Slow Road to Electric Motorsports: Exclusive Interview with CEO of American LeMans

On June 17 an Audi race car using a gas-electric hybrid system won the LeMans 24 Hours endurance race in France. The victory of the Audi R18 e-tron Quattro—the first for a hybrid in a major motorsports event—demonstrated the ability for hybrids to compete head-on with internal combustion. It was a major step in overturning a long-held view that gas-electric cars are niche products only for environmentalists. Could pure electric cars be the next step in competitive motorsports?

“Short sprint style racing on city street tracks like Long Beach or Monaco are best suited for electric racing,” said Lord Paul Drayson, Britain’s former Minister of State for Science and Innovation and a racing driver and team owner. “But it is very difficult to adapt the rules of an existing series to allow a fair competition between an electric and conventionally powered car.” Supporting technologies such as battery swapping and tracks with continuous wireless charging are emerging, but the cost of needed infrastructure is currently prohibitive.