Michael Satterfield
Nissan has taken the next steps toward its debut in the all-electric ABB FIA Formula E Championship by revealing its concept livery at the Geneva Motor Show.
At last year’s Tokyo Motor Show, Nissan – the world’s leading mass-market zero-emission vehicle manufacturer – announced it would debut in Formula E from season five which is expected to begin in December 2018.
As part of today’s announcement, Nissan unveiled its color scheme for the season five Formula E car, which features striking new aerodynamics and an entirely new battery and powertrain package.
The livery for Nissan’s Formula E program was designed by Nissan’s Global Design team in Japan.
“At first glance the season five Formula E car looked to our design team like an EV-powered supersonic bird in flight,” said Alfonso Albaisa, senior vice president of global design at Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. “Naturally this initial reaction from the team started us on a path that captured a sense of a form breaking free of resistance and gravity. Formula E racers are virtually silent, with explosive speed bursts thus naturally we turned to Doppler when designing the livery. The combination of the sonic pulse of the Doppler effect and the released power of a sonic boom inspired our celebration of EV Racing!”
The new package provides more power, more range and eliminates the need for the mid-race car swap which has been used in the first four seasons of the championship.
“Nissan is proud to be an innovator in electric vehicles on the road with the Nissan LEAF completing more than four billion zero-emission kilometers around the world*,” said Jose Munoz, Chief Performance Officer, Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. “Now, we want to bring that EV expertise to motorsport. The new Formula E car is being shown live in public for the first time this morning, and we’re very excited to reveal Nissan’s livery for our debut. The ability for Nissan to use this championship as a key development platform for our EV technologies and to be able to race in major city centers around the world makes it a perfect vehicle for us to showcase Nissan Intelligent Mobility.”
Nissan Intelligent Mobility is the company’s strategy to redefine how its vehicles are driven, powered and integrated into society.
While the new Nissan Formula E car livery was revealed for the first time today, work has been underway on developing the all-new technical package for many months as Nissan prepares for its debut.
Nissan is working with its partner Renault to leverage expertise and development already available, in keeping with the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi automotive partnership’s focus on collaboration and maximizing synergies to boost competitiveness. Additional details, including structure and drivers, will be announced at a later time.
“Nissan is bringing a lot to the table with our expertise in EV technology for the road and bringing it to the race track,” said Nissan global motorsport director, Michael Carcamo.
“The level of competition in the Formula E championship is on the rise and we’re eagerly awaiting the unique engineering challenge ahead. We’re entering the championship on a level playing field this year with every manufacturer competing with a brand new car, battery and powertrain combination from season five.”
Season five of the ABB FIA Formula E championship is expected to visit major international cities including Hong Kong, Berlin, Zurich, Rome and New York. The new car that will debut in season five is scheduled to race in the Formula E championship for the next three seasons.
Further details regarding Nissan’s drivers and other technical and marketing partners for its Formula E debut are expected to be announced later this year.
