RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — Amid the growing popularity of electric vehicles, even NASCAR is looking at a switch from gas-powered cars.
NASCAR has partnered with automation company ABB on an all-new electric race car, which was put on display at the company's Cary, North Carolina, headquarters.
"This is the ABB NASCAR EV prototype. No engine. It has 3 electric motors in it," said Chris Shigas, vice president of ABB. "Anyone who has driven an EV knows that they're famous for their acceleration, and this car has amazing amounts of acceleration, 1,360 horsepower, it's a massive amount of torque and acceleration for this car."
ABB and NASCAR have already done some test drives with the vehicle, even taking it to a couple of different racetracks.
"It's been fun to drive something that's new, it's different. It looks different," said NASCAR driver David Ragan, who had the chance to drive the prototype.
"It has a lot of technology with the way you can adjust the race car so that was fun but then just to make laps, it was different," Ragan told Nexstar's WNCN. "I think the nicest thing was my ears didn't ring a couple of days after being in a race car all day."
The car is still in its early stages of testing but Ragan says he believes there's a future for electric vehicles in NASCAR.
"I think as the market shifts, and certainly it has shifted some to some EV cars here in North America, the manufacturers will slowly get behind that and say, 'Hey, that's what we want to see on the race track.' So I don't think this is going to be a series in NASCAR tomorrow but down the road, it's a possibility."
While NASCAR has tested the vehicle in Chicago and Phoenix, they haven't fully tested how fast it can go. Shigas says they've tested it at 155 miles an hour.