Battery packs.... part or fuel in budget?

I apologize if this is covered. Search did not yield an answer....

is a battery pack for an EV competitor counted as part or fuel? My thought is first pack needs to be counted(just like a fuel tank/cell and pump) but if you swapped cells between runs is that a new part or "refueling"?

I think in the past when discussed the "battery" is the same as a "gas tank" but the charge is free just like gas is free.  So you would have to count multiple cells/packs in your budget.  BTW there is 220 plugs available for charging.  Also you need a 5 mile range or so for the whole Challenge. 

Yes we've discussed in the past and packs are in budget. 

However, I think you've got an argument if the car only uses 2 but you bring six total for swapping out with the sole purpose of "refueling". I can see a world where only putting the 2 in budget is fair.

A possible analogy is nitrous tanks. Nitrous itself isn't in budget but the tanks are. If you bring 2 tanks but your car only uses one at a time, I'd think you can make an argument since it's not easy to refill during the challenge drags. 

Don't the rules say the budget only counts what is on the car at any given moment?

In reply to jfryjfry :

During the duration of the competition. If you switch wheels and tires out between the autocross and drags, the second set of tires count towards the budget. Otherwise I'd be going to a V band setup and planning on swapping out turbos and changing tunes after the autocross. 

I could see swapping battery packs as an advantage.  For example you get lighter weight with a 1 mile range battery pack vs say a 5 mile battery pack.  I kinda remember doing the math and the biggest problem was a cost effective high voltage battery that wasn't over kill range wise.

To clarify the idea wouldn't be to swap cells to change output between race types. So not really the same in my mind as tires or turbos. Simply a convenient way to recharge between runs. And maybe allow for a less expensive charge controller system to be used.
 

But if the track has outlets available that may not be more convenient unless you could devise some sort of slide engaged blade system like on cordless tools. I would still be curious about how the organizers see it.

I'm of the opinion that if you have enough juice to get through Friday, that you can recharge overnight and run Saturday without issue, but as noted the batteries themselves are somewhat similar to a fuel tank with regards to capacity and Stampie brought up the competitive advantage of running a lower capacity, with the ability to swap out. 

All that being said. I'm also a fan of the innovative mindset of someone running a lower capacity battery swapping them out frequently to be able to complete a day and to get through the event and then having a rule named after them at the conclusion of the event to make it so the following year and in future years you can't swap batteries out during the event unless they're counted towards budget. 

I'm weird though and I love the idea of people finding gray areas taking advantage of it then the gray area loophole being closed and having a rule named after them. I feel that such rules showcase champions of innovation and honor those who discover and utilize loopholes within the spirit of the event. 

Sorry I don't have time to reply in more detail, but battery packs are part of budget. The electricity in them is free, just like gasoline. There's no allowance currently built into the rules to allow swaps. 

In reply to Tom Suddard :

Cool. Thanks for the clarification!