Nissan’s new hybrid vehicle is the first of its kind in the United States to blend electric drive with a gas engine

Nissan Motor The company plans to introduce a new type of hybrid car to the US market that drives like an all-electric car but is powered by a traditional gas engine, not propelled.

Nissan’s new “e-Power” is called the Hybrid Series. The engine is used as a generator to power the vehicle’s electric motors which then propel the vehicle. They operate like emerging extended-range electric vehicles, or EREVs, but have a smaller battery and don’t require a plug.

They also differ from traditional hybrid cars, such as the Toyota Prius, because the gas engine in those vehicles is used to propel the car. The hybrid series drive maintains battery charge to power the vehicles’ electric motors.

Nissan’s e-Power hybrid system is set to launch locally later this year in a new version of the popular Rogue compact SUV.

The timing of such a vehicle could be ideal for Nissan with gas prices rising, slower-than-planned adoption of electric vehicles, and an expected rise in hybrid sales amid new entries, according to officials.

After losing billions of dollars on electric vehicles, automakers like Nissan are turning to hybrids to meet customer expectations for fuel economy and to 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. It expects pure electric vehicles to make up 7.1% of new vehicle sales, down from 8% last year.

“It’s a powertrain that’s unique to the United States,” Curt Rosolowski, vehicle evaluation and testing engineer for Nissan North America, said during a press conference. “This is an electric vehicle, as far as powering the wheels, but it doesn’t have a plug, and it fills with gas like you would a regular car.”

Nissan and other automakers have used hybrids elsewhere, especially in Asia, but the companies have been reluctant to bring the cars to the United States because of consumer expectations about driving dynamics and power.

To address these concerns, Nissan said it has developed a more powerful 1.5-liter three-cylinder turbocharged engine specifically for the E-Power system, as well as new packaging and other upgrades, to satisfy American buyers.

“The turbo is only there for efficiency at high gas engine speeds to save power,” Rosolowski said.

The electric powertrain for the U.S. market is the third generation of Nissan’s hybrid series since it debuted in Japan in 2016. Since then, Nissan said it has sold more than 1.6 million vehicles globally using electric power in nearly 70 countries.

“I think it’s going to be a really good system,” said Sam Abu Al-Samid, vice president of market research at telemetry and consulting firm Telemetry. “I think it’s going to be very popular for Nissan in the new Rogue when it arrives later this year.”

Abu Al-Samad said that the only real flaw in the series of hybrid cars is that they are less efficient at high speeds, which Nissan is trying to overcome with the new engine in addition to the size of the battery.

When driving the European version of the ePower-equipped Nissan Rogue Sport around the Detroit suburbs, the car’s driving dynamics – especially quick acceleration and regenerative braking – are phenomenal.

It comes with the familiar sound of an engine revving but no shifting or splattering of transmission gears and much less noise, vibration and harshness, or NVH, as the industry usually refers to it.

“The driving experience is really what makes it different with those fewer components. You’ll have less noise and less vibrations,” Rosolowski said.

Unlike conventional gas-powered vehicles, the E-Power system also does not require a conventional transmission to shift gears or a driveshaft that transmits torque from the transmission to the differential, powering the wheels.

While the Rogue Sport is a smaller, front-wheel-drive-only vehicle, it’s easy to see how the system would translate to a larger all-wheel-drive vehicle, which is what the new e-Power-equipped Rogue will be.

The lack of a plug, some engine noise and slight vibration may be more common for drivers who have been hesitant to adopt fully electric vehicles.

While Nissan hasn’t announced details like pricing or fuel economy for the upcoming e-Power-equipped Rogue, 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 their larger Japanese rivals. Honda Motor and toyota motor, The latter pioneered conventional hybrid cars with the Prius, and still dominates the segment in the United States

Nissan declined to discuss the possibility of expanding the electronic power system to include other vehicles in the United States, but confirmed that the new system is modular and able to work with many different engines.

“If we were to expand this to other vehicles, you could theoretically install this on another gasoline engine of a different size and have more options for the e-power system,” Rozolovsky said.