As bullish as Nissan has been on electric vehicles, like its battery-powered Leaf, the automaker has been surprisingly noncommittal with respect to hybrids. After the Nissan Altima hybrid?a unicorn, with its Toyota Hybrid Synergy Drive under license?there?s only been a cohort of crossover and utility models with entirely underwhelming single-motor CVT hybrid systems. That halfhearted approach to hybrids may be on the verge of changing?at least for the automaker?s small-car models?with the introduction of a new Nissan system called e-Power.
The new hybrid powertrain is installed in the latest Japan-spec Nissan Note, in a variant called the Note e-Power that, Nissan says, is the first mass-production compact car ever to be equipped with a series hybrid system. With e-Power, the wheels are driven only by the electric motor, while a compact gasoline engine?in the Note?s case, a 1.2-liter three-cylinder?is coupled to a power generator and inverter (there?s no charge port). According to Nissan, the e-Power system uses a smaller battery than the Leaf?only about 1/20th the size?yet it delivers the same driving experience as a fully electric vehicle.
The benefits of such a simple layout are twofold: On one side, you get a city-speed driving experience that?s very much like that of a battery-electric vehicle, with ?massive torque almost instantly,? as Nissan described it, without the need to charge the vehicle. Secondly, the system promises to be quieter than some other hybrid layou...