Yahoo Autos NASCAR's EV Concept Is about Learning, Not Racing
The 1300-plus-hp crossover EV prototype NASCAR and ABB revealed last month is not necessarily a race car. It is a one-off for now, a concept of a future that NASCAR could consider. A visit to NASCAR's R&D facility reveals that the car is not just a hint at the sport's future but a culmination of all the lessons learned while developing the versatile current "Next Gen" platform. Here's what we learned.
The Chassis
CJ Tobin, a senior engineer of vehicle systems at NASCAR, says the center section of the car is a modified version of the one that races in the NASCAR Cup Series today.
"The chassis itself, the center section looks very very similar to the Next Gen center section and again that’s years of development through our safety group, through our design group, and everybody else,” Tobin told Road & Track.
The center section was modified to allow battery loading from the bottom, along with raising the upper hoop by three inches, in order to accommodate a unique crossover body.
"The main difference is that this battery does load from underneath the car and there’s about 26 bolts that hold a flange that holds this battery in place," Tobin said.
The front clip is modular, just like on the Cup car, but the rear clip has been integrated since there is no need for a fuel cell. Pyramid braces were added to the front clip and to the rear of the center section to support the electric motors, and elongated versions of the Next Gen bumper struts are used up front to fill the space vacated by the pushrod V-8.
The Suspension
Dampers are carried over from the typical Next Gen platform, but the fronts now have forks on the bottom to allow the driveshafts to pass through since it is an all-wheel-drive vehicle. Control arms and BBS wheels are also shared with the Next Gen car, although the EV prototype employs development tires from Goodyear made from more sustainable materials.
In addition to the unique rubber, Goodyear is using the car to test a tire-pressure monitoring system based on their Sightline data intelligence system. That might make its way to traditional NASCAR race cars and possibly allow teams and the series to monitor tire pressures of their cars while on track.
The Weight
The EV prototype weighs around 600 pounds more than the current Next Gen car, meaning a total weight of just over 4000 pounds. That minimal weight gain is impressive, considering the fact that it carries a 78-kWh battery pack and three motors. That stacked pouch battery pack operates at 756 volts, connected to a safety system that allows the battery pack to be flooded from ports in the quarter windows in case of a thermal event, like a fire. Even though the entire pack sits on the right side of the car, the car maintains a 50/50 left-right weight split.
The car's reasonable weight gain was achieved partially through lessons taken from the experimental Garage 56 Cup car that ran at the 24 Hours of Le Mans last year. Parts like carbon-fiber firewalls and a carbon-fiber floor are based on components used at Le Mans.
The Power
Limited-slip differentials are installed in both the front and rear gearboxes, supplied by Stard. The front gearbox is mated to a single motor, while the rear gets dual motors for a total peak system output of 1000 kilowatts in qualifying trim. That power output allowed the EV to run within a few tenths of a current V-8 Cup Series car in testing at Martinsville. There are multiple power maps, and their race trim map is set to 600 kilowatts of output, or just over 800 hp. The series tested a variety of configurations at Martinsville with former NASCAR Cup Series driver David Ragan behind the wheel, with the longest single run reaching over 60 laps of the half-mile oval.
"The great thing about electric vehicles is the tunability, right, so we do have different maps, power setting maps as well as regen maps on here so that David could work his way through some of these things and tell us and give us feedback on how he’s feeling, how the powertrain is handling, how the car is handling, how the tires are handling,” Tobin said.
Testing
It wasn’t only beneficial for Ragan, as even Tobin and the rest of the engineering staff on site for the test could hear what the car was doing from the pits which allowed them to quickly make changes.
“With a battery electric vehicle, you hear different sounds than what you hear with an I.C.E... so you hear the chatter of the tires. Like, OK. When David comes in and says 'I think that the car needs more cross (weight).' Well, I can hear that.”
Tobin seemed pleasantly surprised at being able to use more of his senses to judge the handling of a race car.
“It’s cool to kind of see that dynamic of what I’m hearing and what he’s telling me are corresponding to one another which you can’t necessarily hear all the time with an I.C. engine, right? Especially at a Martinsville where everything is in a bowl.”
The Shape
Another element of the car that might make an appearance elsewhere, for better or for worse, is the crossover bodywork. NASCAR traditionally served to market sedans, but the more rotund crossover shape has become more important to manufacturers over the past 15 years. This prototype EV allows NASCAR to test out the CUV look in an experimental fashion and gauge fan response to see if it might be feasible for use in a support series in the future. Everything down to the wing is functional on the flax-bodied EV racer, which also saw its ride heights raised to complete the CUV look.
Where Will You See It?
NASCAR completed some demonstration runs with the EV prototype at the Chicago street course but hasn't made any promises of where we might see it in the future. Spokesperson Chris Shigas of program partner ABB shared that they wish to use this project as a demonstration vehicle to help fans relate EVs to what they see on the racetrack from traditional cars.
"Our goal is to be able to talk about electrification in this country and the future of energy and the car is a great vehicle to be able to do that," Shigas said. "It’s a platform really.”
The spokesperson said they'd likely start the demonstrations by running demos on short tracks like Bristol.
“It makes a lot of sense for these EVs to be running on short ovals where there's braking or on a road course where there's braking because you have regenerative braking which transfers the braking energy back into the battery so that you deliver power and it recharges the battery. It’s perfect for those types of tracks,” Shigas said.
ABB wants to see the EV prototype on track with its branding on the doors but for now, it wants to start with activations in fan areas of race tracks.
“We have a large calendar that we’re looking at and we’re going to take the car on the road. For sure. We’re going to activate at least anywhere from four to six NASCAR races throughout the year. Maybe more.”
The company wants to use this prototype to help share the goals of some of the upcoming sustainability projects that it's partnering on with NASCAR. Projects such as bringing in power to race tracks from more sustainable sources and installing EV chargers at NASCAR facilities. Shigas also added the example of being able to explain regenerative braking at a track like Martinsville, as this car would be recovering energy in the turns where an internal-combustion car might heat up its brakes. That is otherwise-wasted energy that can be turned into performance later, whether in a hybrid or an EV.
NASCAR has only built one prototype so far, and there currently aren't any plans to build another one or race it. The primary goal is to share findings, and everything that the series has learned from this car will help it to develop better race cars in the future as it starts to dabble in electrification.
The series has been thorough in making this car as efficient as possible while also deploying new safety systems that will likely be a huge benefit in evaluating potential hybrid deployment for the NASCAR Cup Series. We'll likely see the EV prototype doing additional demo runs at some point in the future. There may even be a few fun tricks left; We spotted a drift handle inside the cabin while checking out the steering wheel and pedal box.
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