Industry Voices | NASCAR Gets Glimpse of EV

Last summer, I wrote about the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship race I attended in Portland, an exciting experience attended by many electric-vehicle advocates who also like racing.

Just after that, it was announced that electrical equipment specialist ABB, in partnership with Goodyear, and in collaboration with Ford, Chevrolet and Toyota, were introducing their own EV prototype race car, designed in conjunction with NASCAR R&D and unveiled at the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race Nov. 8-11 at the Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, AZ.

While the new EV wasn’t in the race itself, it was on display, engineers were available to talk about it, and it did laps on the track that I witnessed firsthand. I also discussed the car with NASCAR and EV prototype driver David Ragan, the professional driver who drove it.

After the track laps, engineers were actively interpreting the data for further development and you could see the future as it evolves. “It’s coming down the road,” as Ragan said of EVs competing in NASCAR. “It took a couple of years in the making just to get from the design phase to the manufacturing to where we are now,” he said, and it will take more time before we see “15 or 20 of these on the racetrack.”

When I look at some of the cars on display that were on the track 30 or so years ago, it’s clear NASCAR vehicles have evolved. But the leap to EVs in NASCAR will require a revolution, and that will take time.

Most interesting, though, was the hard-core NASCAR crowd’s reaction to the highly engineered EV – it was mixed, and curious, particularly when Ragan and the sponsors of the car were on stage fielding questions about the first NASCAR EV.

While some diehard fans were not overly interested in the EV prototype (unlike some of the zealous advocates at the Formula E series), all seemed to understand the benefits of providing this high-technology vehicle with the massive visibility a NASCAR championship race produces.

Less obvious but thought-provoking comments came from Chris Shigas, head of communications for ABB in the U.S., who was asked why, in part, they were “all-in” on introducing this now.  He pointed out that a big part of the motivation was to interest young people in becoming the next generation of innovative EV engineers and technicians to advance this rapidly accelerating technology-driven field.

While ABB is indeed, a multinational leader in electrification and automation (from EV vehicle infrastructure to power plant construction), which will benefit from its own recruitment of EV engineers, that motivating factor goes beyond a single company or sector in the larger automotive landscape.  Time and time again, I hear both OEMs and dealers talking about the need for young EV engineering talent, from OEM R&D and design centers, to the dealership service shop floor.  To fill these ranks the “cool” factor is important, and I ask you: What is “cooler” to a car person than NASCAR?

NASCAR noncommittal about EVs’ future on race circuit.