The NASCAR Next Gen rules package will introduce a ton of new technology to the sport of stock car racing, from center lock hubs to sequential transmissions, but perhaps more importantly, it will also facilitate the eventual introduction of electrified powertrains. The NASCAR Next Gen Chevy Camaro, along with the Ford Mustang and Toyota Camry models it will race against, has been designed with provisions to accept a battery and electric motor – allowing it to be easily converted into a hybrid or, with a little bit more work, a full EV.
For Chevy, the ability for the NASCAR Next Gen car to use a hybrid or full-electric powertrain was an important part of the new rules package, which will be used from the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season onward. Eric Warren, NASCAR program director at Chevy, explained to GM Authority in a recent interview that GM’s Vision Zero initiative will carry over into its racing programs, where it will eventually look to promote its new line of eco-conscious EVs
“(Electrification is) very important,” Warren said. “GM, certainly their vision of zero crashes, emissions, congestion is really all about safety first, right? Looking towards the impact to the environment, certainly that vision is something GM has invested in heavily technology-wise.”
“As I said before, you kind of are limited in the package with (the Generation 6 car). Now with having the transaxle and having a (different) floor, it gives you the ability to look at future technologies.”
GM has now abandoned hybrid production vehicles in favor of EVs, but hybrid powertrains will likely be used as a stop-gap in NASCAR before discussions about going all-electric happen. EV technology still has a long way to go before its race-ready, Warren said – though he’s still thinking of different ways that NASCAR could make battery-electric stock car racing work.
“For us, the length of the races, the cars, there is a lot of technical advances that need to happen to run full EV,” he said. “That’s part of what we’re investing in as a company. We’re investing in having really fast charging, all the technologies that go into that, and then go into the pit. What if I could charge the car up in two minutes, does the race end up being like a football game when you have quarters and halves and things like that? So that’s where we start working with the series, with every race series in the world pushing towards electrification.”
While Warren is already thinking about how all-electric NASCAR race might play out, Chevy won’t be pulling the V8 out of the NASCAR Next Gen Camaro anytime soon. GM’s aggressively pursuing EV tech for its road car business, but for its motorsports arm, battery-electric powertrains are still many years away.
“Because we are aggressively investing in EV as our corporate strategy and vision, people thing that we’ll start racing EVs tomorrow,” Warren said. “But we’re still selling a lot of [vehicles with] internal combustion engines, so we want to introduce it when it’s right for entertainment. And maybe it will serve as a technological push towards very fast charging.”
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Comments
Not just Chevy. This was a major deal for NASCAR as new mfgs coming in said they would need this as well as Ford and Toyota.
NASCAR wants and needs mfgs and this has been one of the things they all have been asking for in the future.
Not sure how this will all work out but it is in their plans.
This may be why we have these silly stages now. They may use them in the future to change cars.
Right on proton.
Bwa-ha-ha-ha. “Full EV” race cars in NASCAR….bad enough hybrids to run costs up and make it less interesting for the fans they have left. Try hydrogen-fueled internal combustion engines if you want the fuel of the future and not this electric “fad” that the lemmings are all hyping.
EVs are Fad? You must be living in one strange universe.
This is Legit. BUB; By what I’ve been following; [All these channels of wifi mixed w/ 5G]: that’s why i still TRUST a rotating assembly over battery for a automobiles HEART!!!
Lol, come see the EV Daytona 50! Cause none of these will make 500 on a single charge, and we know you ain’t staying for a 1 hour halftime show every 50 miles. It’s not going to be an EV. It’s going to be a hybrid like F1 cars use, with essentially 10 dewalt batteries under the seat to boost range between refuels, except F1 has way more curves. A circle track car can get away with 1 dewalt battery. Still makes it a hybrid!
This is a JOKE! EV’s in any kind of racing is just plain not acceptable. The fans will be bored to death.
Just watch some formula-E races in youtube they look pretty fun.
I have and they SUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[E] races? Are you for a young one under 8 years old? or fantasy?
Kind of like sitting on a cliff somewhere in the wilderness listening to the wind blow by. It will be the final chapter in Nascar.
