EV, e-POWER and conventional Hybrid powertrain comparison
It is a conundrum. Electric vehicles (EVs) are great. They are environmentally friendly, cheap to run, effortless to drive, yet give you outrageous acceleration. But if you are to use them for more than a couple of hundred kilometres per day, you need an extensive and expensive charging infrastructure. The options thus far were the internal combustion engine (ICE) or the hybrid.
ICE is nice, but it is dirty and expensive and its time is nearly over. Like the horse it replaced, ICE will linger as a rare oddity, but in the end money and the environment will prevail.
Although hybrid technology has improved exponentially since its introduction, it remains a compromise solution. It uses both an ICE and a small electric motor, both connected to the wheels. Its main advantages are the ability to generate power during braking or when going downhill, and the additional torque the battery can give.
There is also hydrogen power now coming to the fore, but this is still very new and requires significantly more expensive infrastructure than EVs.
Nissan’s e-POWER gives us a fifth way. It is an EV that uses an ICE to charge the battery, rather than external power. Only the electric motor is connected to the wheels, which means the ICE can be smaller and simpler, optimised as a one-speed generator rather than a complex engine that has to take the car from stop to speed, up and downhills. This allows for a very light and fuel-efficient engine that gives extremely low carbon emissions.
Yet the e-POWER is for all intents an EV, with all the benefits of this kind of drive. Because of the normal EV battery, you can drive it without the ICE most of the time. You get the incredible torque and acceleration that set the EV apart, as well as the simplicity and ease of a one-pedal car.
This system still allows you to capture energy during braking or downhill like a hybrid, but without the weight and complexity of the hybrid. The e-POWER is ideal for those parts of the world with limited charging infrastructure, or (ahem) suffers from load shedding.
EV charging networks such as IONITY in Europe and Tesla’s Quick Charge can top up certain EVs to 80% in 15 to 30 minutes and you will find a station every 100km or so in densely populated areas. But even in America, in parts of the mid-west and less populated northern regions, even slow charging stations are not that readily available. The e-POWER is an attractive option in these parts as well, but because of its incredible efficiency and low emissions, it may well remain as a popular option in an otherwise EV world.
There are no plans to bring the e-POWER to South Africa as yet, but it would seem ideal for this country. If Nissan decides to introduce it here, you can read all about it in our blog.
