NASCAR is talking about adding electric cars.
 

So they add and electric car, lets look at a race. The most common race is a 500 mile distance on the circular track. I do not think that there is any sudden changes on the near horizon about the electric motors or batteries. So lets break the race time down. Under high power load electric motors draw a lot of current. I will assume a 200 mile range on a full charge, and a top speed of 200 MPH for the electric car. To get the 500 miles you will need to start with a full charge, then do another full charge, and a half charge to complete the 500 miles. Driving time at 200 is 2.5 hours. One full charge is 4 hours, and a half charge is an additional 2 hours. That gives a total time for a 500 mile race of 8.5 hours.
Now lets take (your choice) a Dodge Neon, a Chevrolet Cobalt, a Ford Fusion, or a Toyota Camry. That car should be able to hold a steady 90 MPH around the track. The tires will not be under extreme stress so any good quality road tire should be able to go the distance. Drive time would be 5.55 hours. Fuel stops should not take more than 45 minutes. That gives a total race time of 6.3 hours. I think gas wins the race.

I’ll make sure to be busy with something else on race day.

When they started telling me how I should think, I turned them off, not going back ever. I only have followed NASCAR since I was 12 years old, at 67 (2 years ago) I was done with them. For 55 years I was a loyal fan, no more.

They can race power wheel electric kiddie cars for all I care. First it was ethanol so they didn't pollute, now it's electric that is primarily produced from fossil fuels.......Bill France has to be spinning in his grave.

Imagine the deafening roar of an electric car when the commentators yell at the TV cameras "CRANK IT UP"!!!

They're worried about being woke, hopefully they'll go broke. Only a moron would cut their own throat like these idiots are doing.....ROTFLMFAO.....:pound:

Ya can't fix stupid......:rolleyes:

I'm Pretty sure they would have sort of quick change battery to eliminate the need to charge, But ya Why would
they do that??

Formula E drivers just hop into another waiting car. :doh:

The horror. :gag:

"Gentlemen ( or a myriad of Letters from the alphabet)
Check your batteries"
I can see the barrels of Ice from the Donahue crew in '68 all over again, cooling down batteries..

The average age of NASCAR fans is rising. They see that as bad, and want to throw all of you away - replaced by skinny jean wearing hipsters.

Hey, it worked so well for Oldsmobile…

Assume the Electric Racear battery (or batteries) is allowed to be swapped at each pitstop, then they must reduce the pitstops to be on par with gas racecars.

I assume the batteries are 5x heavier than the gasoline.
I assume the total power density needed for 400HP (average) across 8.5hours is:

BATT Power Density = 8.5 hours x 300,000Watts = 2.6 M WH or 2600 KWh

How are the batteries looking?

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In reality, an electric racecar with a gasoline powerplant that uses exhaust to "turbo-drive" compact, hi-rpm generators can achieve >200 KW. THAT is a system. Just don't let off the gasoline pedal.

I could see a series for electric run on Saturday just like the others. I think if they ever go all electric nascar would come to a crashing end for now anyway 10-20 years down the road who knows. The end of race yesterday was awesome I know that.

Considering how easily they light up, there ought to be some spectacular crashes.

HMM 4 wheels and a battery ,only RC cars tweak my interest. The sport lost me and a bunch of friends when the race format was changed.
I understand the new evolution of cars , kinda makes economic sense and safety has increased which is the right move.
To even consider going electric will see the series evaporate.
I will stick to real drag cars , but that may see a change too.

MotoGP which is the top level motorcycle road racing in the world has had an electric class for probably six years now. They are very fast ... typical race distance for all their races of any class is only about 80 miles, speed ranging from 30 mph to 200 mph. So battery power isn't much of an issue.

Personally I haven't found them interesting enough to watch a whole race yet. Kind of boring in comparison to the gas bikes making close to 300 hp and hitting 14,000 rpm or more.

But, with all racing the tech tends to trickle down ... so the electric class can only help develop the technology if nothing else.

They're just looking into the idea, and have said there are no plans to replace the premier series. I assume it would be a short track series, something similar to Formula E.

In the name of "safety", I see them becoming remotely controlled. Big slot cars.:)

Actually that might be fun to watch .... there would probably be a lot more fender banging ..... and they could have fan participation races where they let the fans race the cars :)

"NASCAR's exploratory interest in an all-electric series was first reported a year ago, as NASCAR was exploring the concept as a potential companion to the Cup Series. Speaking Thursday, O'Donnell framed the prospect of an all-electric division as an exhibition series that would complement existing racing technologies."

"There's a huge push across all of our OEM partners and even new OEM partners. It's important for us to explore that space,"

I think this thread is missing a lot of context. So these are actual quotes.

For one, I dont see anything where they are looking to replace the current product. Its about a companion series. Second, the driving force is from the OEMs to showcase their products. Which makes sense.

Nascar seems to me like its been struggling for a while. Trying to attract new fans, with lots of rule changes. They have to know that as a fan experience removing the v8 RPM sound would kill them off. That said they have been coasting on engine technology that is antiquated except for with GM. I would love to see them go back to win on Sunday buy on Monday. I want to see GM/Dodge/Ford/Toyotas current NA V8 technology go head to head. An electric division might actually do that, which would be kinda neat.

I really doubt a radical "all at once" type of revolution will happen in NASCAR. As a casual fan, I may tune in for part of a race now and then. I doubt that will change for me personally. Some type of super capacitor addition to the gas engine or a hybrid gas engine with an electric boost motor will likely happen first. But if it cost as much as the ultra complex F1 cars, I don't see it. Most of us never expected a NASCAR "stock car" to have IRS and a transaxle, but they have them now. I am a dinosaur and that's OK.

The thought of watching racing without the roar and thunder part and only hearing tires noise is too hard for me to grock....

What if it's an electric that self-identifies as gas? It can then use the filling or charging station of it's choice. Oh, wait, no it can't.