Interview with Nissan chief engineer: "Seeing in Formula E what is theoretically possible"

Tadashi Nishikawa came from Japan three years ago as an engineer to support the Nissan Formula E team. Since then, he has been responsible for the development of the powertrain and is also the central link between the manufacturer's racing and road car activities. In this interview, the Japanese driver talks about the true transfer of technology and levelling powertrains in Formula E.

You were responsible for the development of Nissan road cars for around 17 years. In 2021, you moved to the Formula E team in Europe. What exactly is your role?

My main role is to coordinate the drive specifications and find the best ways to optimise the car. I don't design specific parts, but I oversee and take responsibility for the project as a whole.

Then you are also partly responsible for Nissan's upswing last season. How has the performance gap in Formula E changed over the past 1.5 years in your view?

In season 9, we still noticed the differences between the powertrains (...) in terms of efficiency and overall performance. This season, however, I don't see any such difference. The four top manufacturers are very close together. These developments are encouraging because we are seeing a positive impact from the software updates we have introduced for season 10.

How is the collaboration with the research and development department at Nissan working out?

I am in regular contact with our colleagues in Japan. Sometimes we brainstorm with engineers from the Nissan Technology Centre about future technologies and share our ideas. My job is to bring the philosophies of the two areas together to help us develop both Formula E and road cars and improve our overall performance.

What are the biggest challenges here?

Finding a balance between the performance of each individual component. Sometimes in development teams, all engineers work exclusively on their own task. This can lead to everyone optimising one specific part, which then leads to problems in other areas - often between the motor, inverter and gearbox. The difficulty is to ensure that the engineers work well together as a unit to improve the entire car.

What is the difference between the development of road cars and racing cars?

On the automotive side, we would normally use other cars on the market as a benchmark. In motorsport, you can never fully understand what your competitors are doing because you don't get a detailed insight into their development projects. The only way is for engineers to move from team to team, but even then they can't share much as all information is confidential.

Is the much-cited technology transfer between the racetrack and production cars real?

In motorsport, we use technology in its most advanced form. We are less concerned about costs or NVH (noise, vibration and harshness). In terms of efficiency and power density, Formula E operates at a much higher level than road cars. So we can see what is theoretically possible if we just focus on performance. Then we can think about how we can adapt this for passenger cars while keeping costs and NVH low.

And is there also a transfer in the other direction?

There is less direct benefit from road cars to Formula E, as the technology requirements for both are very different. We are nevertheless adopting some knowledge from the research and development department in Japan by applying their working logic to our projects and using some design methods for smaller components. It's not a direct transfer, but we believe that our experience with other Nissan projects will have a big impact on our development in Formula E.