Demo races should take place in 2023
Regular NASCAR series will use hybrid vehicles starting in 2024
These electric race cars could have over 1,000 horsepower
Leaked documents seem to indicate that NASCAR could add an electric racing series with demo races as soon as next February.
NASCAR has already confirmed it will use hybrid race cars for its regular series starting in 2024 and the decision to move to electric could be the next step.
For the moment, electric vehicles are not expected to replace the upcoming hybrid gasoline vehicles but rather offer a different racing series that could interest a broader audience.
Since this has not been officially announced yet, few details are known, except that the cars should have over 1,000 horsepower due to their 900-volt architecture and tri-motor design, which means they will also be all-wheel drive.
According to the same leaked documents, the series would include six races, each of which will be thirty minutes long and feature 12 cars.
Some of the rules specific to this series would prevent the cars from swapping batteries or recharging during the entirety of the race, meaning that the batteries will need to be large enough to allow the cars to drive at full power for at least half an hour.
These electric vehicles are likely to be based on the upcoming Next Gen car, which was extensively re-engineered in order to be able to take the close to 1,000 horsepower developed by its hybrid powertrain.
NASCAR’s COO says the new electric series could help the organization reach its goal of targeting a wider audience by featuring different technologies. In addition, he says that the automakers associated with NASCAR are pushing to have such a series in order to create more exposure for their own electric vehicles.
