IndyCar is running into significant hurdles to launch a hybrid component to its engine program before the end of the 2024 season.
Planned for a 2024 implementation, IndyCar has now delayed the integration until at some point after the Indianapolis 500 in May but without stating exactly what the new target date would be. This comes following an autumn of testing additions to the current generation engine platform in advance of next season.
Specifically, the unit would feature a super-capacitor, which reduces the need for as many batteries.
The Grand Prix of Detroit on June 2 is the race that follows the Indianapolis 500 but the statement from the league also alludes to implementation coming ‘during the second half of the season,’ which would technically be July around the race weekend at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
IndyCar had announced the development of a full-fledged 2.4-litre hybrid engine just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic but that was shelved from 2021, 2022 and then 2023. That is when the series instead pivoted to adding a hybrid component to its current 2.2-litre engine platform.
That engine debuted alongside the current chassis, the entire package back then called the DW12, in advance of the 2012 season. Thus, this upcoming season will be the 13th season it has been used in some capacity.
The entire push for hybridization reflected the culture in the automotive industry, but a lot like NASCAR who also has shelved a next generation hybrid engine, the motorsports industry is in a holding pattern to see if electrification or alternative fuels prevail in the race to power future commuter vehicles.
IndyCar, like NASCAR, is pursuing addition manufacturers but the expenses related to developing this project, alongside a lack of general return on investment, has one of the two IndyCar engine manufacturers threating to leave after its contract ends in 2026.
That would be Honda, who powers IndyCar teams alongside Chevrolet, who has also been part of the series since 1994. Speaking to RACER.com, Honda of America Motorsports Manager Chuck Schifsky says cost needs to come down considerably for his marque to remain in IndyCar.
“If we were to choose not to renew, that would be the reason why,” Schifsky said. “And it’s easy to see. We don’t have a third manufacturer, and there’s a reason for that: It has to do with the cost. If the return on investment matched up with the investment, we’d have a number of other manufacturers involved.”
Thus, Schifsky says IndyCar needs to cut ‘fives and tens of millions of dollars of annual technical costs’ and if that doesn’t happen, Honda will go do something else — specifically name checking NASCAR or Formula 1.
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Honda, through its Acura luxury line, races the ARX-06 GTP in the IMSA SportsCar series and praised that division for creating the return on investment that a manufacturer needs.
“You look at IMSA where they are at 18 or 19 OEMs now, or you look just at GTP and LMDh globally; there are a number of manufacturers there and more are rumored to be getting in because the costs match the value,” Schifsky told RACER.
Schifsky also said IndyCar could reduce Honda’s cost by mandating that Honda is only responsible for a third of the field instead of splitting the grid in half with Chevrolet.
In other words, Schifsky has tasked IndyCar with either making greater strides to sign a third OEM or extending an overture to Chevrolet to see it if were willing to take on additional teams.
All told, the next several months are going to be hugely important for IndyCar’s future.
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.