They seem to be overcomplating things, it's neither one thing or another.

 

It's a move to standardise the traction system between ICE and BEV.

By getting designs that can be mass produced and used multi-platform, the sales price can go down because the cost goes down, thus offers a financially opportune route into making cheaper BEVs (whilst still selling ICE).

Technically, yea, a bit shit. But cars aren't just about their technical merits. They are also about affordability. Commercially non-viable tech is pretty useless in a commercial market. Stack it high, sell it cheap.

 

I kind of like the idea. Thinking further it's actually not that complicated as the motor will simply act as a generator. You get the benefit of electric powertrain and remove the need of fragile gearbox (which are crap on Nissans anyway).

So if you still want convenience of visiting the pump it could serve as a stepping stone to joys of EVs.

But, the fuel econony is not particularly great from what I've read, and as such seems it will likely remain as a niche product. Most ICE drivers still likely believe you need noise and gears so few will actually try one and as such the EV driving experience will not be enough alone to make them switch.

If you want bigger battery and plug in then Mazda has a similar concept using wankel engine as a generator.

I believe BMW had similar in their REx versions too (not sure about this, too lazy to check)?

 

There are benefits to serial hybrids (zero-rpm torque, simpler transmission) and in a world where big batteries aren’t available or are too expensive, or where charging infrastructure isn’t available, they are a good solution. Huge mining vehicles, trains, and other such vehicles have been powered this way for years.

However for passenger cars BEV drivetrain is simply the correct solution.

 

Check out the MPG, the petrol consumption is not good, and high road tax. The 2 KWh battery that is constantly being depleted and recharged is also a worry regarding degradation, only the standard 3 year Nissan warranty.

Still on a lease deal, not a worry I guess.

TeslaBjorn did a test of a Epower vehicle recently, probably worth checking out.

 

Check out the MPG, the petrol consumption is not good, and high road tax. The 2 KWh battery that is constantly being depleted and recharged is also a worry regarding degradation, only the standard 3 year Nissan warranty.

Yeah the MPG is not great, so that is probably the main reason this won't sell.

Btw did you happen to check whether it's 3 years on the battery also?

Still it's quite a small battery. Hopefully it will be at least easy to swap...

 

I like it.
I've had a number of Qashqais and like the car a lot.
Unfortunately my local Nissan garage are complete imbeciles which puts me off.

What is hugely attractive about the car is the 1500 motor could be adapted to run on whatever is at hand if we fell into some sort of dystopian era.
We see films where 100 years after the nuke/asteroid/whatever people are driving cars about and searching for the last few gallons of petrol.
Nonsense, petrol goes off and they might as well fill the tank with whiskey and tree sap.

An EV would struggle to find charge after the zombies have eaten all the people thst might be able to build solar panels and the ones we have now would have all degraded or the inverters given up long before.

The QQEP could be made to work assuming none of the electrics had died.

It would however be more realistic to get something running that was aircooled and circa 1950s than an EV, even something rigged to make hydrogen could be used but I do like Qashqais.

Gaz

 

So your version of mad max has Mel G driving around in an old Beetle running on wood gasification?
It’s not quite got the same appeal as the last of the V8 Interceptors.
Mad Max 3 Beyond The BioMethane Digester Dome?

 

~ £36,000 - £42,000. 0-62mph in 7.9 seconds 54.3mpg WLTP Combined. No PHEV mode.

Nissan Qashqai | e-POWER or Mild Hybrid SUV

Discover the ultimate SUV experience with the Nissan Qashqai now with e-POWER or Mild Hybrid. Explore powertrains available and book a test drive today.

www.nissan.co.uk

 

What the **** is an “ultimate mild hybrid crossover experience“???
Think I might go out for an English later and order something really really bland.

 

How do we feel about that?

This car is just another way to get around the 2030 ban.

 

This came up before, here: Nissan's Self Charging Hybrid

My summary: it's good if people who would have bought a pure ICE buy this, it's bad if people who would have bought a BEV buy this.

 

Wow.

Competing on looks with a SSanygon Rhodius.

 

Competing on looks with a SSanygon Rhodius.

