Thursday, March 28

Nissan wants to square the circle with its Qashqai e-Power: a gasoline hybrid with diesel technology


We will see in Europe a Nissan Qashqai e-Power, a very special hybrid model with technical characteristics that bring it closer to diesel, despite running on gasoline. And, furthermore, it is not this fuel that moves its wheels. As it does? We clarify how this serial hybrid works.


This technology, which Nissan was already marketing in Japan, will arrive in Europe at the end of the summer with the Qashqai e-Power at the helm. The firm’s best seller (in Spain it sold 14,664 units in 2021, compared to 6,201 for the Juke, the firm’s second best-selling model in our country) will take advantage of this new mechanism to save fuel and offer moderate consumption.

Driving in 100% electric mode… with gasoline

The vast majority of hybrids that we find on the market are called combined hybrids. In these vehicles, both the gasoline engine and the electric motor have a mechanical connection with the wheels and can work by combining both energies or with one of them exclusively.

In a parallel hybridIn the case of this Nissan Qashqai e-Power, the vehicle always runs in fully electric mode, since this engine is the only one that can drive the wheels. The gasoline engine, therefore, works as a generator that uses this fuel to produce electricity and store it in the batteries. In fact, the electricity reaches the electric motor and the battery at the same time.

To be more efficient, the gasoline engine is variable compression turbocharged. This means that the compression in the combustion chamber can be carried out in ranges between 8:1 and 14:1. When power demand is high, the gasoline engine opts for lower compression to deliver power faster and offset the drain on battery power.

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On the contrary, in the best possible conditions (low energy demand and full battery), the gasoline engine works with very high compressions, which allows it to save fuel and reduce the volume of polluting emissions. A compression ratio 14:1 It is typical of a diesel vehicle and one of the reasons why its consumption is lower.

Regarding the advantages of this technology, in motion an immediate response will be noticed when greater power is demanded, since the electric motor will make a linear delivery of it. The engine used will be a 156 hp three-cylinder 1.5 liter but the car can reach a total power of 190 hp when it works at full capacity.

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To further reduce its consumption, the well-known Nissan e-Pedal is added, which the brand considers its “unique pedal”. In the highest hold mode, lifting the accelerator pedal results in 0.2 g of automatic braking, enough to activate the brake light. Managing its use, in the city you can drive only with the right pedal, although braking does not completely stop the car.

According to the data provided by Nissan, which is pending homologation, the combined consumption of this engine will be 5.3 litres/100 kilometers and its CO2 emissions remain at 119 gr/km, so in Spain it would be exempt from paying the registration tax if it finally reaches these figures.

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