PARIS – Motor-sports fans don’t believe electric powertrains will make an appearance in Grand Prix or Le Mans races or World Touring Car Championship rallies any time soon, a recent survey finds.
In a poll of 749 visitors to the Birmingham Autosport International show in the U.K. last month, fewer than 10% think electric motors will power top-level racing cars in the near future.
The survey was commissioned by the French business school Institut National des Sciences Appliquees (INSA) as part of a project to design an electric-car race.
“The purpose of the poll is to evaluate how motor-racing fans generally perceive electric cars and the potential of racing electric vehicles,” Xavier G. Richard, coordinator of the project, writes in an email.
“Electric racing cars could be one of the solutions for an existing auto sport,” he says, while still respecting the universal consensus that future cars will be low carbon.
A second survey will be conducted this spring in Monaco at an auto show dedicated to EVs and other low-carbon cars. The final step will be to design a technical format for racing electric cars.
Richard says INSA is looking for sponsors to support the next stages of the project.
During a speech at the Birmingham show, Paul Drayson, a race-team owner who also is the British minister for science and innovation, says he supports the idea of clean-car racing.
“My sense is that we're at risk of losing momentum in green racing,” he tells attendees. “A low-carbon world is around the next corner. Motor sport has a significant role to play in preparing for and benefiting from that transition.”
Motor sport fans interviewed at the Birmingham show drive ordinary vehicles, led by such brands as Ford, Vauxhall and BMW. But their top dream cars are Ferraris, Aston Martins and Lamborghinis.
Respondents say their vehicles’ powertrains are gasoline (46%), diesel (38%) liquefied-petroleum gas (2.7%) and hybrid (0.3%). Forty-seven percent say their next vehicle will be diesel, 11% hybrid and just 3% electric.
Roughly 79% of those surveyed have attended more than one auto show, and 75% of the respondents are 24 years of age or older.
While 54% have attended a motor race in person and 93% watch races on television, they aren’t all ultra-fans. Seventy percent are aware Mercedes-Benz won the Formula 1 manufacturer’s championship last season, but only 47% know Automobiles Peugeot won the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Although the poll suggests top-level electric-car racing is hard for fans to imagine, they are slightly more positive in terms of EVs for daily driving. Some 15% say they will purchase an EV in the future, but 34% say they will not.
Respondents single out limited range as their most important concern about EVs (53%), followed by performance (27%). For the vehicles they use for daily driving, they cite performance as the top criterion (41%), followed by price (23%).
Although only 7% of respondents believe Formula 1 racing will use electric powertrains in the near future, 34% answer “maybe,” providing some hope to those who would like racing to go green.
