Nissan’s most advanced Electric car ever – the Nissan Bladeglider sports car – last weekend took centre stage at Goodwood Festival of Speed making its first appearance in the U.K. The 100% electric prototype spent Friday and Saturday in the thick of the action, with electrifying performances on the famous Hillclimb course.
The culmination of the weekend was a Sunday test session on the historic Goodwood Motor Circuit. Putting the all-electric BladeGlider through its paces was NISMO athlete Luca Ordóñez, who becomes the first professional racing driver to take the wheel of the three-seater.
Ordóñez, a former winner of Nissan’s GT Academy competition to turn computer gamers into racers, was thrilled by the opportunity to test-drive the BladeGlider.
He commented:
“Driving the BladeGlider round the famous Goodwood Motor Circuit has been a fantastic experience. It’s such an exciting car to drive, with so much torque from the moment you start. It’s great fun on a fast track like this, and so quick through the corners.”
A Concept car that became reality
The BladeGlider, is an advanced evolution of the concept car first shown at the Tokyo Auto Show in 2013, designed to symbolise future technologies that will combine to form Nissan Intelligent Mobility, Nissan’s on-going commitment to the development of zero-emission vehicles and autonomous drive systems.
With the BladeGlider, Nissan’s vision was for an agile, efficient EV that would ‘glide’, thanks to the near-silent performance of its electric powertrain and aerodynamic shape. Following two years of work on design, engineering and development, the BladeGlider has evolved further into a real-life study into the potential of advanced EV performance.
Featuring a dramatic narrow front track and wider rear track for optimum aerodynamic efficiency and handling stability, with high-waisted rear-hinged dihedral doors providing further drama. The open roof of BladeGlider is reinforced with an integrated roll-over protection structure, providing the exhilaration of an open-topped race car with the safety of a coupé.
Wheel-mounted controls for BladeGlider’s systems feed into an advanced display showing speed, the level of battery charge, regeneration mode and torque map. Flanking the central display are two screens, with the images of rear-view cameras mounted just behind the front wheels. An alternative to door-mounted mirrors, this dual screen design improves the aerodynamic efficiency of BladeGlider. The driver sits in arrowhead formation slightly in front of two passengers, who enjoy extended legroom. The view for all occupants is panoramic, thanks to the seamless cockpit windscreen.
Inside you find 3 seats offering exceptional support to the sides and legs of the driver and passengers. The seats are trimmed in a highly tactile blend of fabric in either Cyber Green and Stealth Orange with an epoxy resin coating, resulting in a tough and grippy material that has the effect of comfortably adhering occupants securely in place with 4-point harnesses for added safety.
The BladeGlider was created to demonstrate the potential of a pure electric powertrain to satisfy the needs of sports car enthusiasts. Developed by Nissan in association with its technical partner for the project, UK-based Williams Advanced Engineering, the eye catcher is capable of 120mph, with 62 arriving in under 5 seconds. All delivered by two 130kw electric motors driving each of the rear wheels.
The post The Nissan BladeGlider electric car debuts in the UK at Goodwood Festival of Speed appeared first on driveEV.
