LE MANS 2013: Nissan unveils 300km/h EV

Nissan has unveiled its 2014 Le Mans car – an electric racer based on its DeltaWing concept and claimed to be capable of 300km/h! The unveiling took place today on the eve of the running of the 2013 Le Mans 24 Hour.

Called ZEOD RC -- Zero Emission On Demand Racing Car – the racer will make its competition debut at next year’s 2014 Le Mans 24 Hour. Nissan says it will use ZEOD RC to “trial variants of new electric drivetrain technologies as part of its intended future return to LM P1 competition to challenge for overall victory at the world’s most prestigious endurance race”.

ZEOD RC will compete in the 2014 race under the race organiser’s ‘Garage 56’ entry. Although Nissan is playing up the electrical part of the racer’s drivetrain -- and dislikes the term 'hybrid' -- when it fronts the Le Mans starter in 2014, ZEOD RC will feature both electric and internal combustion drivetrains. Details of the IC part of the hybrid equation are yet to be released, but Nissan sources stress the racer will be capable of reaching 300km/h on electric power alone.

The Garage 56 is a wildcard-style entry which grants an extra position on the 24 Hour grid for racecars that “showcase new and innovative technology”. In 2012, Nissan raced the innovative dart-shaped DeltaWing at Le Mans via the Garage 56 initiative.

ZEOD will be campaigned as a full factory NISMO entry. The squad charged with developing the race campaign is headed by Nissan’s newly-appointed Director of Motorsport Innovation and DeltaWing designer, Ben Bowlby.

Tonight’s unveiling is being featured on Nissan’s NISMO TV YouTube channel.

Nissan claims ZEOD RC uses battery technology straight from its LEAF electric hatch.

“Nissan has become a global leader in the development of zero emission automotive technology and the Nissan ZEOD RC will allow us to further develop those capabilities using the toughest endurance race in the world as a mobile test bed to test the potential of our planned LM P1 power train,” said Andy Palmer, Nissan Executive Vice President, in a statement this afternoon.

Palmer said that Nissan will research multiple powertrain options in the ZEOD . 

“There are multiple options we are investigating. A Zero Emission on Demand option where the driver can switch between electric and petrol-powered drive is a future direction for road cars, so that will be tested in addition to pure electric power and other new technologies that we still have under development,” he stated.

LM P1 is the premier category at Le Mans. This year it has attracted just eight entries including three cars from Audi and two from Toyota. In 2014, Porsche will join the fray.

As much as Nissan has hung its experimental hat on the triangular plan-form of the DeltaWing and ZEOD RC, Nissan’s LM P1 entry is likely to follow a more conventional route. On the current timeline, Nissan’s first potential LM P1 entry would take place in 2015.

Nissan-powered entries dominated this week’s qualifying for the LM P2 undercard at Le Mans. The sixth fastest LM P2 racers were Nissan powered. Indeed, 15 of the 22 entries in the class are powered by Nissan V8 engines.

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