in the very near future.