An ABB-NASCAR prototype electric race car is seen at Fort Point in San Francisco by the Golden Gate Bridge on Friday, ahead of the NASCAR weekend at Sonoma Raceway. (Stephen Lam/S.F. Chronicle)

NASCAR arrives at Sonoma Raceway once a year. The roar of racers' stock car engines push noise levels up to 130 decibels, the maximum threshold of pain for human hearing. It's the equivalent to a jet taking off at close range. Millions of fans across the country who follow NASCAR don't mind; they love its controlled chaos. It's the way the sport has always been.

Sunday will offer a glimpse of an alternative for the future, one that stretches far beyond the track.

An electric race car capable of generating up to 1,000 kilowatts, the equivalent of 1,360 horsepower, will run hot laps around Sonoma Raceway, but using its inside voice. Where a combustion engine rumbles and roars, an electric motor … well, whines.

The ABB-NASCAR EV Prototype - one of three NASCAR EV prototypes in existence - is the product of a partnership between ABB, a global technology company dedicated to sustainable energy through electrification and automation, and NASCAR Impact, the company's sustainability arm. It was first revealed a summer ago and has since been taken to 14 states. Every stop is another opportunity for NASCAR, committed to net zero emissions by 2035, to see how it may evolve.

The upcoming showcase in Sonoma is not so much about the car itself. As U.S. leaders debate climate change under a Trump administration that recently signed resolutions blocking pro-EV rules in California, NASCAR and ABB see their EV as a vehicle for energy education.

"The United States is at an inflection point in how we use energy, and I think it's important that we have better conversations about energy," ABB vice president of strategic partnerships Chris Shigas told the Chronicle.

Tim Murphy, senior director, design engineer at NASCAR, climbs into the cockpit of an ABB-NASCAR prototype electric race car on Friday at Fort Point in San Francisco ahead of NASCAR weekend at Sonoma Raceway. (Stephen Lam/S.F. Chronicle)

"We see things like data centers and AI, manufacturing coming back to the United States. All of this takes massive amounts of energy."

AI. Data centers. NASCAR. All sources of colossal energy use - or waste, depending on who you ask.

The steps taken by NASCAR to explore new energy mixes could be seen as progress, particularly at a time when the term is defined quite differently on either side of the political aisle.

All three EV prototypes, including those produced by Ford and Chevy - both original equipment manufacturers for NASCAR alongside Toyota - performed live exhibition laps side by side for the first time last Sunday on the 2.2-mile street course home to Grant Park 165, an annual Cup series race in Chicago. The historic event seemed to stir frustration on social media among diehard fans averse to an electric future.

"No way that becomes the future of NASCAR," one fan wrote on X.

blockquote class="twitter-tweet">

This is going to trigger so many people 😂

- Kevin Fowler (@KevinFowlerJr) July 5, 2025

Retired NASCAR Cup driver David Ragan is as much a NASCAR traditionalist as anyone. His dad, Ken, made 50 Cup series starts from 1983 to 1990, his grandfather owned a car that raced at Daytona Beach in the 1940s, and David followed in their footsteps to notch two Cup series wins in his own career. He competed in the NASCAR Cup series for 14 years, and will be behind the wheel of the ABB stock car Sunday, as has been the case for the better part of the past year.

Top speed and zero-to-60 mph are metrics that have yet to be tested, according to Shigas. But from regenerative braking, which stores energy lost from braking in the electric battery while also helping slow the car in tandem with its mechanical brakes, to instant torque (or acceleration) at the simple push of a green button, labeled by the outline of a rocket ship, Ragan claimed the EV prototype's performance "blows away any internal combustion engine car that I've driven."

A map of Sonoma Raceway is seen on the steering wheel of an ABB-NASCAR EV Prototype at Fort Point near the Golden Gate Bridge ahead of NASCAR weekend at Sonoma Raceway. (Stephen Lam/S.F. Chronicle)

"We're all creatures of habit, and sometimes we are afraid, as a society, of change," Ragan added.

"This EV is not replacing the race car that's going to take the green flag at Sonoma this weekend. But I think this can be a complement to motor sports in general in North America. As the sales of EVs in North America continue to grow, I think NASCAR needs to be prepared to look at that as an option for a series down the road. I don't know when that may be. It may be five years down the road, it may be 15 years down the road, but our world is always changing."

NASCAR has not yet committed to an electric race car series. When the ABB NASCAR Electrification Innovation Partnership was announced last July, the same press release clarified that NASCAR remained committed "to the historic role of the combustion engine in racing."

"It's a conversation starter," NASCAR director of vehicle systems CJ Tobin said. "These (EV) cars, that's what they are."

In addition to the long-term goal of eliminating its carbon footprint entirely by 2035, NASCAR conducted an analysis that measured total emissions across its 2022 operations to help inform short-term sustainability solutions. The company aims to source 100% renewable electricity by 2028 at owned facilities and race tracks, where they also intend to implement on-site EV charging stations.

A sentiment echoed by Tobin and NASCAR head of sustainability Riley Nelson: Each EV demonstration has the potential to heighten the average fan's receptiveness to owning an electric vehicle.

Product relevance, the practice of having race cars reflect the production of everyday cars on the street as closely as possible, is a priority NASCAR especially emphasized with the Next Gen car - which debuted in 2022 - currently used in the Cup series.

Previously the owner of a Ford F-150, Ragan purchased his first electric vehicle, a Ford Mustang Mach-E SUV, on New Year's Day. He hasn't been to a gas station in months. He still has a gas-powered work truck for occasional hauling. But he said he mostly drives his Mustang Mach-E, with a 300-plus mile range.

Eddie Ashworth, left, and CJ Tobin clean the hood of an ABB-NASCAR EV Prototype at Fort Point in San Francisco ahead of the NASCAR weekend at Sonoma Raceway. (Stephen Lam/S.F. Chronicle)

"To have a NASCAR vehicle, a NASCAR race car that is an OEM showcasing the power and the awe of an electric vehicle on a platform that fans are used to seeing every Sunday with their favorite drivers, that then creates that connectivity of, ‘OK, so this is something that we can take home and we can adopt in our everyday life,'" NASCAR's Nelson said. "It makes that technology seem more accessible."

Ragan is a dad to two elementary school-aged daughters, the next generation for a family with deep NASCAR roots.

There is a chance their first cars will be electric.

"In the next seven years, think about what that EV market will look like and the price point and the cost of operating," said Ragan, who added that he typically charges his Mustang Mach-E only once a week. "There's a good chance that their first car will be an EV."

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