Here it is, then, the battery-powered reinvention of probably Nissan’s most famous car. One of Japan’s most famous cars, no less, the R32 era of Skyline GT-R. You’ll know by now that Nissan has been working on this project for a long time, determined to get every aspect exactly how desired - now we get to see the full fruits of its labour.
Well, sort of. For now, Nissan reckons only ‘fabrication and assembly’ are complete, with tuning and dynamic development to follow. But there’s plenty to get our teeth stuck into. The specs, for starters: as expected, this GT-R uses dual motors to give the four-wheel drive capability that made the original such a legend, with work continuing to match its torque distribution to that of the original ATTESA E-TS system. Each motor is rated at 160kW, or 214hp, and 250lb ft, with power from a Leaf RC02 62kWh battery. Nothing extreme as far as EVs go, but that’s not what Nissan is aiming to achieve here. ‘As was the case with the R32 GT-R, the team working on the R32 EV aims to create a true driver's car rather than chase outright power and straight-line performance’, which is why there’s such a focus on getting the dual motor set up just right. It can be easy to forget, given how famously tuneable the original RB26 straight six was, that monster horsepower was never the main aim.
To that end, and amazingly enough, Nissan wants to match the performance of the petrol-powered R32 with this car rather than drastically surpass it. Obviously it’ll have to be more potent, to offset the 370kg of batteries, motor and whatnot added, though outputs are being tuned to match the original torque-to-weight ratio. There’s even a piped-in sound inspired by that twin-turbo engine, plus a paddleshift ‘simulating the brief jolt a driver experiences when engaging the clutch and shifting up or down through a mechanical gearbox’.
Everything has been designed, basically, to make the R32 EV feel as close to the Skyline of 35 years ago as possible. A NISMO Sports suspension kit with Ohlins dampers has been fitted ‘to ensure optimal handling and limited body roll’ of the 1,797kg mass, the 18-inch wheels (required to house R35 GT-R discs and calipers) are designed to look like the original 16s, and the new digital displays are such a good homage they’re almost indistinguishable from the original analogue items. Evidently lots of people who love Skylines have spent ages on this.
This makes sense, given the project was led by Nissan EV powertrain engineer (and former R32 owner) Ryozo Hiraku. Knowing the project would be ‘rewarding and contentious’ (Nissan’s words, not ours), his aim was to keep Godzilla drivable for decades to come. So faithful is this electric car to the 1989 version that a member of the original test driver team, Hiroyoshi Kato, was brought in to provide feedback on the experience.
Proper labour of love stuff, then, and this has all been done in the engineers’ spare time as well. Currently Nissan has no plans to build an R32 EV conversion kit, this prototype rather a demonstration of what’s possible and ‘yielding valuable insights for the team’s members’. While accidentally or otherwise creating the most interesting electric Nissan in yonks. Let’s get these folk involved with the mainstream EVs…
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