NASCAR unveiled an electric vehicle prototype at an event in Chicago and talked about plans to “decarbonize” its operations.
The racing organization unveiled its new EV at the Chicago Street Race and released a document full of activist jargon about the sustainability goals we’ve heard ad nauseam from big corporations.
With a mission to strengthen communities by promoting sustainability, NASCAR has partnered with Swedish-Swiss electrical equipment maker ABB.
“In fact, we have an opportunity to evaluate not only the battery electric part, but also the crossover vehicle part.”
The beloved American stock car league’s electrification efforts are in line with the most basic plans put forward by countless jurisdictions and manufacturers, which have pledged to decarbonize their facilities and achieve a net-zero carbon footprint in their core operations by 2035.
Simply put, NASCAR is saying it will continue to use internal combustion engines in its cars, but it wants to reassure people that its activities outside of racing are sustainable.
“The internal combustion engine is our workhorse and that will continue to be the case,” said NASCAR sustainability chief Riley Nelson. CNN.
NASCAR wants to have its race tracks and facilities running on 100 percent renewable electricity and have on-site electric vehicle charging stations by 2028. The partnership with ABB will provide the necessary infrastructure at its operations.
The EV itself, ABB NASCAR EV PrototypeNASCAR said the race, which will debut in 2022, is an attempt to make race cars more similar to those on the road. press release.
The car has three electric motors (one in the front, two in the rear) and regenerative braking. Braking allows an electric vehicle to slow down and put excess energy back into the battery, allowing it to drive longer. This is a tricky feature for commercial electric vehicles, because in certain driving modes, such as when going through a car wash, the EV automatically brakes when it’s going very slowly.
“Our core operations and the pilot programs that we’ve implemented at our events are going very well,” NASCAR’s Nelson continued, adding that the company is “still in the early stages of this effort.”
John Probst, NASCAR’s senior vice president of racing development, told CNN that some fans might reject the very idea of electric racing and that gasoline-powered cars are not in immediate danger of disappearing — but like Nelson, Probst stopped short of saying gasoline-powered cars will never go away.
The company currently uses 85% gasoline and 15% ethanol, but reportedly has plans to switch to more sustainable fuels in the future.
“We actually have an opportunity to evaluate not only the battery electric part, but also the crossover vehicle part,” Probst said, “so one or both of those may be important to us in the future.”
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