Shell Races Bespoke E-transmission Fluid in New Nissan E.dams Formula E Powertrain
Shell E-Fluids will race in the new Nissan Gen2 electric powertrain from round 7 of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, in Monaco. The bespoke transmission fluid has been designed and tested in collaboration with the race team for their new powertrain that debuts at the race on 7th May 2021.
Now in its third season as Official Partner to the Nissan e.dams team, Shell is pleased to be actively working with the race team to analyse and showcase the benefits that specifically designed EV transmission fluids can play within the team’s new Formula E powertrain. This transmission fluid has been tested in close collaboration with Nissan’s powertrain development to ensure we are delivering the maximum performance and efficiency to the team, even in the conditions of Formula E competition.
The purpose of Shell’s involvement in motorsport is to leverage the racetrack as a test bed for its innovations and technologies, transferring this knowledge from the extreme environment of racing can help to optimise Shell’s road-going products, including its range of e-transmission fluids.
The e-transmission fluid has been specifically designed and developed to work within Nissan’s new powertrain featuring upgraded hardware and software, with the overall aim to improve the performance of the Nissan e.dams Gen2 Formula E race car.
The new-for-season-seven Nissan powertrain, racing for the first time in Monaco, is the team’s second all-new Gen2 powertrain. The more powerful Gen2 Formula E race cars first took to the track in season five of the championship and feature high-performance 250-kilowatt batteries and motors. The Nissan e.dams race car can sprint to 100 kph in just 2.8 secs and has a top speed of 280 kph.
Shell and Nissan e.dams began their journey together in November 2018, to highlight and advance the important role Shell is playing to improve the driving experience for EV drivers and make them more attractive to general motorists with E-Mobility recognised as one of the solutions that will help meet growing demand for transport in a lower-carbon world.
With a robust 100-year heritage across multiple motor sports, Shell is proud to be in partnership with Nissan e.dams in Formula E, as an important platform to communicate and advance its target to become a net-zero emissions energy business by 2050 , in step with society, working to offer customers more, lower-carbon products, from renewable electricity to hydrogen. This is aligned with Nissan’s own pledge to achieve carbon neutrality across the company’s operations and the life cycle of its products by 2050. Shell’s partnership with Nissan in Formula E unites the experience and technical know-how of both organisations to continue powering progress together towards a more sustainable future.
“In Nissan, Shell has united with a global pioneer in the development of electric mobility solutions, who share the same desire to deliver technological innovations from the racetrack to the road, as we transition to a lower-carbon future, we both see Formula E as a rich territory for the innovation of E-Mobility technologies that all EV drivers can benefit from, including our Shell E-Fluids range that is designed to protect passenger EVs against electric motor corrosion, improve range through increased transmission efficiency, and enhance the charging process via efficient thermal management.”
Selda Gunsel, Shell VP Lubricants Technology.
“The ongoing development of specialised E-Fluids and lubricants signifies the profound shift the automotive industry is going through, with many customers relying on Shell to meet the technical requirements placed on reliable E-Fluids in electrified drivetrains as hybrids and EVs continue to deliver a higher level of performance.”
Steve Reindl, Shell VP for Global Key Accounts
“Shell is a key partner for our Formula E race team, as we race into the third season of our partnership, we continue to rely on them to innovate with us as we strive together to improve our competitiveness at every race. It is crucial that we maximise the performance and longevity of our new Formula E Gen2 powertrain through efficient lubrication and cooling, and Shell’s bespoke E-Fluids are designed specifically for the extremes of racing. Of course, for Nissan as a global pioneer in EV production, we seek the same high-performance lubrication, cooling and longevity for our electric road car powertrains.”
Tommaso Volpe, Nissan’s global motorsport director
“Formula E is a sport that thrives on innovation and technical advancement, and as a team we are constantly looking ahead, searching for yet more speed and efficiency, with the wealth of motorsports experience and racing heritage that we see across the Formula E grid today, the competition in the sport is tougher than ever. Every team here is pushing hard for performance, so we rely on Shell’s E-Fluids expertise.”
Gregory Driot, Nissan e.dams co-team principal
Introduction to Shell E-transmission fluids in Formula E with Nissan E.DAMS
Through our Partnership with Nissan e.dams in Formula E, we are excited to be actively working with the team to analyse and showcase the benefits that a specifically designed EV transmission fluid plays within the team’s new Season 7 Formula E powertrain, carefully engineered to withstand the extreme conditions of Formula E competition. In line with Shell’s R&D strategy in motorsport, Shell will take its learnings from the racetrack to help optimise its road-going products.
