Nissan Unveils the ZEOD RC

by W Christian Mental Ward

Published: October 18th, 2013

Sorry, couldn’t resist

After months of teasing, Nissan officially pulled the wraps of the ZEOD RC. The Zero Emissions On Demand Race Car will occupy Garage 56 at the 24 Hours of LeMans in June of next year. This weekend it is expected to hit the track at round 6 of the 2013 FIA World Endurance Championship, October 18-20 at Japan’s Fuji International Speedway.

Owing some obvious DNA to the breakthrough Deltawing; the advanced prototype will again take the Garage 56 slot, a category the Deltawing defined last year. 2012 LeMans effort veteran and recently crowned Director of Motorsport Innovation; Ben Bowlby; claims the ZEOD will be able to run an entire lap on pure electric power while maintaining 185 MPH. It will use energy recovery systems similar to the Leaf EV to recharge when it is being propelled by its gas engine.

Also like the Deltawing; the ZEOD RC will also have a 1.6 liter four that should put out 300 horses. The opening strategy will be running the car on one electric-only lap between stops and ideally extending the time the car is on the track and not in the pits.

Nissan Academy graduate Lucas Ordóñez has been named as one of the test drivers along with long-time Nissan pilot Michael Krumm.

In 2012, Nissan surprised a lot of naysayers despite the prototype’s tragic ending. Given the team and talent surrounding the ZEOD RC, it’s reasonable to expect another impressive effort. At a minimum, we can expect to hear the sound of change, like a distant rolling train.

But it won’t be distant long.

#Deltawing #NeilDiamond #Nissan #ZEODRC

W Christian Mental Ward

School teacher, amateur racer, occasional story teller.

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7 of 16 comments

SCE to AUX on Oct 18, 2013

A minor nit: a 'tragic ending' normally includes death. In this case, only the car was damaged. 'Heartbreaking ending' is more like it.

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- Morea on Oct 18, 2013
  
  Has the Deltawing yet to complete an endurance race?
  
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- W Christian Mental Ward on Oct 18, 2013
  
  Thank you. I have never heard that before, but as soon as I read it could not understand why I didn't already know it.
  
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- Morea on Oct 19, 2013
  
  @Morea Deltawing fails to finish* the 2013 Petit Le Mans. *Technically, it failed to complete 70% of the distance that the race winner covered. And was not running at the end.
  
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Pagani Baguette on Oct 18, 2013

Just couple of notes from reading the article and some of the replies: - The car is NOT going to use the same 1.6 4 cyl engine like the DeltaWing. It is going to be a very different engine. - It is "Zero Emissions" because the batteries are charged exclusively from regenerative braking, not from an outside source and not from the engine itself. Yes, it will be technically possible to "brake" while using the ICE, therefore generate some charge, but that would be very counter productive and I doubt they would ever do that in a race mode.

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- LeMansteve on Oct 18, 2013
  
  Zero Emissions sounds great but a more accurate term would be Minimal Extra Emissions. First you need to gain speed for regenerative braking to work. In a race you are already doing this regardless of propulsion type. The Minimal Extra Emissions would be from whatever incremental work is required to accelerate the extra weight of the electrical regen/drive system.
  
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- Pagani Baguette on Oct 18, 2013
  
  @LeMansteve You are absolutely correct! "Zero" is never really technically possible if we start accounting for everything..... It would be safer to say that the ZEOD is "closer" to ZERO than say plug in hybrid. But yes, neither is an actual "ZERO". Besides, the real denomination should not be "on demand", but perhaps "when possible", because it is not really available all the time you want it :)
  
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