As one of the troika of Japanese car companies, Nissan has not been a car company that has been conforming to stereotypes since its birth.
As early as the founding of NISSN in the 1930s, the founders proposed "Do what others don't dare to do" (Dare to do). This sentence is the brand spirit that NISSAN is born with, and it is also an important driving force for the development of "Technology Nissan".
From GTR, to Tianlai, from the application of CVT gearboxes in large areas to the development of variable compression ratio technology for internal combustion engines. In the era of the internal combustion engine of the automobile, Nissan has continuously introduced leading technologies and products, and made the name of "Technology Nissan" resound throughout the automotive industry.
Nowadays, the era of electrification has arrived, after several years of development, electrification technology has changed from the beginning of "differentiation" to today's "homogenization", people have enjoyed the dividends brought by electrification, but also anxious about the mileage. In this case, Nissan once again broke through the dilemma and opened up new ideas for the development of automotive electrification technology with e-POWER.
75-year-old Nissan electric technology
As we all know, 2021 is the first year of China's automotive into the "14th Five-Year Plan", and "double carbon" and industrial change are both opportunities and challenges for the Chinese auto market. In the face of the torrent of the era of electric and carbon reduction, Dongfeng Nissan has long been prepared in terms of electrification technology.
As early as the 1940s, Nissan began to develop pure electric vehicle products. In 1947, Nissan developed and manufactured the brand's first electric vehicle product, the TAMA. The model is equipped with a replaceable lead-acid battery, with a top speed of 35.2 kilometers per hour and a range of 96.3 kilometers.
Obviously, these data and configurations are still the leading technical highlights that pure electric vehicle manufacturers spare no effort to pass on when promoting. The subsequent March EV in the 1980s and the Prairie Joy EV, which adopted lithium-ion battery technology in the late 1990s, once again pushed Nissan's electric vehicle technology forward.
In view of this, if the technology accumulation in the field of pure electric power, Nissan can be deservedly one of the most vocal in the current market, and can quickly achieve mass production of better technology. But Nissan, which went earlier in the field of pure electric vehicles, is also very aware of the advantages and disadvantages of pure electric vehicles.
The safety, endurance, and supporting infrastructure construction of pure electric vehicles are important shortcomings that hinder people from choosing it. In the short term, in addition to choosing an electric vehicle route for better environmental protection, in fact, in the field of technology, it and internal combustion locomotives have advantages and disadvantages, such as a huge gap that cannot be filled in the short term.
Such shortcomings have more caused anxiety in the user's psychological level. Therefore, many manufacturers hope to find more balanced solutions through richer technical routes. A series of technical routes such as light mixing, heavy mixing, plug-in hybridization, etc., are born from this.
And Nissan, since it wants to uphold the corporate creed of "dare not dare to be dare" at the beginning of the company's founding, it can not just follow the route of others, but must be more bold to explore and create, and e-POWER is also derived from this.
e-POWER makes the electric no longer anxious
What is e-POWER Technology? How is it different from the HEV mild hybrid, pure electric, plug-in hybrid and range extender technologies we know now?
Simply put, Nissan e-POWER technology is an "electric drive technology without charging." That is, 100% of the full working conditions are driven by electric motors, and the internal combustion engine is used to generate electricity to provide electrical energy, and the two perform their respective duties and merge into one.
Structurally, nissan e-POWER is based on Nissan Leaf's proven electric drive technology, which integrates internal combustion engines, inverters, batteries and motors. The internal combustion engine is only responsible for generating electricity, so it can always be kept in optimal condition. Compared to conventional combustion engines, e-POWER offers superior fuel economy and lower carbon emissions.
The original intention of the research and development of new energy vehicles is to solve environmental pollution and reduce the use of non-renewable energy, and Nissan e-POWER technology is well in line with this direction. The internal combustion engine works through the fuel, converts it into electrical energy to charge the battery pack, reaches the drive motor through the inverter, and then transmits the power output by the drive motor to the wheel. It can bring three major advantages:
First, the power is strong and the acceleration is smooth: the maximum power of the e-POWER Xuanyi motor reaches 100kW, and the peak torque is 300N·m, which is close to most 1.8T turbo models.
Thanks to the higher power drive motor, e-POWER technology provides abundant power output during static start-up and mid-section acceleration, and the vehicle acceleration is powerful. In addition, the precise torque control of 1/10,000 second makes the acceleration process smooth and smooth, which is unmatched by any conventional fuel model.
