A Promising Future or Disaster in the Making?

If you paid close attention to the entire weekend at the second running of the Chicago Street Race, you likely caught some news that was rather quiet given conversations surrounding this particular topic in recent years.

That would be introducing electrification to NASCAR.

On July 6 in Chicago, the sport’s sanctioning body revealed the ABB NASCAR EV Prototype, its first publicly released prototype concerning electrification.

The car puts NASCAR another step closer to alternative energy when it comes to its racecars.

While the car was unveiled and previously tested by former NASCAR Cup Series driver David Ragan, there are no plans for an electric series or the car hitting the track any time soon for competition. Instead, it’s another stone on the foundation of what the sport could look like a few years or a decade down the road.

Featuring an electric powertrain that creates 1,000 kilowatts and has 1300-horsepower, the car is all-wheel drive and contains a 78-kWh liquid-cooled battery.

Before I begin critiquing this prototype, let me say two things. First, this is solely a prototype. As mentioned at the unveiling and above in this article, there are no plans for this to become a series or be featured in the Cup cars for the foreseeable future.

NASCAR Senior Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer John Probst was open about expectations moving forward when it comes to the cars’ power sources.

“There’s no plans right now to have a series that’s electric,” Probst said. “But I will also say I learned a long time ago you never say ‘never’ or ‘always,’ so that’s a good life lesson.”

Second, I am no engineer, and the electric automobile industry is something I am constantly having to learn about.

That being said, electrification has become one of the biggest controversies in both street cars and motorsports. There are still a lot of unanswered questions involving EVs, and that opens up a bigger can of worms when it comes to racing.

Let’s just look at it from a demographic standpoint. Change is natural and is something that is necessary on many fronts concerning a business. However, a radically different and sudden change from what attracted consumers from the beginning is when “change” begins crossing the line.

Part of the fan experience is hearing the roar of the engines, smelling the scent of motor…