Green Motorsports: The Indy 500 Greens Up Its Act

Green Motorsports: The Indy 500 Greens Up Its Act

Marketing Renewable and Sustainable Energy At 200 MPH

Environmental car racing: an oxymoron? Not so much as you would think, especially with technology changing fast. At the 2023 Indianapolis 500 on May 28 in Indianapolis, Indiana, all 33 cars will be running on Shell 100-percent renewable biofuel, using carbon neutral motor oil, and rolling on Firestone Firehawk tires made with recycled plastics. Many of the team transporters will also be using biofuels. Beginning in 2024 the cars will be powered by hybrid engines.

The greening of IndyCar extends off the track, too, by the way of sponsorship. One such company is Capstone Engineered Solutions, which is backing the No. 29 car driven by Devlin DeFrancesco, entered by Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport. Capstone provides sustainable energy alternatives with microturbines, EV charging, solar, battery energy storage and generators for prime and standby power.

In its fifth year of IndyCar sponsorship, Capstone provides energy to clients with commercial buildings, hospitals, hotels, colleges, prisons, military bases, multifamily buildings and wastewater treatment plants. IndyCar sponsorship allows the company to connect its advanced energy technologies with the advanced technologies in racing, educating potential customers how they can produce clean, reliable energy for everyday use, peak and stand-by emergency power.

At the heart of the Capstone process are microturbines that burn liquid or compressed natural gas, a hydrogen blend with natural gas or 100% hydrogen, all of which can be produced from renewable sources. Renewable natural gas made from organic waste is not a fossil fuel and does not involve drilling, making it appealing. It fits perfectly with the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 as it addresses climate warming.

Microturbines run quiet and are portable, which is a strong selling point to potential customers, one they proved to the IndyCar community at the Texas Motor Speedway in April. A microturbine and fuel tank were mounted on a trailer and towed to the speedway behind a pickup truck. Once at the track, it provided all the power for the Andretti Autosport hospitality compound and was used to charge electric cars.

A conventional gasoline or diesel generator would be too loud and produce unpleasant exhaust, making client entertaining difficult, if not impossible. It was a powerful demonstration to the IndyCar community and the Texas Motor Speedway management how a portable microturbine can produce clean and reliable electricity during an event, and be ready if there was a power outage.

Clean Fleet Report had the opportunity, at the 2023 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, to sit down with Jim Crouse, the president and CEO of Capstone Engineered Solutions. We discussed the company’s technology and how it leverages the IndyCar series sponsorship.

Interview

Clean Fleet Report: Clean Fleet Report’s readerscome to us for information on electrified vehicles, especially those with a plug. Let’s talk about what you did at the Texas IndyCar race in April.

Capstone: The portable microturbine unit we had for Andretti was 65 kilowatts (kW), with the Andretti hospitality area using about 30 kW to cover all their activities, including air conditioning. That left us with power to run an EV charger. It worked great all race weekend.

CFR: Could the portable charger be an application for EV charging at malls, farms, business parks and other locations? If so, how long can a tank of fuel last with moderate-to-heavy use?

Capstone: Let’s use the Texas IndyCar race as an example. The CNG (compressed natural gas) storage held about 80,000 cubic feet of renewable natural gas. That would have run that microturbine for six days, non-stop, making it an efficient and reliable power source. It is cost competitive to use our microturbine, especially when considering the labor cost and permit process to connect car chargers to the utility.

CFR: It sounds like you have compelling story to tell, so how does sponsorship come into getting out the word?

Capstone: Our participation focuses on four aspects, beginning with branding, where we are the primary sponsor on the car. We get television coverage and at the track exposure to Capstone Green Energy. As a newer company this helps with brand recognition.

We then have the digital aspect with social media including LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and our own website, where we create content to market our technology.

Customer engagement activation is important by bringing potential customers to the track, but also inviting existing customers to the track. The best way to sell to a new customer is having an existing customer tell them how great the product is, and how we are to work with as we supply them with this technology. It is like any new endeavor, where we were four years ago to today is night-and-day.

We will have between five and 25 customers at any IndyCar race, but not for one day only. We invite them for all three days of practice, qualifying and racing, to spend quality time around the dinner and breakfast table to develop relationships. We firmly believe in long-term relationships with all of our customers.

The final aspects of our sponsorship are the B2B opportunities within the racing community. So, here at Andretti Autosport, DHL (sponsor on the No. 28 car driven by Romain Grosjean) is a customer of Capstone. We have had many introductions and met new customers that we weren’t seeking out, but are part of the racing community.

Many of the people that come to an IndyCar race are decision makers, or at least influencers within their own organization, so the opportunity to sit around with them in the hospitality area for a drink or meal is important. What is funny is how the other team sponsors bring their customers to the event and often times they are people that can use our technology and services.

CFR: Other than the clean power source, what else do you sell on?

Capstone: One of the biggest competitors we have is the status quo: no one gets fired for buying electricity from their local utility. So we let them know there is a less expensive and cleaner option. Since power generation is our only and core business, it makes us different from companies that also make bulldozers and tractors or diesel engines for trucks and cars and generators. We are different from them.

CFR: The upside looks strong.

Capstone: Capstone is a new technology that is better at meeting the air emission regulations, so the market is coming to us and we have more tailwinds than headwinds. It is a great time in the energy space as the lack of grid infrastructure, with the move to electrification, is creating a lot of opportunity as planning and infrastructure development is trying to catch-up. And it isn’t just in the EV charging space as we are speaking with warehouse and manufacturing companies that can’t get enough grid power from their local utility.

Wrapping-up: The Capstone IndyCar Sponsorship

Motorsports sponsorships can be an excellent venue for the advertising, marketing and promotion of a brand, product or service. Capstone Engineered Solutions is doing it right as they are not relying on the name on the side of a car to get the word out. Its guests at the 2023 Indianapolis 500 will receive:

• Race Weekend Credentials that provide gate, garage, paddock and pit lane access
• Andretti Hospitality Suite access to relax and socialize while enjoying catering and beverages
• Driver Meet & Greet with the No. 29 driver Devlin DeFrancesco
• Garage Tour for an up-close view the car preparation and to meet crew members

Leveraging the sponsorship at the track, utilizing social media, and pre- and post-race personal contact with customers is what will provide a good return on the sponsorship.

From the team standpoint, Julia Steinbrenner, co-owner of Steinbrenner Racing, told us that it’s great having a partner like Capstone “bringing green energy to the forefront in the automotive realm, and having them do what they did at the Texas Motor Speedway to not only make Andretti Autosport carbon neutral, but the series too.” She went on to say it was “encouraging the partnership ideology blueprint is there to work from, where other team sponsors can meet and work together, making each company more successful.”

The 107th running of the 2023 Indianapolis 500 is scheduled for Sunday, May 30. It is being televised on NBC and Universe beginning at 11 a.m. EDT. Peacock begins streaming at 9 a.m. EDT. SiiriusXM channel 160 begins its broadcast at 11 a.m. EDT.

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Story by John Faulkner. Photos courtesy of Capstone Green Energy.