Nissan plans to convey its e-4orce AWD tech into Formulation E
Formulation E could in flip turn into a testbed for efficiency AWD
Battery tech will keep divergent between manufacturing and racing
Nissan’s Formulation E race automobile is carrying the e-4orce badge for the primary time this 2023/24 season.
Sure, that’s the identical badge you would possibly discover on a 2024 Nissan Ariya—a badge that you just’re prone to see far more of on performance-focused Nissan EVs sooner or later.
Whereas Nissan’s avenue vehicles and race vehicles have little in widespread right this moment, Nissan sees them probably meshing extra sooner or later—and studying from one another, as Inexperienced Automobile Experiences realized in a dialog with Nissan Formulation E workforce principal Tomasso Volpe finally weekend’s Formulation E race in Portland.
Volpe likened his job to being the CEO of an organization whereas additionally implementing all of the supporting operations. And he really sees Nissan’s Formulation E and manufacturing Nissan EV packages getting nearer collectively.
This top-level view is probably not so stunning contemplating his employer stands in stark distinction to a line of naysayers who’ve dropped out of Formulation E, like BMW, Audi, and Mercedes. Nissan this spring turned the primary producer to join Formulation E’s Gen 4 period, which can run by 2030.
2023 Nissan Ariya e-4orce
2023 Nissan Ariya e-4orce
2023 Nissan Ariya e-4orce
Effectivity and regen are on the core
All the things modified already from Gen 2 into Gen 3, because the vehicles turned lighter, quicker, and far more highly effective, with as much as 600 kw of brake recuperation because of the inclusion of latest entrance motors—already used for that, however resulting from be employed for ahead movement in a Gen 3.5 improve subsequent season.
Volpe informed Inexperienced Automobile Experiences that in the beginning, what the workforce has already realized in additional than a season of the Gen 3 automobile, forward of these modifications, is learn how to handle car dynamics and vitality use and restoration collectively. With regenerative braking, and a technique round it, constructed into the race, if you weren’t regenerating in any respect, you’d end round 60% of the overall race size.
“The place we’ve improved quite a bit is within the administration of the car effectivity—what you may obtain with all of the software program instruments that you just develop, and the management techniques for the car dynamics,” mentioned Volpe. “Configuring the dynamics has improved quite a bit. It’s not that we’ve discovered extra vitality, it’s that we use vitality a lot better.”
“Sure, we put e-4orce on the automobile already this 12 months to start out selling it, to be trustworthy; it’s a branding train,” Volpe admitted. However he rapidly added: “Subsequent 12 months there can be moments the place you should utilize all-wheel-drive expertise within the automobile, and for that, sure, we’re utilizing some experience from Nissan.
Nissan Formulation E automobile, at Portland, 2024
Ariya e-4orce faculties Formulation E…which faculties future GT-R?
“So we’ve a number of the engineers who’ve developed e-4orce to advise us learn how to use all-wheel drive in essentially the most environment friendly method…learn how to maximize the effectivity of the all-wheel drive,” he defined.
For now, Formulation E vehicles don’t even use the entrance motor for tractive (ahead) energy but. However they do use it for regenerative braking—and Nissan is already capable of faucet into a few of its chassis know-how in that respect.
Nissan has emphasised that e-4orce was derived from work that began with its GT-R supercar. Likewise, senior VP and chief planning officer Ponz Pandikuthira confirmed to our companion web site Motor Authority that Formulation E will function a testbed for next-gen GT-R growth.
Subsequent 12 months will convey some management methods gleaned from the dynamic management of regenerative braking, utilized in Nissan manufacturing fashions just like the Ariya using e-4orce. {Hardware}-wise, a brand new gearbox can be “massively improved, because of some concepts and options advised by superior R&D in Japan,” and that may convey the workforce one other increase in efficiency and effectivity.
2023 Nissan Ariya e-4orce
After which comes Gen 4, which is anticipated to introduce fixed all-wheel drive, whereas Gen 3.5 will supply traction from the entrance wheels a number of the time. “So for us we will apply e-4orce for the entire race then, and for us all-wheel drive is a basic expertise for electrical autos,” mentioned Volpe.
Chassis management and dynamics because it pertains to which are a part of Nissan’s core enterprise, he says, so having an all-wheel-drive car will give Nissan the chance to switch much more data each methods.