Unfortunately this will be the final nail in the coffin of NASCAR. From the BUBBA Wallace stunt to silent oversized golf carts, the end is in sight. Keep the golf carts on the golf courses where they belong
Well then it will be pretty embarrassing to be left in the dust by a “Golf Cart”. Because that things are bloody quick. Under two seconds 0-60 times. And top speed now is reaching 200 miles. And it getting faster and faster. There’s no way any ice car catch them. ICE tech reached its limits. It’s a mechanic, aka slow reacting ,and pretty inefficient, sixty percent of the energy lost as heat, way of propelling things. Car makers know this and for that reason alone they are flocking to electric technology.
Of course it will be take time for uninformed average consumer to realize what’s going on, but it’s inevitable. They’re currently habitually intoxicated, they don’t want their routine changed but once they realized they’re getting marginalized like the people objected automobile, plane or computer…
It’s amazing when you think how people accepted being passengers on that ridiculously unsafe airplanes but nobody stand in front of new technologies once it turned into commercial products.
EV 0-60 is exaggerated…. because it the only performance spec Tesla can perform at. FYI, Tesla uses capacitors to boost off the line power, and uses the computer to “floor” the petal while the human nerve system is still compressing it. Then Tesla takes that number and rounds down. Then as the Tesla’s reach out to the quarter mile, they fade significantly as their batteries cook. Now for real power, I’ve seen a 90’s firebird pull half second 0-60’s with proper slicks, big blocks that are strait out of mad max and 2 speed dynaglides.
You can’t plan a trip very far away in an EV and expect to get back home and you can’t get much off the ground with one. A fully charged Tesla battery represents the energy of 3 gallons of gas. How long do you expect to be able to mine rare earth minerals for battery manufacturing? Most of the dead weight of a Tesla is its very heavy on-board battery.
What did you say? I cannot ear you?
This is a Joke combustion engine are evolving more because there innovating the combustion engine can use hydrogen fuel example Toyota’s Corolla or synthetic fuel as well as bio fuel less on fossil fuels
NASCAR IS WORKING TOWARDS “ZERO FANS” FOLKS.
Can you imagine going to a NASCAR event and not hear the engines roar and the smell of the exhaust? HHHHHUMMMMMMMM, nap time!
Can you imagine battery chemicals spilled on the track …toxic fumes surrounding the stands, hazmat personnel having to clean up toxic crashes while the patrons breath that crap and the drivers jumping out of the car in custom drivers hazmat racing suit… lol…
Today, there is no “legal” disposal policy in the United States for these EV used batteries, except not in the US. Can’t wait to hear which 3rd world country is going to these toxic batteries. May resemble the cell phone disposable policy, having 3rd world country kids rummaging through stock piles of batteries to sell certain parts to earn a living.
I see pay raise with huge EV batteries for these kids…
Yeah …exciting…not…
Yeah instead of “toxic fumes” of battery fires if it occurs during a crash, you rather regularly inhale beautiful wholesome exhaust fumes of 43 cars more than three hours. Here is the list of toxic ingredients of exhaust fumes;
Chemicals in car exhaust :
Carbon Monoxide. Colorless, odorless, tasteless, yet highly toxic.
Nitrogen dioxide. Toxic by inhalation and can cause adverse health effects at low levels over a long period.
Sulfur dioxide.
Particulate matter.
Benzene.
Formaldehyde.
Polycyclic hydrocarbons
Don’t forget the water, because exhaust is mostly water, and modern engines don’t produce emissions. You may forget that NASCAR runs ethanol. Absolutely 0 NOX and carbon monoxide even without a cat.
NASCAR runs 15% ethanol. So that means 85% gasoline. The NOX comes from the high combustion temperatures. NOX is created by chemical reactions with the nitrogen in the atmospheric air that is used in the combustion process, not sourced from the fuel. Any incomplete combustion produces carbon monoxide, so there will be times that a NASCAR engine does produce carbon monoxide. So, your statement that current engines produce no emissions is patently false.
In all seriousness, not many actually care about woke racist Nascar. They can do whatever they want while they circle the drain.
I see Warren has drank more than his share of gm Kool-Aid. Mary’s vision of NASCAR racing is electric cars with no drivers. Isn’t that called Slot Car racing full size? What do NASCAR drivers think of all this? Are they reserving their seats in the grandstand? It looks like in the woke world, NASCAR will be extinct.
Daytona 500 will need a 10 hour half time to recharge……can have a 10 Everready bunny musical entertainment for the 10 people in the crowd
Maybe a separate series but not totally electric. Fox has few laps with just the sound of the race and no commentary. Imagine a silent segment.
