Nissan unveils racing monster and ultra-modern HQ

A fresh start with old friends

In December, the new Formula E season – season 11 – begins in São Paulo. But first, in November, the teams will have the chance to put their newest cars to the test during some test days in Valencia. Meanwhile, one by one, the teams reveal their brand new cars and the drivers who will drive the electric powerhouses.

At Nissan, Oliver Rowland (race number 23) once again gets behind the wheel, while Norman Nato (race number 17) returns after a year’s absence. Nato, a 32-year-old Frenchman from Cannes, previously drove Le Mans for Team Jota and has been competing in the Formula E championship since 2018. Rowland showed his speed last season with two wins and no fewer than five podium finishes. He is good friends with Max Verstappen and according to rumors, Verstappen laughingly told him that he would rather not see Rowland race in the king class, for fear that he would be faster. Rowland can steer quite a bit, then.

More power and new look

Rowland and Nato step into the new GEN3 Evo car this season, which takes a big step forward from its predecessors in terms of performance. The biggest difference? All-wheel drive – or, as Nissan calls it, e-4ORCE, a technology also found on their all-wheel-drive consumer models. Drivers can utilize this all-wheel drive at the start and during certain moments during the so-called Attack Mode. This makes the car a lot faster: it now sprints from 0 to 100 km/h in just 1.82 seconds and reaches a top speed of 322 km/h. The new Nissan Formula E car is a real eye-catcher on the track and, like last year, is instantly recognizable thanks to its striking cherry blossom livery, a tribute to Nissan’s Japanese roots.

High-tech home port

For the unveiling of their new race car, Nissan chose the team’s brand new technical center in Paris. In this 2,600-square-meter building, everything comes together: from a simulator room and offices to state-of-the-art workshops, where engineers and technicians have every freedom to get everything out of the car and fine-tune performance down to the millimeter. You’ll stumble across carbon fiber drive shafts, extremely expensive racing wheels and enough high-tech equipment to fill a sci-fi movie.

Looking ahead to São Paulo

Nissan is now a regular player in Formula E and the first Japanese manufacturer to embrace the all-electric racing class. The highlight so far? That has to be victory in Tokyo last year, in the first-ever Formula E race on Japanese soil. However, according to managing director and team boss Tommaso Volpe, participating in the series is more than just racing: it serves as a test bed for their consumer cars. The ultimate goal? To have an all-electric and carbon-neutral lineup on the road by 2050.

The season kicks off, as mentioned, with pre-season tests in Valencia from Nov. 4 to 7, where Rowland and Nato can get used to their new bolides. Then the season really gets underway on Dec. 7 with the São Paulo E-Prix.

Also see: Nissan Ariya e-4ORCE review – Taking an (electric) car to Scandinavia: everything you need to know!