T H E O LY M P I C N I S S A N
High-waisted, rear-hinged dihedral doors
provide a dramatic entry and exit to the cabin.
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 fee d into an advanced display showing
speed, state of battery charge, regeneration
mode and torque map. Flanking the central display are two screens, with the images of rearview 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.
Power is 100 percent electric, with exceptional
powertrain performance delivered by Nissan’s
technical partner for the BladeGlider project,
UK-based Williams Advanced Engineering. Maximum speed of the demonstration models is in
excess of 190km/h, with 0-100km/h taking
less than 5 seconds. The rear wheels’ drive is
provided by two 130kW electric motors – one
for each wheel. The system features torque vectoring, controlling the torque delivered to the driven
wheels, improving the handling even further. With
torque vectoring, if the car starts to understeer, it
automatically sends more torque to the outside
wheel to restore the handling balance.
Designed to add to the driving experience rather than govern it, the torque vectoring systems
has three settings: off, agile and drift mode.
Power is supplied by a high performance
five module lithium-ion 220kW battery. Bespo-