I was thinking that, E/V can’t go full tilt 3-500 mi’s without blowing up. I’d imagine a 50-100 hot-lap track or new series with Chevy, Ford and Tesla.
Let’s look at the positive side— with those silent race cars NASCAR will be able
to build race tracks closer to town and public transportation….. 🙂
PLEASE KEEP THE SOLID STATE DRIVES OUT OF AUTOMOBILE PRODUCTION [BY WAY OF BATTERY CONTROLLED & (C)OMMAND (C)ONTROL (U)UNIT OUT OF THE VEHICLE]!!! A FAST FRANCHISE FILM PROVED THAT HICCUP!!!
I guess they need to put some baseball cards in the wheels otherwise it would be too quiet
The EV NASCAR will be five vehicles per driver. After 100 miles, pit stops will be changing to another fully charged vehicle. instead of changing tires. The race will be about driving, not who can go the fastest for EV’s will nearly be identical in the power category.
NASCAR has already destroyed stock car racing we don’t need electric cars on the racetracks. What next mandatory pit stops every 30 laps for battery changes?
Here is the the problem. MFGS want to show case what they sell. NASCAR has been walking on egg shells as they have held on to the three mfgs the have for now but will need more to survive.
If things stay as they do it is likely mfgs will leave and if they keep with a V8 gas engine we will get stuck with a spec engine. It is a no win no matter what.
I gave up on NASCAR when they started the chase.
As things change and technology grows racing, the cost of racing, the competitiveness of racing all are becoming more and mor3 difficult to manage.
It is impossible to keep things as they are, it is even more impossible to Return to what we had. If there was a simple answer I am sure NASCAR and every other series would love to have that advice it no one has a good answer.
#1 priority is to make mfgs happy as with out them nothing happens so they get the most attention.
Every racing series is going to have to find a way to deal with the EV question as it is looming for everyone,
Right now I have really enjoyed the Trans Am series as they have controls cost, have wide range of cars racing and put on a great show with teams that are not as high buck as most series. They also have a lot of cheating like the old NASCAR days. The sad part is they have little to coverage and low fan turn out.
Nascar races are so interesting because of the great V8 sound. The V8 sound is absolutely amazing at full throttle all the time.
If you want to make progress you have to keep the V8 engines, but reduce the displacement to 4.0 liters in order to achieve the performances of the 5.8 liter V8 again with the hybrid. Furthermore, e-fuels are perfect fuels for the future. The V8 sound remains and the manufacturers of the Nascar cars can continue to use “win on sunday – sale on monday” as marketing for electric vehicles.
Electric Nascar would have no sound and the whirring of the electric motors is annoying!
Without the V8 sound, the Nascar becomes uninteresting.
EV + NASCAR = 0 FANS ………
This is the problem with the EV movement. They want to replace everything with batteries regardless of pros and cons instead of augmenting a rapidly improving internal combustion engine. If NASCAR created another series for EVs that would be fine. But I for one have zero interest in watching silent electric cars go around a track. NASCAR, and racing in general is also about the sounds, smells and emotions that come with racing a mechanical internal combustion machine.
Can’t wait for any racing body to go to EV’s with the CUV’s since that is all the MFG’s want to produce now. They are killing off all the sports/muscle cars and sedans.
Won’t it be a good time at the track to watch “Competition Utility Vehicles”? I know we already have the NASCAR truck series and it is fun to watch, but the cars are at least resembling something that comes off the assembly line with the exception of Toyota. They are attempting to push the butt-ugly Supra.
Can’t…make that can wait for a 10 hour Daytona 500 or a 12 hour Charlotte 600.
That’s exactly where Barra and the NEW GM is headed…….A bunch of soccer moms sitting in CUVs without a steering wheel….. talking on the phone or texting as they travel from point A to B……or in this case, going left around a oval track…….
How about the 72 hours of LeMans that will be real fun.
How many Chargers and Challengers were in the parking lot?
i believe there is a typo in this story.
While Warren is already thinking about how all-electric….. chevy will be pulling the V8 out of the NASCAR Next Gen Camaro anytime soon.
Shouldn’t it be “… not pulling the v8 out … anytime soon” ?
What a joke now . have fuel injection already computer control. Now battery pack rc cars .