In November at Phoenix, NASCAR held their State of the Sport address. In that address, they announced that they had a fully operational EV race car though they had no plans of releasing it to the public at the time, nor did they intend on racing it. It was more of a… Technology showcase, so to speak. This comes well over a year after our friends at Kick’n the Tires leaked the idea of an EV Crossover racing car in development by NASCAR.
In February at the L.A. Coliseum, NASCAR had the car on track with the potential intent to show the car. Rain and pushing the entire Busch Light Clash 24 hours once again killed any chance at seeing the car. Only a few poor images leaked from a cell phone zoomed in too far proved it existed.
Saturday morning in Chicago, the hopeful got their long awaited wish. NASCAR with support of Formula E sponsor ABB Group unveiled what we’ve been waiting months to see, the rumored NASCAR EV Crossover prototype.
NASCAR has stated that they are not going to be racing this EV Crossover anytime soon, if ever. It is simply a showcase of that “yes we can” mentality. So if you’re one of those “THIS IS THE DEATH OF NASCAR!” or “THIS IS THE FINAL NAIL ON THE COFFIN”, rest assured, you’re brutally wrong. This is not taking the place of the Cup car’s ancient V8 engines.
The NASCAR EV Prototype is essentially a Gen 7 car under its EV crossover exterior. That exterior features bits and pieces of the current EV crossover offerings from the three OEMs; Ford’s Mustang Mach E GT, Chevrolet’s Blazer EV and Toyota’s bZ4X.
Why a crossover you may ask? Well that’s simple, like Trucks in the 90s, that’s what people buy today. I would know, I’ve been selling cars for a living since 2013. I sold 22 Crossover/SUVs to every 1 car of any type. In 2023, 46% of all new vehicles sold in the US were SUVs
According to NASCAR, the Crossover prototype does exactly what fans have been demanding for years now, gives us more power. The crossover produces 1,000kW, or, to our stone age friends, 1,341.02 Horsepower. Compared to the current Cup car, the EV Prototype is 500lbs heavier. Size wise, the crossover is 6″ taller than the Cup car and a tad shorter at 185.5″.
Power for the EV Crossover comes from STARD in Austria and will use one UHP 6-phase motor powering the front wheels and two more powering the back wheels. You read that right, All-Wheel-Drive.
All three motors will be connected to a 78kWh battery pack. As with almost any EV, HEV or PHEV, regenerative breaking will take most of the kinetic energy created from breaking and put it right back into that battery pack. Making the best suited tracks for this type of racer road courses and shorter ovals.
The NASCAR EV Crossover Prototype appears to feature some unique exterior bits. First that jumps out at most is the massive rear wing. This kind of power and torque, the crossover is going to need as much rear downforce as possible. Another feature is LED front and rear lighting.
