Nissan unveiled its "groundbreaking" new vehicle this week, the ZEOD RC, which they claim is the fastest electric racing car ever produced.
The vehicle can reach speeds of more than 300 km/h using electric technology, and will debut at the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2014 according to a company press release.
"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 for our planned LM P1 power train," said Andy Palmer, Executive Vice President and Executive Committee member at Nissan Motor Company Limited in a press statement.
Nissan will test a number of different electric drive train technologies as part of its return to Le Mans to challenge for an overall victory at the race.
The ZEOD RC will compete under the Automobile Club de l'Ouest's 'Garage 56' entry, an additional spot on the grid for race cars that "showcase new and innovative technology" according to Nissan.
"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," said Palmer in the press statement. "The technologies developed through the program will form part of future innovations for road cars."
The Nissan Leaf, launched back in 2010, has become the world's "best-selling all-electric" car according to Nissan. The vehicle 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 according to Nissan.
While current battery technology doesn't provide the energy storage capacity to race a solely electric Le Mans prototype, Nissan ZEOD RC designer Ben Bowlby feels that the development of the car is "an important step in the electrification" of motorsport.
"A car like this provides an incredibly challenging test bed for what could be highly-effective options for road cars. Throughout the next year we will be testing multiple drive trains in an extensive test program," Bowlby said in a press statement. "Nissan is a leader in electric vehicle technology for the road, now we want to take those lessons learnt and utilize that knowledge base in the development of the new race car."
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