Second, quiet and efficient: the internal combustion engine of e-POWER technology does not participate in direct drive throughout the process, and the starting frequency is reduced by 50% compared with the traditional HEV, coupled with high-efficiency and low-vibration motors. The advantages are even more pronounced when driving, providing a whisper-level quiet experience for drivers and occupants.
At the same time, thanks to the internal combustion engine always in the optimal operating range, the overall energy consumption of e-POWER technology is outstanding. Taking the e-POWER Xuanyi unveiled this time as an example, its comprehensive fuel consumption of 100 kilometers of urban area is only 3.9L.
Third, no mileage anxiety: e-POWER technology with gasoline as a means of replenishment does not need to wait for a long time to charge, and there is no mileage anxiety, which can provide a better user experience.
Compared with pure electric technology, Nissan e-POWER technology has the advantages of no endurance anxiety and a wider use environment; compared with ordinary plug-in hybrid and extended range hybrid technology, Nissan e-POWER technology does not require external charging, and the fuel consumption is lower; as for THS and iMMD technology of Ryota, due to the higher motor power and the internal combustion engine is not involved in the drive, the pure electric drive of Nissan e-POWER technology is smoother in the overall driving experience and the power is better.
In addition, the advantages of e-POWER technology are also reflected in the high rate of power batteries, fast charge and fast release (e-POWER Xuanyi battery capacity of 2kWh, charge and discharge rate is 15 times that of ordinary energy storage batteries), lightweight, comprehensive efficiency and other levels. Its commonality with pure electric vehicles in terms of components is very high, and most of the components of pure electric vehicles can be used, which is conducive to modular design, which will significantly improve the efficiency of model development, simplify the internal combustion engine and reduce costs.
In general, e-POWER technology brings users a "fast, smooth, quiet and economical" car experience in the actual car. Thanks to the direct drive of the motor, the vehicle has a high torque characteristic, which is faster and more powerful when accelerating. At the same time, the combination of "intelligent power generation" of internal combustion engine + generator makes charging easier and can provide abundant energy to the motor at any time.
The third is that the whole motor drives the vehicle, so it can be very soft and linear operation, and there will not be many fuel vehicles, fuel-electric hybrid models that often appear "power lag", speed suddenly high and low, and the jitter and noise problems caused by the structure, so that the vehicle driving process is smoother and quieter.
Finally, "saving", because the internal combustion engine is only responsible for charging, always maintained in the optimal working efficiency range, its thermal efficiency is as high as 43%, ensuring fuel economy. And because e-POWER has inherent advantages in structural optimization and lightweight, coupled with the second generation of inverters is smaller, lighter and stronger, the volume is reduced by 40%, the weight is reduced by 33%, which can release more space to the ride or storage part, while further reducing energy consumption by controlling the "weight" of the vehicle, which also makes it achieve an ultra-low fuel consumption of 3.9L/100 kilometers.
In addition to reflecting the "province" in terms of energy consumption, this label also penetrates into the details of daily use of cars. For example, although e-POWER Xuanyi is a pure electric drive model, users do not need to deliberately install charging piles, and they do not have to worry too much about the safety of the battery, and there is no trouble waiting for charging time, which makes people "worry and time saving".
Since its launch in the Japanese market in 2016, more than 500,000 Japanese consumers have purchased models equipped with Nissan e-POWER technology. Today, Nissan NOTE and Nissan NQTE AURA, equipped with Nissan's unique second-generation e-POWER technology, have been awarded the 2021-2022 Japan Model of the Year, the fifth time Nissan has won the Japan Model of the Year Award.
Affected by multiple factors such as the decline of new energy subsidies, insufficient charging infrastructure, and climate temperature differences, Chinese electric vehicle users face new energy vehicle consumption pain points such as mileage anxiety, charging pile anxiety, and battery life anxiety, which determines that electric vehicles will not be the only solution for green travel in a short period of time.
In 2021, the first model equipped with Nissan e-POWER technology, Nissan e-POWER Xuanyi, officially came to the Chinese market, relying on efficient fuel efficiency to get rid of the dependence on charging facilities, taking into account the advantages of pure electric vehicles and gasoline vehicles, effectively helping the Implementation of the Chinese government's energy conservation and emission reduction and new energy vehicle technology roadmap plan.
Conclusion: In a global environment of low-carbon and sustainable development, e-POWER technology is also a key step for Nissan to achieve its 2050 carbon neutrality target. e-POWER is a landmark innovation in automotive power technology that brings consumers a more advanced 100% full-time electric drive experience and achieves a high degree of unity of fuel economy, comfort and surging power.