Nissan's logo is illuminated on a prototype of its new all-electric Ariya crossover. Nissan's Z Proto performance car is reflected in the vehicle's grille, while a redesigned Nissan Pathfinder SUV sits in the background.
Michael Wayland/CNBC
NissanEngine plans to introduce a new type of hybrid to the US market that drives like a fully electric vehicle but is powered (not boosted) by a traditional gasoline engine.
The new Nissan “e-Power” is called a series hybrid. It uses the engine as a generator to power the vehicle's electric motors which then propel it. It works like emerging extended-range electric vehicles, or EREVs, but has a smaller battery and doesn't require a plug.
It is also different from a traditional hybrid, such as the Toyota Prius, because those vehicles' gasoline engine is used to propel the vehicle. The series hybrid's engine simply keeps the battery charged to power the vehicles' electric motors.
Nissan's e-Power hybrid system is scheduled to launch nationwide later this year in a new version of its popular Rogue compact SUV.
The timing for such a vehicle could be ideal for Nissan with rising gasoline prices, slower-than-planned adoption of electric vehicles and an expected surge in hybrid sales amid new entries, officials said.
After losing billions of dollars on electric vehicles, automakers like Nissan are turning to hybrid vehicles to meet customer expectations for fuel economy and help with driving performance.
S&P Global Mobility expects hybrids in the U.S. this year to rise to 18.4% of new vehicle sales, up from 12.6% last year and 7.3% in 2023. Meanwhile, it forecasts pure electric vehicles will account for 7.1% of new vehicle sales, up from 8% last year.
“This is a unique powertrain for the U.S.,” Kurt Rosolowsky, vehicle test and evaluation engineer for Nissan North America, said during a news conference. “This is an electric-powered vehicle, as far as what drives the wheels, but it doesn't have a plug and you fill up with gas like you do with a normal car.”
Serial hybrids
Nissan and other automakers have used series hybrids elsewhere, particularly in Asia, but companies have been reluctant to bring the vehicles to the United States because of consumer expectations for driving dynamics and power.
To address those concerns, Nissan said it has developed a more powerful 1.5-liter turbocharged three-cylinder engine specifically for the e-Power system, along with new packaging and other improvements, to appease American buyers.
“The turbo is just there to provide efficiency at higher speeds for the gasoline engine to deliver power,” Rosolowsky said.
The e-Power for the U.S. market is the third generation of Nissan's series hybrid since it debuted in Japan in 2016. Since then, Nissan said it has sold more than 1.6 million vehicles globally with e-Power in nearly 70 countries.
“I think it's going to be a really good system. I think it's going to be very popular for Nissan on the new Rogue when it arrives later this year,” said Sam Abuelsamid, vice president of market research at communications and consulting firm Telemetry.
Abuelsamid said the only real drawback to the stock hybrid is that it is less efficient at higher speeds, which Nissan is trying to overcome with the new motor and battery size.
Conducting electrical energy
Driving a European version of the Nissan Rogue Sport sold with the ePower system in suburban Detroit, the vehicle's driving dynamics (specifically rapid acceleration and regenerative braking) are formidable.
They come with the familiar sound of an engine revving, but without the shifting or sputtering of transmission gears and with much less noise, vibration and harshness, or NVH, as the industry commonly calls it.
“The driving experience is really what makes it different with those fewer components. There's less noise and less vibration,” Rosolowsky said.
Nissan e-Power logo
Courtesy of Nissan
Unlike traditional gasoline-powered vehicles, the e-Power system also does not require a traditional transmission to shift gears or a driveshaft that transfers torque from the transmission to the differential, driving the wheels.
While the Rogue Sport is a smaller vehicle and only has front-wheel drive, it's easy to see how the system will translate to a larger all-wheel-drive vehicle, like the new Rogue with e-Power will be.
The lack of a plug, some engine noise and a slight vibration could also be more familiar to drivers who have been reluctant to adopt all-electric vehicles.
While Nissan doesn't release details like pricing or fuel economy for the upcoming Rogue with e-Power, the Rogue Sport achieved more than 40 miles per gallon during heavy city driving, according to the vehicle's MPG system.
The current Nissan Rogue, depending on the model, can achieve more than 30 MPG, according to the US Department of Energy and the US Environmental Protection Agency.
Historically, Nissan vehicles have been less fuel efficient than those of its larger Japanese rivals. HondaEngine and toyota engine, the latter of which pioneered traditional hybrids with the Prius and continues to dominate the sector in the US.
Nissan declined to discuss the possibility of expanding the e-Power system to other vehicles in the US, but confirmed that the new system is modular and capable of working with many different engines.
“If we were to expand this to other vehicles, in theory you could attach it to another different size gasoline engine and have more options for an e-Power system,” Rosolowsky said.
