NASCAR Unveils EV Prototype: ‘All Around Us Exploring What Our Future Could Be’

CHICAGO — NASCAR unveiled its prototype electric vehicle on Saturday as a symbol of its commitment to achieve zero carbon emissions in its core operations by 2025.

This electric vehicle may end up being more of a symbol than a reality when it comes to actual racing.

With a possible focus on hydrogen combustion engines as the answer to improving its carbon footprint, NASCAR will continue to explore whether an electric route is best.

While NASCAR had considered having electric vehicle exhibition races with each manufacturer that builds the cars, so far the only vehicle it unveiled Saturday during the Chicago road course weekend is the only one. No exhibition races are scheduled.

“I’m not sitting here saying we’re going to announce a series,” said NASCAR senior vice president and chief racing development officer John Probst. “Like anything, it’s about us exploring what our future might be… As we learn, we’ll be in the driver’s seat wherever the future takes us.”

NASCAR’s three current competing manufacturers—Chevrolet, Ford, and Toyota—collaborated on the design of the car, and no other potential NASCAR manufacturers were involved. The car already has a sponsor as NASCAR announced that electrification and automation company ABB has become its first partner as part of its sustainability mission.

“From our perspective, the idea is to be prepared for whatever the future holds,” Probst said. “We’re looking at all things combustion from sustainable fuels to hydrogen to electrified things from hybrids to … our battery electric car.”

Former Cup driver David Ragan has been the test driver, including a three-day test at Martinsville for the car, which has a modified chassis of the current Next Gen car used in Cup. The steering, suspension, brakes and wheels are all from the current Cup car. The power system can produce 1000 kilowatts at maximum. Braking converts kinetic energy into power, which is common in many of the hybrid engines used in other racing series.

Without a series kit, the NASCAR EV prototype uses an off-brand engine, and none of the manufacturers have developed an engine specifically for it.

There are two things that would certainly catch the attention of NASCAR fans:

— Lack of sound without a combustion engine.

— The big wing that’s raised high above the car, which was developed as a crossover, so it’s a few inches longer than the current Cup car and would need a big rear spoiler to generate downforce required.

“All my life. I’ve driven cars that made noises that you could hear certain things, smell certain things that was really different with this car,” Ragan said.

“At a track like Martinsville where you’re right behind the wall, you’re used to always hearing the exhaust sound behind the wall and you can tell how close you are to the wall. I could hear the tires screeching in the middle of the corner.

NASCAR officials know that most of their fans would resist a move from a combustion engine, but they also want to follow the direction of where their participating manufacturers are going with their passenger vehicles.

“There’s a long, long way to go for the combustion engine, whether it’s powered by sustainable fuel or hydrogen, for that matter — that’s something else we’re very interested in,” Probst said. “But then obviously there’s also the electrification side of it, whether it’s a hybrid… [and] and the electric battery [powered vehicles].”

Car manufacturers often use racing to help develop technologies and highlight their current high-performance technology.

“On the consumer side, carbon is the enemy, right?” said Toyota Racing Development general manager Tyler Gibbs. “On the consumer side, we’re going through a portfolio approach of a number of different vehicles [from EVs to hydrogen-fuel cell]. … On the motorsport side, we see the internal combustion engine around for a long time and motorsport just by the nature of how it works at all.

“Hydrogen is a big part for us. Carbon neutral fuels are a big deal for us.”

Probst couldn’t stress enough that the electric vehicle is still exploratory in nature, and whether a series will ever happen is yet to be determined. There has been speculation that NASCAR’s Xfinity Series could become its own electric car series.

“I’m not going to sit here today and say we’re never going to make a streak,” Probst said. “I’m just saying this now. I don’t want to create expectations that the series will be announced for next year. It’s not. We’re not saying no either.

“But I just think it’s an opportunity for us to do something that’s meaningful in the sense that we’re developing new technology for our car. [and then] judge the reactions from our fans. After all, that’s all we measure ourselves against in the end. We want to be relevant to OEMs [manufacturers]but if we are connected with them, and no one is looking, they will look at us and say, “Why are we messing around there.”

Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with posts at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.

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