NIO 333 Formula E Team reveals new Powertrain

The NIO 333 Formula E Team has developed its first all-new powertrain unit under its new owner, Shanghai Lisheng Racing Co.

The Chinese company, which is also a circuit owner and promoter of the Chinese Touring Car Championship, bought a majority stake in the Team at the beginning of 2019/2020 the season.

The team previously used an older version of Integral’s powertrain before investing in manufacturing its own one for its seventh campaign in the all-electric racing series in January 2021.

The new powertrain specifications include:

• Weight: 27 kg – designed for optimum efficiency overweight
• Maximum race cycle temperature: 95˚C (max operating temperature 200˚C)
• Efficiency: > 98.5% on race power at race settled temperature
• Maximum Revs: 20 krpm
• Expected Life: 50+ hours between services
• Maximum Power: Limited to 250 kW by regulation

The NIO FE-001 season seven car has already shown impressive reliability, completing an average of 292kms per day during winter testing.

The move comes as NIO 333 sets ambitious targets for the season ahead after ranking last in the previous two Formula E seasons.

NIO 333 revised its European subsidiary last season with the appointment of Christian Silk as Team Principal, who is tasked with overseeing and building the Technical, Research and Development, European Commercial and Marketing departments which remain based in the ‘Centre for Innovation & Enterprise’ near Oxford in the U.K.

The team also retains its second European location at Donnington Park circuit, UK, in proximity to the Formula E Holdings Ltd. Operational HQ, to house its race cars and event team.

The NIO 333 FE Team shall announce who shall be racing alongside British driver Oliver Turvey, who is commencing his sixth full Formula E season with the team, at the official series Pre-Season 7 test being held in Valencia, Spain from November 27 – December 1, 2020.

Silk, said: “Obviously, during initial testing there are always bugs to iron out, but the way the car has run is truly impressive and a real credit to the hard work put in by everyone at NIO 333 FE Team. This reliability has freed up engineering resource to focus on pure car performance. Initial driver feedback has been positive both in terms of car balance, consistency and pace. After Berlin we knew we had several areas to focus on, and the hard work being put in by the team to resolve these issues is really paying off in terms of driver comments and the data collected from the car.

“Our plans for Season 7 are ambitious, but we are a proud team with a vast depth of experience and I know I can speak for everyone when I say we will do everything in our power to achieve these goals.”

Vincent Wang, Chief Executive, NIO 333 FE Team commented: “We head into season seven with renewed optimism as we have completed some very encouraging test runs this month with our new powertrain.”

He added: “We were an inexperienced team at the start of season six, using an old motor package to get us through the year, but we knew our strengths and weaknesses and are working swiftly to address them. We have ambitious plans for 2021 and are building up not only the technical side of the NIO 333 FE Team to improve our on-track performance, but also our operational side in both the UK and China. Everyone is extremely focused to ensure that the NIO 333 FE Team will be as competitive as possible before we head to Chile for the first FIA ABB Formula E World Championship race in January.”