Nissan chief engineer on Formula E's winning streak: "Knew it was going in the right direction"

The Nissan Formula E Team is currently riding a wave of success. Ahead of the Miami E-Prix, Nissan leads all three championships in the current Formula E season. This success is due in large part to the efforts of Chief Engineer Tadashi Nishikawa, who was responsible for the development of the current powertrain.

Before the start of the Gen3 era in January 2023, Nissan gained full ownership and control of the former e.dams racing team. As part of this, a system was implemented to transfer the team's research and development expertise from the car manufacturer in Japan to the team. Tadashi Nishikawa, who previously worked for Nissan in Japan for almost 20 years and thus gained a lot of experience in the Nissan automotive sector, was therefore hired as chief engineer for the drive unit.

"There were some doubts"

Nishikawa's main task was to develop the powertrain for the current season: "When I joined the Formula E project in June 2021, the GEN3 power unit prototype phase was already completed, so my first chance to make a difference was on the GEN3 Evo powertrain for the Nissan e-4ORCE 05. There were some doubts from some of my motorsport colleagues when I initially joined because I was coming in with a lot of new ideas from the automotive side. However, when I showed them the simulation and the data behind my work after a few months, I gained their respect as they saw what I could bring to the program," explains Nishikawa.

His expertise is paying off right now. Both the Nissan works team and the McLaren customer team are at the top of the teams' standings. "There are several reasons why we are performing strongly but, in my role as Chief Powertrain Engineer, it’s important to analyze all the trade-offs that we have to make between different elements of the car."

"It’s about understanding how different parts affect each other, and what that does to the overall performance," Nishikawa continued. "Ensuring that we maximize the simulation time during the development phase is a key factor ahead of pre-season testing. After that, once we saw the first physical results, we knew that we were heading in the right direction."

Replacement imminent

Despite the current success, Nissan must also focus on Gen4 development. This makes the role of chief engineer for the powertrain all the more important for the team. However, Nishikawa's role will soon be taken over by Takuro Iwasa. The Japanese reflects on his time with the team as follows: "It’s been an unforgettable experience and one that I would recommend to any fellow Nissan engineers willing to learn and develop their careers in a motorsport environment."

He adds: "The different elements of the role are challenging, but there is a real bond within the team which helps with the acclimatization and learning process. I would like to thank Tommaso and everyone here at Nissan Formula E Team who made this possible, as well as my amazing family for their support."

The next opportunity for Nissan to demonstrate the stability and efficiency of the e-4ORCE 05 will be next weekend. Formula E will then be travelling to Miami for its next race, where it will hold its fifth race of the season at Homestead-Miami Speedway.