While you can argue the Nissan GTR is a road car, I see it most of the time on drag strips and not on track days. I'm not really sure why, as it is a great road car, but man, is it a beast on a drag strip. However, I’ve also seen it lose a lot to Teslas on Drag strips, which is why the announcement of the Electric GTR with 1,300 HP is so exciting. Nissan is taking the fight back to Tesla.
This car would have even more power than the amazing new Audi E-Tron GT Performance, which has 912 HP and does 0-60 in a blazing 2.5 seconds. It has a decent range at 350 miles, but the GTR should have a range well above that given the potential for this new battery technology.
Solid State Battery Advantages
Solid State Batteries, which swap out the liquid electrolytic solution for a more reliable solid electrolyte. This results in the following advantages:
In short, you end up with a performance car that can run several days at a distance (depending on how far you drive) without needing to recharge (how often do you drive over 700 miles in a day?), could be easily charged at the track on a track day (assuming the track has an available high-power Level 3 charger), and would still pretty much dust anything else, including a Tesla, that someone else brought. (though, to be fair, the forever-coming Tesla Roadster with the rocket boosters will likely be faster-Musk is saying a sub-1-second 0-60 which, I’m pretty sure, would be deadly to an old guy like me).
Electric GTR
The old GTR was one of the most practical supercars ever released. It has a back seat, decent luggage space, and, for its level of performance, a reasonable price of around $120. When I was in a pool of drivers driving Aston Martins (DB-9), Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Bentleys, Lotus, and other exotics, it was the GTR that knocked my socks off (and I was so disappointed in the Aston Martin; it drove like an old Lincoln when I was expecting a James Bond vibe).
The electric GTR should dust the old design, and it should be far cheaper to operate, well except going through tires more quickly, as Torque and Power, given that electric cars are already very hard on tires, will chew up tires quickly. But then with that kind of performance, what would you expect?
The Electric GTR should be a game changer when it arrives (assuming it arrives) in 2028. Still, by that time, there will be several electric cars with this technology, and the Chinese car makers are moving more quickly than the Japanese car makers right now, so there is a risk that it might not be competitive against its Chinese rivals.
Still, the idea of an electric GTR with this range and performance would be awesome, and the initial renderings are growing on me. The second half of this decade will see an impressive number of over-the-top electric cars. The only question is, can we handle this level of performance? I have my doubts.