NASCAR's EV prototype project has a sponsor -- ABB, a Swiss company that also backs Formula E
NASCAR on Saturday revealed its first EV prototype, and while it isn’t announcing a new electric series to go with it, the move is aimed toward ensuring the racing company is keeping up with modern automotive technology. The EV is a crossover utility vehicle that was built by NASCAR’s research and development team in concert with its three carmakers, Ford, Chevrolet and Toyota, at a cost of $1.5M, NASCAR told The AP. The high-pitched car was originally supposed to be unveiled at the Busch Light Clash at the L.A. Coliseum in early February before rain scrapped those plans.
But the delay appeared to be somewhat beneficial in the end as it resulted in NASCAR finding a title sponsor for the project that it rolled out at the same time. ABB, the Switzerland-based global technology company that has long been title sponsor of Formula E, became a founding partner of NASCAR’s IMPACT sustainability program and the title sponsor of the EV. While financial terms have not yet been learned, the deal appears to involve a broader business relationship instead of a straight sponsorship, as NASCAR will be installing ABB’s EV chargers at its facilities across the country among other plans between the sides.
The car has all-wheel drive and an electric powertrain that generates up to 1,000 kilowatts of power, or 1,300 horsepower, more than double the current NASCAR Cup Series car, which runs off the traditional internal-combustion engine. In a remarkable statement showing how careful it was having to be to not offend its hardcore fans who love loud, rumbling cars, NASCAR said it is “committed to the historic role of the combustion engine in racing.”
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But NASCAR Senior VP and Chief Racing Development Officer John Probst added: "Change is accelerating all around us, and from a NASCAR perspective we want to be in the driver's seat when it comes to where our future is going. We certainly don't want to be in the passenger's seat and then someday get to the future, and go, 'Oh, where do we need to be?' It's not fair to the collaboration we have with our OEM partners."
There is no immediate plan to launch a new EV companion series, as NASCAR has been considering to do for years. But on Sunday at the Chicago street race event, NASCAR took the whizzing car on the track for the first time with its test driver, part-time NASCAR driver David Ragan. Videos on social media from the demonstration run showed the car sounding more like a Formula E vehicle than a typical stock car that fans have been accustomed to for over 75 years. Probst: “At this point, not sitting here saying we’re going to announce a series, that’s not why we’re sitting here today, but I think as much as anything it’s about us exploring what our future could be. So we built this car, we’ll put it on track ... that is our point, to learn, we’ll storytell as we learn and we’ll be in the driver’s seat wherever our future takes us.”
While NASCAR is not immediately looking to launch its own EV series, the Daytona Beach-based racing circuit remains in advanced discussions with Thrill One Sports & Entertainment on a deal that would involve NASCAR investing in the Nitrocross racing property, which uses EVs in competition, SBJ understands. That will allow NASCAR to play a role in an EV series but without it being under the main NASCAR banner, thus allaying concerns of their hardcore fans who are hesitant to embrace EVs. Taken together, NASCAR’s strategy with EVs is emerging. For ABB, the deal will allow it to tell NASCAR fans about its efforts to sell more electric-related products in the U.S.
NASCAR SVP & Chief Impact Officer Eric Nyquist and NASCAR Head of Sustainability Riley Nelson helped set up the deal with ABB.
