NASCAR Inks Deal With Eaton For Electric Vehicle Charging Stations At Its Offices

NASCAR yesterday announced a multiyear sponsorship agreement with power management company Eaton, making it the "Official EV Charging Solution Provider of NASCAR." The agreement includes the installation of 20 Eaton Level 2 electric vehicle charging stations at NASCAR's offices in Daytona Beach, Charlotte and Concord, N.C. The stations will power electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles of NASCAR employees and guests (NASCAR). SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL's Tripp Mickle reports Eaton under the agreement will "receive rights to promote its membership in the NASCAR Green program and be highlighted along with more than a dozen other NASCAR Green partners in a 30-second spot that runs every weekend during Sprint Cup races." Financial terms of the deal "weren’t available, but most NASCAR Green deals are valued in the mid-six figures." NASCAR Managing Dir of Green Innovation Mike Lynch said that the organization spoke with "at least 10 electrical vehicle-charging manufacturers before striking a deal with Eaton." He said that NASCAR will use the "charging stations to help promote the electrical vehicles its manufacturers -- Ford, General Motors and Toyota -- offer" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 7/1 issue).

CHART NOTE: * NASCAR Green exclusive sponsors

TAKING THE GREEN: In Jacksonville, Don Coble wrote NASCAR has a "reputation for guzzling gas and wearing out a lifetime supply of tires in a single afternoon," but has taken a "turn to be friendlier to the environment" with its NASCAR Green initiative. Most of a crashed race car is "salvaged, either to be used again, sold to other teams or sent to recycling centers." Daytona Int'l Speedway last year "not only sent seven tons of empty cans to recycling centers, but it kept 99 tons of cardboard, 23 tons of steel and 28 tons of commingled mixed materials from clogging up local landfills." While DIS takes its recycling program "to an extreme, no other sports facility has taken the green initiative further" than Pocono Raceway. The track "has a 25-acre solar power farm." It powers the "massive speedway property" and also generates enough electricity for more than 300 homes. In all, NASCAR and its corporate partners will "plant more than 8,000 trees this year," and tire supplier Goodyear "recycled more than 120,000 racing tires last year." Driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. also "found a way to take tire recycling to a new level when he unveiled a new line of souvenirs that include patches of used tires on T-shirts" (FLORIDA TIMES-UNION, 7/1).