Actual-world crossover for Formulation E
Whereas this appears like a fairly harmonious meshing of racing, R&D, and EV growth—one which Porsche, as an example, additionally sees—that’s not the best way that a number of different massive automakers have gone. Audi, BMW, and Mercedes have been among the many automakers exiting Formulation E simply earlier than the present Gen 3 arrived for the 2022-2023 season.
Every of those automakers had a variety of causes, however at one level or one other, every has in the end advised that there was a comparatively low stage of expertise switch again to manufacturing autos. After seven years in Formulation E, BMW sounded essentially the most pessimistic on the prospects when it introduced it might be dropping out after the 2020-2021 season. “In the case of the event of e-drivetrains, BMW Group has primarily exhausted the alternatives for this type of expertise switch within the aggressive surroundings of Formulation E,” the corporate mentioned.
Audi confirmed its departure a short while later, in 2021, and pointed to different forms of motorsport, just like the Dakar Rally, as a strategy to “additional develop our experience within the area of electrical mobility below excessive situations,” and Mercedes merely famous that the choice was made to refocus assets on EV growth.
Nissan Formulation E automobile, at Portland, 2024
Battery tech must be very completely different
Not each expertise right here is related to manufacturing EVs—even efficiency ones—the workforce boss admits. The battery is the apparent instance, as a result of it’s such a distinct use case. Getting by the race and not using a part failure is the target, not getting the battery pack to final 150,000 miles or extra as in a manufacturing EV.
Though even right here there could also be some classes good for taking to EVs set to say observe time. “The principle concern that we’ve with the battery is the temperature, and to attempt to get the battery at all times in the precise window to ensure we use a lot of the vitality in essentially the most environment friendly method. That is the principle problem relating to the battery greater than the rest; the remainder is kind of constant within the BMS.”
Formulation E groups function below a distinct set of priorities. They will run the battery all the best way as much as 73.5 levels C and nonetheless be fairly environment friendly in extracting vitality from it, however they’d higher make certain the temp gained’t maintain rising, as a result of at 74 levels it’s lifeless and gained’t be revived for the race. With round 55 levels on up thought-about the perfect vary for the battery, the groups and Formulation E itself give you a technique on the place to start out—particularly, 42-45 levels for final Saturday’s race that the pit crew was then making ready for.
Volpe famous that typically inside Formulation E races you see vehicles with the next share of vitality left on the finish of the race, whereas they hadn’t really been pushing a lot to get well positions in the previous few laps. That’s a sign the battery temperature wasn’t managed effectively.
However, engineering insights from the inverter, gearbox, and motor can all be helpful for manufacturing fashions. So can insights from superior supplies like carbon fiber.
Nissan Formulation E automobile, at Portland, 2024
Formulation E leaning on software program for beneficial properties, drivers for wins
This 12 months, the massive effectivity beneficial properties are software program ones, in accordance with Volpe. Power administration software program is giving the workforce a way more refined device to make use of in the course of the race, for higher dynamic optimization of energy supply and regen.
“By regulation, in concept, you would rewrite the entire software program of the automobile from one race to a different. After all the core software program stays the identical, however there are little instruments we use; some are instruments that hook up with the software program within the automobile and these are constantly up to date.”
Nissan’s engineers prefer to suppose that they’ve a brand new model of the software program for each single race. Nevertheless it does have to be set upfront of the race itself. The FIA opinions the whole code, aside from offline instruments and no matter is used for knowledge evaluation.
However a lot of it in Formulation E nonetheless rests on the motive force—as seen at Portland the place the result of the race got here right down to easy driver error and one not fairly following the racing line he’d meant, clipping the grass, and spinning out.
I am going to go away you with an image you will simply must think about, as contained in the workings of its pit crew Nissan would not enable snaps: On web site, at pit lane and simply out of view of the conventional pit-lane excursions, Nissan gave me a quick glimpse of a management room filled with screens and other people layers of knowledge, together with driver simulations and warmth maps. In the meantime, a workforce in Paris can be diving into knowledge and advising on numerous eventualities.
2024 Nissan GT-R Skyline Version
From Portland to Paris to Yokohama, Formulation E appears to be working for Nissan as a distant testbed—and for Jaguar Land Rover, which has claimed actual EV vary beneficial properties from Formulation E tech.
As I left pit lane I contemplated: If these different automakers are getting what they want from F1, what expertise, like solid-state batteries or deeper simulation instruments, will it take to get them again on board with Formulation E? The race is on, however not everybody sees themselves in the identical race.