Nissan must not be using the free version.

 

If we didn't need to stop burning stuff years ago, I might have some positive things to say about this car (and similar models) :

The serial hybrid (near enough) system should mean that "normal people" i.e. people who don't care about driving or efficiency get significantly better economy out of the car. Whereas the non hybrid Qashqai's would surely struggle to top 40MPG, with the hybrid providing regen braking and controlling the ICE entirely separately from the human's right foot, I think people will surely get 50+MPG out of the hybrid, that 20% reduction in fuel consumption is not to be sniffed at.

Honda's new hybrid tech is very similar and Renault, probably others.

The fact that that is no better than a Prius from 20 years ago that probably was near enough as practical in space anyway is another discussion but at least it is an improvement for the typical Qashqai buyer I would say.

But, we could have done with stopping burning stuff years ago so... I would rather people kept their old Qashqais and didn't support the manufacturing of these new ones.

 

I am test-driving a plug-in hybrid tomorrow 30-mile range on battery, Average of 217.3 mpg

404 - Page not found | What Car?

www.whatcar.com

 

I am test-driving a plug-in hybrid tomorrow 30-mile range on battery, Average of 217.3 mpg

I'd say treat the 217mpg average with a lot of caution because that will be based on an assumed portion of electric driving, with that incredibly high mpg value dependent on a large portion of electric driving at close to infinitely high mpg to pull up the actually efficiency of the petrol engine.

For example: a 40 mile test run, with 30 miles in EV mode and 10 miles in petrol hybrid mode with the hybrid part at 50mpg when combined with the EV part gives you: 40 miles / (10 hybrid miles / 50mpg in hybrid mode) gallons = 200 mpg.

That is great on paper and when your journeys are mostly shorter trips within the EV range, but if you make more longer distance journeys then your actual mpg will be a lot worse. You can't travel 217miles on a full charge and 1 gallon of fuel!

The figure you need to find, if you can track it down, is the typical mpg when the battery is empty and it is running as a petrol hybrid (which is probably nearer 50 or 60mpg if you're lucky), then you can judge the real-world performance better. Short distance it behaves as a pure EV, once beyond that the mpg heads steadily downward toward that base efficiency.

 

I had a poke around one of those.
The boot is tiny because of the battery, if that's of importance to you.
Nice looking car, inside and out though.
Only has 3 year warranty now if you're buying new.

 

I really do think that we shouldn't be selling cars without a type-2 socket. I'm not talking about 2030, I'm talking about right now!

Even if it isn;t plugged in by the current owner, the next will/might. And there is a well-known phenomenon of PHEVs being a gateway drug to full-BEV ownership.

 

Couple of EPOWER Reviews by the man in Norway.

Nissan X-Trail e-Power e-4orce winter fuel consumption test

Nissan X-Trail e-Power e-4orce 1000 km challenge (reference test)

 

I've just watched the second video....bottom line is that the Tesla M3P (same is mine) done the same trip of a 1000 km (620 miles) for 45 minutes longer. However, for the trip with the Nissan he used over 100 litres of fuel with the price of 1.7 Euros per litre (£1.45 in today exchange rate) this bring the cost to over £ 145.00. Tesla at the same time had average consumption of 4.1 miles per kWh. 620/4.1= 151 kWh. At the super charger the price is £0.39 per kWh, so.... total cost £58.90. For £90 quid difference on only one trip I am very happy to be 45 minutes "late"

 

Let us not forget that you’re supposed to stop for 20mins every 2hrs anyway anyway!

 

I sold my Quashqai when I got fed up with bits dropping off. I've had an Xtrail T30 ( for years) ..Great build quality, made from girders. It heavily influenced me buying the QQ. Lets just say whatever they once had...no longer found.

 

Electric range 2.5 km - What!!
My 8 year-old Mitsubishi now only has a usable capcity of 6kWh but that still gets me 18 miles. I would expect at least 5 miles from 1.8 kWh.

 

Being a hybrid battery, very little will be used.

The Prius for instance used a 1kWh Ni-MH battery, but typically the state of charge would move between 40% and 60%. This maximised lifespan by limiting the number of effective cycles performed on the battery.

