NISSAN will race in 12 cities on four continents during season five of the ABB FIA Formula E Championship.
The venues for the 2018-19 season of the all-electric racing series have been revealed along with an innovative new format. The season will include 13 races in a dozen cities, starting in Saudi Arabia in December and finishing in New York in July. Other venues include Berlin; Hong Kong; Marrakesh, Morocco; Mexico City; Monaco; Paris; Rome; and Zurich. A yet-to-be-announced city in China will host a race on March 23.
Nissan, the maker of the world’s best-selling electric car – the Nissan LEAF – is using the electric racing championship to showcase its Nissan Intelligent Mobility strategy. Electrification is a key pillar of the strategy, which seeks to change how cars are driven, powered and integrated into society. The company aims to sell 1 million electrified vehicles a year by fiscal year 2022, including pure electric vehicles and e-POWER models.
Nissan announced its entry into Formula E at last year’s Tokyo Motor Show. The brand unveiled its Formula E livery at the Geneva Motor Show in March this year.
“This incredible race schedule highlights markets where electric vehicles are ideally suited for urban driving,” said Michael Carcamo, Nissan’s global motorsports director. “That’s the great thing about Formula E – we get to race on the same roads where the Nissan LEAF could be driven by fans every day.
“Formula E takes the action to the people – racing in the middle of cities, rather than at race tracks miles away in the countryside.”
In addition to the all-new Generation 2 Formula E cars, the upcoming season will include an innovative new race format.
The new Gen2 cars will complete the entire race without the traditional mid-race car swap that was a feature of the previous seasons. Drivers will have 200 kilowatts of power available for the race as a whole but will be able to access 225 kW for periods of the race by passing through a single activation zone. This will be marked on the circuit for fans watching on-site, online or on TV.
The two power modes will be indicated using different colors on an innovative LED system on the drivers’ halo head protection devices. In addition, the groundbreaking FANBOOST system will enable fans to vote for their favourite driver, with the top three getting to use a maximum of 250 kW of power for short periods.
For the season five championship, all Formula E races will have a set time of 45 minutes plus one lap – rather than a predetermined total number of laps.
2018-19 ABB FIA Formula E Championship
Ad Diriyah*, Saudi Arabia, Dec. 15, 2018
Marrakesh, Morocco, Jan. 12, 2019
TBA, TBA, Jan. 26, 2019
Mexico City, Feb. 16, 2019
Hong Kong, March 10, 2019
TBA, China, March 23, 2019
Rome, April 13, 2019
Paris, April 27, 2019
Monaco*, May 11, 2019
Berlin, May 25, 2019
Zurich**, June 9, 2019
New York City, July 13, 2019
New York City, July 14, 2019
*Subject to circuit homologation
** Subject to circuit homologation and final approval of the city
