Racing ignites electric vehicle enthusiasm

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Azhar Hussain is the founder and CEO of TTXGP World Championship. For more information on Hussain and TTXGP, please visit www. egrandprix.com.

For more than a century, the racetrack has served as test lab for automotive technologies and products. Race engineers continuously strive for speed, performance and endurance in their quest for the win. Everything from braking to hybrids to battery technology and composite materials has made a debut in a race before moving onto the road and becoming an invisible but relevant part of our lives.

The TTXGP, seeks to bring that same charge to electric vehicles. TTXGP is an international race that uses electric motorcycles as a resource-effective platform, enabling the futuristic technology behind them to be tested in an exciting and challenging way. TTXGP is driving low-carbon technological innovation forward, to demonstrate that clean emission transport technologies have matured and can be thrilling, fast and competitive.

Batteries, electronics, software — all are tested against the elements in competition for immediate feedback. Evolution is pushed to full throttle when an extra kilowatt of performance can mean the difference between winning and losing.

And seconds on the track can translate to miles on the road. Motorsport creates valuable momentum, pushing both quality and credibility. One of the challenges for EVs is that expectations are being set by the sunken investment in gasoline and 100-plus years of research and development on top of that. EVs have to start by filling roles that suit its strengths at this time and not try and be everything to everybody.

Motorsport is a niche that can deliver a competitive experience. July 2011 saw a TTXGP U.S. team, Mission Motors, deliver a lap that was just nine seconds short of an internal combustion MotoGP pole.