Concord, NC - The inaugural EVRSafe (Electric Vehicle Racing Safety) Conference was held on October 18 th , 2023 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway with a “sold-out” audience of racers, track operators, and safety response personal, with the objective to enhance the understanding of Electric Vehicle (EV) safety and how to work smarter in a variety of settings, from race tracks to home garages. 
 

The day-long event was jointly organized by the Stand 21 Safety Foundation and the UNC Charlotte’s School of Engineering. “By partnering on this conference, Eric Huhn of UNC Charlotte and I were able to bring new information and insight to the track personnel and competitors eager to learn more in this new racing sector,” says Don Taylor, Director of Stand 21 Safety Foundation’s “Racing Goes Safer” program. The event was moderated by Taylor who said “We began the day by learning from those who are already engaged in EV and EV Hybrid racing technology and seeing what we can apply to our home series and tracks. From there we will learn more on the science of EV batteries, what causes battery fires, and how to address them.”
 

The Conference’s four feature speakers then delivered a deep dive on those topics:
 

- Jimmy Lyons, Principal Project Engineer - Motorsports, at Williams Advanced Engineering (WAE) covered their history in developing the battery pack and battery monitoring system for the Formula E series, now starting its 10th season.
 

-Robert Bosworth, Now the High Voltage Safety Officer, for the International Motor Sports Association after a long firefighter career, Robert oversees the safety around IMSA’s GTP hybrid prototypes. He shared the very thorough safety procedures they have developed for IMSA Official and race team members’ safety.
 

-Dr. Dr. Anthony Bombik, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, UNC Charlotte explained how not all ‘Lithium-ion’ batteries are the same. They are engineered with tradeoffs in their of power, charging time, and battery life.
 

-Eric Huhn, - As UNC Charlotte’s facility and laboratory safety engineer, and a trackside firefighter at Charlotte Motor Speedway, was well-versed to explain the differences between gasoline fires and battery ‘fires’, and how and why they
need to be addressed differently.

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It was clear that the top professional electrified series, like Formula E and IMSA’s LMDh class have already developed very rigorous rules and procedures to address EV safety issues. Those series have highly regulated and standardized battery packages, with telemetry monitoring safeguards in place, plus trained trackside resources to address EV emergencies. Much can be learned from their pioneering work.
 

However, there still remains the issue of how lower-level series and tracks, with fewer resources can safely accommodate EV’s at their venues and events. With the many different types of race series and venues in the US, more work will be required on developing standardizing training for safety crews and specialized fire and rescue equipment. Eric Huhn noted “In addition to high performance production EVs on the track, we are seeing powertrain conversion kits, homebuilt electric specials, and track- only, fully electric race vehicles being developed, such as those for Formula SAE”.
 

How do we move ahead on EV Racing Safety? Taylor sees the need for people in the racing industry to collaborate around the EV Racing Safety issue and collectively develop the practical, affordable products and practices needed. “How can we get to the point of smaller tracks feeling comfortable with EV’s on their grounds? We can start by sharing ideas and learning from each other.” Taylor says. Networking with the fellow attendees and the speakers was encouraged throughout the day to ignite that process.
 

At the end of the day, after a Q and A with the speakers panel, feedback on the day was gathered and it showed that the event was rated very positively by the attendees. High interest was also shown in holding another EVRSafe conferences next year.
 

In the meantime, the EV Safety topic will be explored at the upcoming Performance Racing Industry’s PRI Show held in Indianapolis, December 7-9. It will be on the agenda of the ICMS (International Council of Motorsports Sciences) annual congress, at the Race Track Business Conference, in the Track Owners, Promotors, and Sanctioning Body Workroom, as well as at Stand 21 Safety Foundation’s annual RacingGoesSafer.org program on Friday morning, all during PRI Week.
 

President of the Stand 21 Safety Foundation Yves Morizot said “We are proud to take a lead in addressing new challenges in racing safety as they come up, EV Safety being the latest, and educating the racing industry about them. In the past we have led discussions on concussion injuries, the dangers of heat stress, and safer helmet removal”.
 

Stand 21 Safety Foundation and UNC Charlotte wish to thank the Charlotte Motor Speedway for use of their facility, and sponsorship by BATT CAVE and HMS Motorsport which made the EVRSafe Conference possible.

About Stand 21 Safety Foundation
The Stand 21 Safety Foundation, “Racing Goes Safer” is a non-profit organization with a primary purpose of promoting enhanced motor racing safety. It aims to achieve this goal in collaboration with medical and scientific bodies, as well as with major racing series’ entities to bring awareness of safety issues and offer solutions to the forefront of the motor racing world through seminars and educational videos. For more info, contact Foundation Director Don Taylor: dtaylor@racinggoessafer.org
 

About UNC Charlotte
As North Carolina’s urban research university, UNC Charlotte leverages its location in the state’s largest city to offer internationally competitive programs of academics, research and innovation, including BATT CAVE, the North Carolina Battery Complexity, Autonomous Vehicle and Electrification Research Center. BATT CAVE is addressing the increasing demand for talented engineering workforce and technology in a top emerging US industry, electric vehicle manufacturing.