Should NASCAR switch to electric cars? That’s the intriguing question Bill Nye poses in a recent opinion piece, where he laments the racing organization as a “celebration of old tech.”
“NASCAR right now just brings me down,” Nye writes. “They use ancient tech: carburetors, valve pushrods and cast-iron engines. But the biggest depressor for me is the fuel consumption.”
The famed TV scientist says NASCAR should encourage technologies of the future rather than focus on the past. He even pushed NASCAR to take a page from NASA, which creates competitions called Grand Challenges to award those who create innovative solutions for space.
“To address climate change in the medium and long term, we have to stop, completely stop, burning fossil fuels,” Nye says. “In the short term, NASCAR could help get us there. We could convert all of our racecars to electricity – right now – and show the public exactly what electrons can do.”
To prove that electric cars can hold their own in a NASCAR race, Nye points to the Tesla Model S that boasts a 0-60 time of 2.8 seconds (2.6 seconds in our tests, just in case you were wondering). It make up to 762 hp in P90D trim, and that’s without any race car modifications. If the cars run out of juice, the pit crew could simply swap out the battery in the same time it takes to refuel a gas car.
While its cars may be inefficient, NASCAR hasn’t turned a blind eye to the environment. As part of the NASCAR Green program, the company says it has planted enough trees to offset carbon emissions for all NASCAR national series racing since 2009 and for the next 40 years. It also uses solar power as an energy source for the Daytona Speedway and other race tracks. Of course, that still doesn’t solve the whole vehicle innovation issue.
Do you think NASCAR should go electric? Let us know in the comments below
Source: Aeon
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