NASCAR has announced that they are going to begin racing with electric vehicles as early as next year. They will of course continue to run their normal series with internal combustion engines, but this is an undeniable look into the future of NASCAR.
I have to admit, I am pretty skeptical about this working. First of all, I just don’t see the typical NASCAR fan really being into this. The big draw for NASCAR is that it is an absolute sensory overload. The roar of the big motors, the sound of the exhaust at high rpm, the vibrations running through stadium, smell of the race gas and burnt tires. It all works together to give you that raucous NASCAR experience. EV’s won’t provide much of this at all, which will likely be a massive turn off for most fans.
On top of that, NASCAR is an endurance racing event. The current state of EV technology will simply not allow it. These fans show up all over the country to watch 500 heart pounding laps, not the super quiet Daytona 50. I have driven several EV’s and I know how quickly the battery dies when you are going wide open throttle. Are they planning on taking time-outs for charging? That’s not exactly riveting must see racing. Or maybe swapping batteries in the pits, but that’s kind of the opposite of being green, right?
Anyway, there’s a lot to unpack here. Jonathan Wooley laid it out way better than me, as shown HERE.
@s3magazine NASCAR is planning to start racing EV’s as early as next year. Thoughts? #automotivenews #ev #electricvehicle #nascar #evracing #s3mag #s3magazine
