NISSAN today unveiled the groundbreaking, innovative ZEOD RC – the world’s fastest electric racing car that will reach speeds of more than 185mph with electric technology at the Le Mans 24 Hours.
The ZEOD RC (Zero Emission On Demand Racing Car) will make its race debut at next year’s Le Mans 24 Hour. The global leader in electric vehicles for the road, Nissan will trial variants of new electric drive train 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.
Nissan’s invitation from the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO) to compete in the 2014 Le Mans 24 Hours was announced by Nissan Chairman and CEO, Carlos Ghosn in Japan in February. The car will compete under the ACO’s ‘Garage 56′ entry – an additional spot on the grid for vehicles that showcase new and innovative technology.
Run as a Nissan / Nismo full factory international programme with input from Japan, Europe and the US, the Nissan ZEOD RC design team is headed by Ben Bowlby who has been newly appointed as Nissan’s Director of Motorsport Innovation and who worked on the Nissan DeltaWing programme in 2012.
Continued updates
While the car will not race until next year’s Le Mans 24 Hours, Nissan today kicked off a unique aspect of the programme – race fans getting the chance to unveil the car in the public area of the Circuit de la Sarthe. Nissan intends to draw back the curtain for fans across the globe to provide continued updates via its international partnership with YouTube and its Nismo.TV channel.
Andy Palmer, Executive Vice President and Executive Committee member at Nissan Motor Company Limited, said: ‘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.
‘The Nissan ZEOD RC is a natural progression that follows on from the development of the Nissan Leaf road car and the Leaf RC race car prototype. The technologies developed through the ZEOD RC program will form part of future innovations for Nissan road cars.
‘Nissan is already a global leader in the sale of all-electric cars and we’re eagerly awaiting the opportunity to showcase the lessons learnt with the development of battery technology in the world’s oldest, toughest and most high profile endurance race.
‘The ZEOD RC program is designed to develop multiple technologies to evaluate how they could be used for a future LM P1 class return of Nissan at the Le Mans 24 Hour. 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.
Innovating again
‘As no other manufacturer is using electric battery technology in endurance racing today, Nissan is innovating again and this will provide us with significant amounts of data and information to evaluate potential powertrains for future sportscar programs and allow us to continue as the leader in zero-emission technology on the road.’
Launched in 2010, the Nissan Leaf has become the world’s best-selling all-electric car. The Leaf won the 2010 Green Car Vision Award, the 2011 European Car of the Year, the 2011 World Car of the Year, and the 2011-2012 Car of the Year Japan.
Nissan launched the Nissan Leaf RC in 2011 – a race car prototype powered by the same 107-hp electric motor that is used in the road car.