Featured Nissan e-power

Given how few cars sell likely not

But the epower with a plug isn’t far off from a BMW I3

Can never have too many plug ins

 

Epower is a cheap way for an ICE car company to get into hybrids and plug ins. It is just the Leaf drive train with a range extender. A series hybrid is much easier to do than getting a motor and engine to play together for a parallel or power-split hybrid. The trade off is lower highway efficiency. For the non-plug in hybrid, the battery is down sized to save on costs.

Nissan's FCEV is also Epower. Past test cars kept the full sized Leaf battery, and added a small, low power fuel cell to continually charge it while the car was running. Which saved on the fuel cell cost, and allowed them to use a SOC one that takes longer to reach operating temperature.

As to the hybrids coming to the US, I don't see it without a major hike in gas prices. Hybrids are a tough sell here now. Then Epower won't do too well on the highway test, and Nissan has a parallel system if they feel the need to offer one here. It might happen with a plug, but I think Nissan is fine with just selling BEVs at this moment.

 

Future Nissan Kicks e-Power Wants You To Charge Your EV With Fuel

A surprisingly terribly written article from insideevs about the obviously Indian Kicks epower going to taiwan

Author has many misconceptions baked in

 

Like, is Nissan themselves calling it an EV? Every article I've seen, including the one linked in that article, refers to it as a hybrid. Nissan themselves doesn't use the H-word, but they only say 'like an EV'. e-POWER | NISSAN | TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES

If a fuel cell car that doesn't have a plug can be called an EV, so can this. EV doesn't have to mean zero emissions.

 

yes everything including Nissans e-power videos call it an “EV you don’t plug in”

Disingenuous at best.

also that article really doesn’t call it an e-power hybrid they seem to dance around it with a will be want an EV you don’t plug in?
Heck the word hybrid was only used twice in the article to put down a Volt and to indirectly mention orbis.

sort of like Mobil taking 60’s era type 2 motor oil adding additives and putting full synthetic on the label or like my Cheetos that have “Natural” in large letters on the packaging (I suppose coal tar naturally occurs)

 

I was referring to the Brazilian article the InsideEVs ones linked too, and past ones about the models in Japan.

It is disappointing that InsideEVs didn't simply call it a series hybrid.

 

Finally a journalist refers to the e-power as a hybrid
Nissan Launches New Note with e-Power in Japan

but has some misconceptions about what Japanese fuel economy ratings mean when you are talking about an
88mpg epower (Japan) vrs a 96mpg Prius vrs a 96mpge (US rated) leaf

 

The 88mpg was actually achieved by some journalist on a test drive. Of course, it was on Japanese streets, if not a track, which this system was designed for, and we don't know what he would have gotten in a Prius over the same route. The actual JC08 rating is 87.5mpg.

The issue with series hybrids is that efficiency drops at high speeds. But they are simple, thus cheap to implement. Nissan is working on 'tuning' the system for places with higher speeds, like the US, but I don't see them matching a Prius or Ioniq on the highway.

Now, series hybrids do lend themselves for range extenders on PHEVs, because of ease and cost of adding it to the car. Poorer fuel economy on the highway is made up by not needing the engine on local trips.

 

Infiniti backs off of e-Power for the U.S. | Automotive News

Nissan kicking the can down the road

Back in 2014 when they first mentioned epower would have been a better time for introduction

Now mentioning because Euro zone is getting one we should a few years later

https://www.google.com/amp/s/topelectricsuv.com/news/nissan/2022-nissan-x-trail-e-power/amp/

 

The 7-seater Chrysler Pacifica 33 Mile electric range coupled to a decent sized V6 works this way as well. After it runs its (preferred) 33 ev miles, the ICE runs at an optimum RPM, based on the load necessary to prevent the pack from dropping into it's low end battery buffer.

Not to defend Nissan's land barge philosophy with this system, but what saves more % of fuel, adding 10mpg to a 40mpg car? ... or 10mpg to a 20mpg car.
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