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Around Top Gear's test track, they were able to get IIRC about 30 minutes of full speed usage before he battery was completely drained, at which point it was a 6 hour recharge to top up the batteries again. Definitely not practical for any sort of extended racing series like NASCAR, etc.

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Back of the napkin calc: NASCAR cars get 5 mpg, hold 22 gallon tanks --> 110 miles max range. Average speed of 170 mph --> a maximum of 39 minutes of racing.

If they currently pit every 35-39 minutes or so, it wouldn't be completely impractical to pit every 30 minutes or so: have pit crews do a quick swap of the electric batteries at the same time as a the tire change.

> have pit crews do a quick swap of the electric batteries

I think that's the impractical part...

How is it more impractical than changing the tires?

Well batteries are much much heavier and would likely be in the centre of the car for weight distribution, and you need to make the electrical connection. Changing a tyre during a race just takes a speed gun and one nut.

You just need to develop some sort of "liquid battery" and pump it in some sort of receptacle, or tank, in the car.

IIRC the Top Gear segment was "produced" to show the car out of juice... i.e. don't draw any battery life conclusions from Top Gear's methods!

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