It's quite likely that as long as Nissan have used a 3rd party to supply the hybrid battery, and used a decent chemistry, this will not be the failure point of the vehicle. Li-Ion hybrid batteries are quite common now, and Toyota warranty theirs to 15 years.

 

Plug In hybrid cars seem a bit pointless unless you regularly do longer trips and charging infrastructure is naff. There are people that they make sense for though.

This car makes absolutely no sense whatsoever for anyone. It’s just like a diesel electric train, apart from it’s a car that runs on petrol! The normal diesel version is more efficient and cheaper. It’s like Nissan designed a car without any regard physics. If you could plug it in and it had a battery range of 30 miles then it would be worth considering for some people.

 

This car makes absolutely no sense whatsoever for anyone.

Well, I have just explained in what way it makes sense, but meh, whatever.

Ah! Money must be funny in a rich man's world. Glad you can afford the perfect technically ideal cars. Screw all the poorer people.

 

"Electrified" and "Unplugged".......has me mumbling and grinding my teeth, every time their ad. appears on the Tv.!🫣
Deborah.

 

We've had this type of technology for 30+ years in fork lifts.. this particular old one had a Merc engine coupled to a DC generator which in turn fed a DC drive motor via all kinds of different PCBs, contactors and the like. The DC generator was also the starter motor, and the engine and the wheels were not mechanically linked just like the Qashqai EPower. Smooth acceleration, adjustable regen and auto hold on inclines were all features of these Flts.

 

We've had this type of technology for 30+ years in fork lifts.. this particular old one had a Merc engine coupled to a DC generator which in turn fed a DC drive motor

Diesel Electric locomotives have been around much longer then that. General Motors Electro-Motive Division diesel-electric locomotives were in main line passenger service in the 1930s.

The earliest "self charging" hybrids I'm aware of were German U-Boats built just before WW1. U-19, the first Diesel - Battery - Electric german boat was built around 1910. I belive there were some made even earlier, but they weren't diesel.

(Photos from wikimedia)

 

The use of diesel-electric also means the trains have a simpler drivetrain, no need to have a gearbox in the system (other than a trivial reduction gearbox)

Diesel-electric u-boats allowed for silent cruising underwater for some time, before needing to surface to generate electricity. It was the dominant technology before nuclear submarines became commonplace.

 

had a ad for the Qashqai ‘e-power’ and clicked to learn more, fully expecting to dump on it from a great height as those horrible ads estowing the values of ‘electrification’ but being a silly HEV.

But apparantly its a serial hybrid - thought those were extinct. How do we feel about that? its still geting all the power at the motors from petrol so thats bad. Shame it doesn’t allow you to at least run it like a PHEV but I assume the battery is just too small and is more of a buffer than anything.

But its decoupling the ICE from the wheels reducing complexity, and the ICE should be able to run more efficiently as its only acting as a generator (either to top the battery up or to send power direct to the wheels)

It’s a totally bonkers concept, basically a case with a generator on board. And a frantic attempt to close the gap after the Japanese atomic industry miscalculated the rise of EV’s. Especially Toyota and it’sCEO

 

Though could it be argued that Nissan have missed the boat on EVs? They have the Leaf, Ariya, electric vans etc. They are the one Japanese manufacturer that have pushed EVs fairly hard, at least in part due to the Renault deal and, when he wasn't escaping claims of financial fraud, Carlos Ghosn.

 

This press release suggests Nissan are trying to share parts between hybrid and pure-electric cars. The BEV layout and components look very, very like the drive train of a Leaf or e-NV200. Good news for maintaining vehicles if parts such as motors, inverters and reduction gears are interhangeable across car models, even between hybrids and battery designs.

Nissan unveils new approach to electrified powertrain development

Nissan today unveiled its new approach to electrified powertrain development, which it calls “X-in-1”.

europe.nissannews.com

 

Adverts banned by the Advertising Standards Agency - the advert did not make it clear enough that the car required Petrol to power the electric motor.

Nissan Motor (GB) Ltd - ASA | CAP

 

Great work by the ASA for once!