from Nissan larger vehicles could benefit from fuel-efficient hybrid technology.
As Nissan’s e-Power hybrid technology continues to proliferate across its lineup, the company has confirmed that work is underway to roll it out to its larger vehicles.
While executives aren’t drawn to the specific products the tech will be filtered on, they did indicate what types of vehicles the hybrid setup might offer.
“The technology itself is applicable to large SUVs or commercial applications, and technical development is ongoing,” said Shunichi Inamajima, vice president of powertrain and electric vehicle engineering.
“e-Power is also applicable not only to large SUVs like Patrol or something like that, but also to commercial applications like commercial vans or commercial trucks.
“It really depends on customer needs or market demand. We look at regional demand, for example infrastructure or fuel prices, et cetera. We will therefore consider the technical application to products, whether it is e-Power or EV.
It’s unclear whether the mention of commercial vehicles suggests a ute application, but electrified offerings are starting to appear in this segment.
GWM is launch a hybrid ute this year, Toyota is about to introduce its full-size hybrid Tundra locally, and Ford and Mitsubishi are reportedly working on plug-in hybrid versions of the Tidy And Tritonrespectively.
The following Nissan Navara will share its underpinnings with the next Triton, although we’ve seen Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance platforms offer several types of electrification.
CMF-C-based Mitsubishi Outlanderfor example, offers a plug-in hybrid while its Nissan X Trail cousin offers e-Power technology.
Nissan has previously indicated that it will return its e-Power technology available to its Alliance partners Mitsubishi and Renault.
The brand first introduced e-Power technology to the Japanese Note market in 2016, and has since rolled it out to the Kicks crossover, Serena mover and Sylphy sedan.
He plans to introduce eight more hybrid models by 2030alongside 19 fully electric vehicles.
The X-Trail is the first e-Power vehicle to be offered locally. Using the e-Power moniker with e-4orce, the electrified crossover features 150kW/330Nm front and 100kW/195Nm rear electric motors.
Total system power is 157 kW, with a claimed fuel economy of 6.1 liters per 100 km.
The smallest Qashqai e-Power, due later this yearis front-wheel drive and has a single 140kW/330Nm electric motor. European WLTP combined cycle fuel economy is 5.3 liters per 100km.
The Qashqai and X-Trail e-Power models feature a 1.5-liter turbocharged three-cylinder engine with variable compression ratio that acts as a generator instead of driving the wheels.
Nissan has confirmed its target price parity between its e-Power and 100% electric vehicles by 2026.
It says that by sharing modular components between its electric vehicles and e-Power vehicles, it can reduce powertrain costs by around 30% compared to 2019.
Earlier today, it unveiled two prototype powertrains featuring this modular approach.
The 3-in-1 prototype, with a modular electric motor, inverter and gearbox, is intended for use in electric vehicles, while the 5-in-1 prototype is intended for use in e-Power hybrid vehicles.
