Ever since NASCAR announced the unveiling of their first electric vehicle concept at this month’s Clash at the Coliseum, the community has been in an uproar over whether the future of the sport truly lies in battery-powered cars that will replace the beloved gas-guzzling V8s. While the saying, ‘what wins on Sunday, sells on Monday’ has remained true for OEMs over decades, that could all change if global warming pushes the world further away from the combustion engines of today.

While NASCAR’s launch of the EV may have been postponed owing to scheduling concerns, it triggered prominent executives from the OEMs to step forward and dismiss the idea of an electric vehicle. Fortunately, the manufacturers are ensuring to account for what the fans want while deciding on a fairly uncertain future.

Will the future of NASCAR be electric?

To the utter dismay of petrol heads, with global warming and climate change on the rise, the fall of the combustion engine has already begun. Not only has the success of Tesla triggered a massive shift from gasoline vehicles to battery-powered ones, but also has led to questions by concerned stakeholders about the future of motorsport if things remain as they are.

Summing up the stakeholders’ efforts, NASCAR COO Steve O’Donnell was quoted by Adam Stern for SBJ, “The great thing is you talk about our current partners, they’ve been tremendous not only with current technology in the car but being very open to new technology whether it be a different engine architecture or what we race, so those discussions are always forward-thinking…and our current partners are very open to new OEMs coming in and open to having conversations about that possibility.”

On the one hand, executives such as Akio Toyoda, the former CEO of Toyota and current chairman, have made it clear that the threshold of electric vehicles in the market will not exceed thirty per cent, as reported by Forbes. On the other hand, NASCAR’s announcement of their EV Concept reveals a conflict of interest between the officials and the OEMs. However, if the future of motorsports truly lies away from gasoline, then the two must act together fast.

Fortunately, it looks like that’s exactly what NASCAR has been up to over the winter break. Some of the sport’s officials took a trip to Japan to understand how Toyota was running their hydrogen-powered projects. This promising alternative solves both the sport and the OEM’s concerns. The manufacturers and NASCAR are indeed working hand in hand to come up with better alternatives to electric vehicles as well.

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And it isn’t just NASCAR that is keeping in mind what the community wants while also accounting for the world’s changing needs. Recently, the president of TRD USA also revealed how the OEMs are putting the fans first in these times of uncertainty.

“The enemy is not the internal combustion engine” – Toyota sides with fans amidst EV debate

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Perhaps the biggest argument posed by the community against the switch to an EV platform has to be the lack of sound. After all, there’s nothing that sums up the thrill of watching a NASCAR race more than experiencing the sound of the roaring V8s as they blast by. While many believe the future of motorsport will sadly have to go down the soundless EV route, Toyota believes fans should not have to worry about such a future.

David Wilson, the group VP and President of TRD, U.S.A. further reflected Akio Toyoda’s ideology as he shared, “The enemy is not the internal combustion engine. The enemy is carbon. There are supplemental technologies like hydrogen that can be run with an internal combustion engine with basically a zero-carbon footprint. So, we are not abandoning the internal combustion engine. I’ll state that just unequivocally.”

To those familiar with Toyota’s efforts in the hydrogen world, hearing the hydrogen-powered GR Yaris concept just drives this point further; it’s not over just yet for the combustion engine. Wilson shared with Forbes, “When it comes to the adaptation of zero-carbon or electrification, (hydrogen) is much more suited to motorsports than battery electric ever will be because the fact is that the fans are not going to embrace no noise. If we cannot put on a show, if we cannot fill those grandstands, then it’s all for nought.”

Taking a look at how committed some of the OEMs are to maintaining the very foundations on which the community’s love for the sport was built, it becomes evident that the future of our beloved sport lies in safe hands.

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