The Nissan logo is lit up on a prototype of the new all-electric crossover Ariya. Nissan’s Z Proto performance car is reflected in the vehicle’s grille, while the redesigned Nissan Pathfinder SUV sits in the background.
Michael Weiland/CNBC
nissan motors plans to introduce a new hybrid vehicle to the U.S. market that runs like an all-electric vehicle but is powered by a conventional gasoline engine.
The new Nissan e-Power is called a series hybrid. The engine is used as a generator to power the vehicle’s electric motor and propel the vehicle. It works like a new extended range electric vehicle (EREV), but with a smaller battery and no need for a plug.
It’s also different from traditional hybrid cars like the Toyota Prius. These cars use a gasoline engine to propel the vehicle. The Series Hybrid’s engine simply keeps charging the battery to power the vehicle’s electric motor.
Nissan’s e-Power hybrid system is scheduled to go on sale in Japan later this year in a new version of the popular Rogue compact SUV.
According to people familiar with the matter, the timing of the introduction of such a vehicle could be ideal for Nissan, which is expected to see a surge in hybrid sales due to rising gasoline prices, a delay in the introduction of EVs, and new market entries.
After losing billions of dollars on EVs, automakers like Nissan are turning to hybrid vehicles to meet customer expectations for fuel economy and improve driving performance.
S&P Global Mobility predicts that hybrid vehicles will account for 18.4% of new vehicle sales in the U.S. this year, up from 12.6% last year and 7.3% in 2023. Meanwhile, pure EVs are expected to account for 7.1% of new car sales, down from 8% last year.
“This is a unique powertrain for the United States,” Kurt Rosolowski, vehicle evaluation and test engineer for Nissan North America, said in a media briefing. “It’s an electrically powered vehicle in that it’s powering the wheels, but there’s no plug and you fill it up with petrol like a normal car.”
series hybrid
While Nissan and other automakers have adopted series hybrids in other regions, particularly Asia, they have been reluctant to bring them to the U.S. because of consumer expectations for driving dynamics and power.
To address these concerns, Nissan said it has developed a more powerful 1.5-liter three-cylinder turbo engine specifically for the e-Power system, along with new packaging and other upgrades, to satisfy U.S. buyers.
“Turbos exist only to make the gas engine more efficient at delivering energy at higher speeds,” Rosolowski said.
The e-Power for the U.S. market is the third generation of Nissan’s series hybrid since its debut in Japan in 2016. Since then, Nissan announced that it has sold more than 1.6 million vehicles equipped with e-Power in approximately 70 countries around the world.
“I think it’s going to be a really good system,” said Sam Abuelsamid, vice president of market research at communications and consulting firm Telemetry. “I think it will be very popular with Nissan in the new Rogue when it goes on sale later this year.”
Abuelsamid said the only real drawback to series hybrids is that they are less efficient at high speeds, which Nissan is trying to overcome with new engines and battery sizes.
Driving e-Power
Driving a European-spec Nissan Rogue Sport sold with the ePower system in the suburbs of Detroit, the vehicle’s driving dynamics, especially its high-speed acceleration and regenerative braking, are formidable.
You’ll hear the familiar sound of a revving engine, but there’s no shifting or sputtering of transmission gears, and much less noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) as it’s commonly referred to in the industry.
“The actual driving experience is different because there are fewer components. There’s less noise and less vibration,” Rosolowski said.
Nissan e-Power logo
Provided by: Nissan
Unlike traditional gasoline vehicles, e-Power systems also do not require a traditional transmission to shift gears or a driveshaft to transfer torque from the transmission to the differential to power the wheels.
Although the Rogue Sport is a small vehicle and only has front-wheel drive, it’s easy to see how this system translates to a larger vehicle with all-wheel drive. The new Rogue with e-Power will be that.
The lack of a plug, some engine noise, and slight vibrations may also be familiar to drivers who have been reluctant to adopt fully electric cars.
Nissan hasn’t announced pricing or fuel economy details for the next Rogue with e-Power, but the vehicle’s MPG system says the Rogue Sport gets more than 40 miles per gallon in heavy city driving.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, current Nissan Rogues can achieve more than 30 MPG, depending on the model.
Nissan’s cars have historically had lower fuel economy than its major Japanese rivals. honda motor industry and Toyota Motor Corporation, The latter pioneered the traditional hybrid with the Prius and continues to dominate the sector in the United States.
Nissan declined to discuss the possibility of expanding the e-Power system to other vehicles in the United States, but acknowledged that the new system is modular and can work with many different engines.
“If we can extend this to other vehicles, we could theoretically bolt this onto another gasoline engine of a different size, giving us more options for e-Power systems,” Rosolowski said.