Read the transcript
Read the transcript
Title: SHELL E-Fluids Introduction File
Duration: 2 minutes, 38 seconds
Description
The film explains why electrified drivetrains still require bespoke lubricants, what Shell can offer to OEMs developing the latest generation of battery electric vehicles and how all this fits into the agenda of making mobility more sustainable. The visuals are digitally generated.
Transcript:
[Visual]
We open with an urban scenery, a road with cars, buildings and people walking. At the side of the road is a traffic sign with an icon depicting a reduction of CO2. The camera zooms into the yellow backdrop on the sign.
[Male Voice Over]
Contributing to low carbon mobility is part of the Shell Global Sustainability agenda.
[Visual]
Bubbles appear on the yellow backdrop, each one an illustration showing an energy source or a fuel.
[Male Voice Over]
It includes a shift to lower carbon natural gas and renewable energy sources like wind and solar. For mobility specifically, it means a boost for biofuels, hydrogen, Liquefied Natural Gas and of course electric power.
[Visual]
Cut to a road with a car heading towards the viewer and stopping near a charging post. The cable is plugged into the car. The driver is sitting near the car reading a book.
[Male Voice Over]
E-mobility is coming and we at Shell are championing it. And there is one interesting thing: An electric drivetrain still relies on lubricants and thermal fluids! Actually, rather special ones are required! So, let‘s take a closer look...
[Visual]
The bodyshell of the car detaches from the chassis and moves up out of frame. The camera spins and goes up and now looks down at the drivetrain, with the battery pack and electric engine on show. A female Shell scientist appears with a smiling face. According to a small plate on the lapel of her lab coat her name is Lily. She points at specific parts of the drivetrain while explaining the details.
[Female Voice Over]
To start with, there is the battery pack. Batteries don't like heat or cold, they prefer it stable. You want to manage temperatures and mostly this means cooling the cells to keep them happy.
[Visual]
The casing of the battery pack moves up and out of frame. The cooling circuit is visualized with blue and red lines running to the radiator at the front of the car. We zoom into a battery stack and see the thermal fluid sloshing around the battery cells.
[Female Voice Over]
Our E-Fluid goes beyond, it is ready for immersive direct cooling, the future of battery thermal management. Here, the liquid is in direct contact with the cells, allowing for more effective cooling, which is essential for High Performance Charging - the faster you charge, the more waste heat you generate.
[Visual]
The camera moves to the front of the car and spins around. The reductions gear housing magically disassembles and we see the gears spinning in an oil sump with the electric motor attached to it. The camera then moves to the motor and shows the spinning rotors with oil being sprayed on the copper end windings.
[Female Voice Over]
Then there are the electric motor and the reduction gears, which require greases for the bearings and lubrication for the gears. But it's not that easy: In a wet e-motor, reduction gears and the motor are integrated: the transmission fluid also has cooling duties in the motor, where it is sprayed on the copper end windings. Superior oxidation stability and copper corrosion resistance are key requirements, which conventional products fail to meet.
[Visual]
Cut to a technical yellow backdrop with Lily standing in the middle. She clicks on transparent screens in front of her and pictures of a senior scientist in a lab and a race car appears. Race cars speed from the left to the right behind Lily and finally pass her left and right at great speed emitting a typical electrical sound.
[Female Voice Over]
So, after listening to our partners we went to the lab to develop a new range of lubricants. Next, we headed to the track with our partners Nissan in Formula E to ensure our products perform under the most challenging conditions.
[Visual]
Lily moves to the right, making room for a screen which shows the passenger car seen earlier morphing into a Formula E race car.
We have a close-up of Lily.
The camera moves back, Lily is on the right-hand side, the Formula E race car and a passenger car consecutively appear on the screen, then camera goes back to close-up of Lily.
[Female Voice Over]
Everything we learned in Formula E has gone into the new products, from track to road, adding to our extensive lubricant expertise
The result is a complete range for electrified drivetrains, based on Shell Gas-to-Liquids technology and enhanced with unique additives:
[Visual]
Lily moves the right. She moves her right hand clicking on transparent screens, which magically appear showing packshots of Shell products. She moves the screens to the left where they end up in a staggered line.
[Female Voice Over]
Thermal Fluids for batteries, E-motors and inverters ....transmission E-Fluids for wet and dry e-motors.... Electrical Motor Grease for bearings... and specific engine oil for plug-in-hybrids.
[Visual]
Panning shot with the chassis without the bodyshell driving on the same street we started with in the opening scene. The camera focuses on the battery pack, zooms out and spins round to the other side. The bodyshell drops down from above making the Battery Electric Vehicle complete, which accelerates and speeds off into the distance.
[Female Voice Over]
With our E-Fluids and E-Greases product family we can now provide our partners with an integrated portfolio that exceeds even future demands, contributing to making future mobility more sustainable today.
[Lock Up]
Shell Pecten and Nissan e.dams Partnership lock up logo.
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