Manoli Katakis 
The one-of-one electric Chevrolet COPO Camaro was developed by General Motors and built in partnership with electric drag racing team Hancock and Lane Racing for last year’s 2018 SEMA Show in Las Vegas. It tested the appetite for electric drag racers at a convention that’s all about high-octane performance. The eCOPO Camaro is certainly a piece of novel engineering, and those interested in owning it have the chance to get it at the Russo and Steele Auction taking place this weekend in Monterey, California alongside the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. According to a report from Fox News, General Motors is the consigner.
The eCOPO Camaro is powered by an 800-volt electric motor providing the equivalent of more than 700 horsepower and 600 lb-ft of torque. It’s GM’s first 800-volt battery back, made up of four 200-volt modules, totaling 700 pounds in weight. Two of theses battery packs are placed where the rear seat used to be, and the other two in the trunk. This gives the electric COPO Camaro a 56 percent rear weight bias in an effort to get those rear tires to hook up more effectively at the drag strip. All of this electricity is sent to a pair of BorgWarner HVH 250-150 motor assemblies, each generating 300 lb-ft of torque. It is connected to a conventional racing-prepared “Turbo 400” automatic transmission that channels the motor’s torque to the same solid rear axle used in the gas-powered COPO Camaro race cars.
Performance-wise, the fastest quarter-mile time achieved in the electric COPO Camaro was 9.51 seconds at 140 mph. That’s faster than the (road-legal) Dodge Demon, but not as fast as the (non-road-legal) gasoline COPO Camaros that are sold by Chevrolet in highly limited numbers every year.
The battery pack also previewed next-generation power transfer to the electric motor and supports faster recharging, which is something that could eventually transfer to future General Motors electric vehicles.
For safety’s sake, a full Battery Management System monitors all critical voltages and temperatures within the pack. It ties into a larger system that continuously evaluates all vehicle electrical components for proper function and safe operation. The batteries in the rear compartment are sealed off from the interior and an integrated driveshaft tunnel has been added between the modules for increased protection. Additionally, the roll cage in the trunk area has been expanded to provide additional protection for the rear-mounted modules.
Russo and Steele estimate that the electric COPO Camaro will go from anywhere between $425,000 to $525,000 USD this weekend at its Monterey Auction.
