Nissan e-POWER wins over drivers, and here’s why
Peter Lyon, an Australian automotive journalist based in Japan, likens e-POWER to a “chameleon” experience.
“It’s part electric and part hybrid,” Lyon says. “You have an electric motor that drives the car, and you have a gasoline engine that recharges the battery.”
As a testament to e-POWER’s ability to support vehicles large and small, Nissan is expanding this powertrain offering to various markets on a range of body styles, including its most recent addition for the X-Trail. That comes on the heels of Nissan launching the Kicks e-POWER crossover in Japan and some Asian markets in 2020, and the Qashqai e-POWER has launched this year. With recent announcements of e-POWER coming to Australia and China, this further shows its expanding availability.
Opinions on e-POWER land in four groups: power, smoothness, ease-of-use and its potential as a gateway to full EV ownership. Here’s what drivers are saying about each one.
e-POWER cars are responsive, direct & powerful
e-POWER makes it possible to deliver a powerful driving experience, with 100% electric torque that does not require the engine to rev up for full acceleration. The powertrain “enables drivers to travel in different conditions and environments,” says Koichiro Okamoto, an automotive journalist.
From a start, e-POWER is “very powerful,” adds Tomoko Fujishima, motor journalist and automotive TV program host . “Cars need a lot of energy when they start off – the engine has to start running before it can deliver power. But with an electric motor, power can be delivered from the moment you step on the accelerator.”
e-POWER cars are smooth and quiet
Another benefit of e-POWER? Because the energy directly powering the wheels is 100% electric, there’s no juggling between electric and gasoline power like in conventional hybrids. That makes e-POWER vehicles remarkably smooth.
Thanks to the 100% electric power, e-POWER vehicles are also very quiet in the cabin.
“It's pretty quiet,” observes Kenji Momota, an automotive journalist and former race-car driver. “The engine is still running. But it’s quiet, and the sound or the movement of the engine do not bother me.”
e-POWER cars combine the performance of an EV with the ease-of-use of a conventional vehicle
Drivers are noticing e-POWER’s combination of strengths. With a driving experience akin to a fully electric vehicle, but better fuel efficiency than a similarly sized internal-combustion engine – and no need to recharge the battery through external sources – Nissan’s e-POWER vehicles package a wide range of benefits.
“With a completely pure EV, you have to think about charging the battery,” Fujishima says. “But in the case of e-POWER, as long as you fill it up with gasoline, the engine acts as a generator, so you don’t need to think about charging all the time.”
Others echo the point.
“Since the engine generates electricity, you can drive without worrying about how much battery power is left,” Okamoto observes, adding that e-POWER “is truly a strength of Nissan since acceleration is linear and powerful.”
e-POWER cars are a gateway to the electric future
Drivers see e-POWER as a viable gateway to a fully electric future, making Nissan vehicles that have the technology a unique market proposition.
Fujishima says it’s “an innovative system that can help more people make the transition to electrified cars.”
That applies even if those shoppers are hesitant.
“Even if you don't jump straight into EV, I think you will find that the EV experience is possible with an e-POWER vehicle,” Momota sums up, adding that e-POWER is a good way to “encourage those who have hurdles in their minds about shifting to EVs.”