Nissan's New Formula E Driver Says GEN4's All-Wheel Drive Will Change Racing
Zane Maloney, Oliver Rowland's new teammate, expects permanent AWD to shrink Attack Mode's edge as Formula E opens a record 21-race season.
Nissan's new Formula E driver thinks the series' fourth-generation car will make races harder to win from behind. Zane Maloney, the 23-year-old from Barbados who joins 2024/25 champion Oliver Rowland for Season 13, says GEN4's permanent all-wheel drive should blunt the advantage Attack Mode used to hand out.
That is the biggest rule shift of the new era. On the outgoing GEN3 Evo, the front motor could only be used at the start and in Attack Mode; on GEN4, both motors work in every phase of the race. The GEN3 generation is already museum material: Porsche recently retired its winningest Formula E car.
What "600 kW" actually means
Nissan quotes Maloney praising the car's 600 kW, but that is a peak figure. According to details published at the car's reveal, GEN4 runs up to 450 kW (about 603 hp) in race trim and reaches 600 kW (roughly 805 hp) only temporarily in Attack Mode. For comparison, GEN3 Evo made 300 kW, or 350 kW (about 469 hp) in Attack Mode. Regeneration climbs to as much as 700 kW, and the usable battery energy in a race rises to 55 kWh.
Maloney, who has done his first laps in the car during Nissan's testing program, expects the pack-style racing Formula E is known for to survive, even if passing gets tougher. If Attack Mode stops being a near-guaranteed overtake, he says, teams will have to find their gains in strategy instead.
New team, familiar tracks
Maloney arrives after two seasons with Lola Yamaha Abt and takes the seat vacated by Norman Nato. He scored three top-10 finishes last season, so joining a title-winning team is a big step up.
The calendar may help. Season 13 runs 21 races at 13 events, the longest schedule in the series' history, opening with a Jeddah double-header on December 18–19. Three venues are new to Formula E, and Maloney has history at two of them: he clinched his British F4 title at Brands Hatch (May 29–30) and won a Formula 3 race at Zandvoort (June 18–19). The third, Circuit of The Americas on February 6, is one he says looks incredible, with a fast, flowing first sector. It can also bite, as Genesis found out in WEC.
The season ends with a night double-header in Tokyo on July 24–25, Nissan's home race and the first time the city closes out a Formula E season. Maloney's stated goal before then is simpler: learn the team's procedures quickly and lean on Rowland, whom he calls very direct when it comes to developing the car. Nissan, the first manufacturer to commit to GEN4, is contracted through 2030.
