Yet an electric NASCAR racer previews what may be possible someday. Even for a sport where nobody bats an eye at a
truck series anymore, the “win on Sunday, sell on Monday” ethos helps explain why the prototype is a crossover: The automakers who race in NASCAR still have to go where the buyers are, and these days, they’re not going to sedans and coupes like they once did.
Still, the online reaction to NASCAR’s EV prototype was mixed, with some folks discussing the sport’s embrace of the future and others just responding: “WOKE.”
More nuanced criticism came after test driver David Ragan said the car accelerates, brakes, and turns well, since NASCAR drivers and fans often like race cars that are hard to handle.
So, what should you think about electrification in NASCAR? Let’s break down three pros and one big con of what the future may hold.
PRO: Casual spectators likely won’t notice a difference between gas and hybrid power
“Hybrid” is a scary buzzword. Just look at the reputation the Toyota Prius
garnered over the years. Especially in the gas-guzzling 2000s, a lot of regular people thought it was too eco-conscious. Bland. Boring.
But that perception is changing quickly. Hybrid sales are skyrocketing as more buyers face rising gas prices but don’t necessarily want to go fully electric. In the coming years, more cars that were once purely internal combustion-powered will likely add hybrid power. Plus, while hardcore fans of a series will notice tweaks in strategy, fuel mileage, and car operation with hybrids, casual spectators likely won’t.
Over the weekend at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, IndyCar went hybrid for the first time, with
an electrical system paired to the car’s 2.2-liter, twin-turbocharged V6 engine. I asked a friend who works in the sport and attended the race if there was any difference between spectating the non-hybrid car and the hybrid one, and they said: “Negative. All sound was normal. In terms of vibes, literally no difference. Could not tell [it was a hybrid].”
PRO: Motorsports is a marketing platform, and it needs to be relevant
Motorsports isn’t just a marketing platform for the companies on the cars’ liveries. It’s also a platform for the automakers and technology companies that build and race the cars. Because of that, it’s more enticing for those companies when the race cars have some relevance to the ones they’re selling.
NASCAR currently runs pushrod V8s in all of its three American national series. Its two lower divisions, the Truck and Xfinity Series, run four-speed manual transmissions, while the Cup Series runs a five-speed sequential.
Less than 2% of new cars sold in America last year were manuals, and we as a society are moving away from V8s and toward hybrid and electric cars. The current NASCAR racers get about 5 mpg, so it’s not like they’re in line with current passenger-car fuel economy.
Automakers want to advertise new technology, not old—meaning if a series doesn’t keep up, it could lose its manufacturer support. Without manufacturers, you can lose a series.
PRO: Fully electric racing has its own benefits
While NASCAR won’t go fully electric anytime soon, there are benefits to an EV racing series. Electric race cars like the ones used in Formula E, which became the
world’s first major electric racing series in 2014, are quiet. That means engine roars can’t cover the other sounds that happen during a race: wrecks, tire squeals, and other mechanics of the car.