Nissan Rogue/X-Trail “e-Power” quick drive.
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We’ve been hearing about Nissan‘s “e-Power” hybrid system for years. It has been on sale around the world for a while, and yet, nothing here yet.
I had the chance to drive a Nissan X-Trail for a couple of days in Europe a few weeks ago. The X-trail is basically the same car as our Nissan Rogue. As you can see from these images, both models look the same. The main difference is the availability of the e-Power system in Europe. This includes a 1.5 Liter 3-cylinder engine. It is a range-extended electric vehicle. The engine charges the battery, and the electric motor powers the car. Therefore, the car still uses gas. But feels like an EV when you drive it.
At least that’s the idea.
While it does strangely feel like an EV over 90% of the time, once in a while, the engine turns on to charge the battery. Something that feels a bit odd since it is not connected to how fast you go or how hard you’re pushing the accelerator pedal. It just does what it needs to do whenever it has to. You’d be driving along, and all of a sudden you hear the engine, reving pretty fast for a few seconds or more. Then stops. Without ever affecting the way the car drives.
It is pretty strange at first, but you actually get used to it pretty quickly. Even though it can be quite noisy when it happens.
I was also pleasantly surprised by the Nissan X-trail/Rogue in the first place. It is a very comfortable, solid, and quiet car to drive around. With a very nice steering feel and a firm yet comfortable suspension.
The interior is also a very nice place to spend time. Everything felt very solid and well put together. The whole thing felt and drove like a more expensive car. There’s a feeling of quality in the whole thing.
It wil be intersting to see how much Nissan charges for the e-Power option in the US when it becomes available here next year. Or if they even decide to make it standard on the next-generation Rogue. We are supposed to get an even more refined 3rd generation of the e-Power system, introduced by Nissan last June.
It’s of course not as good as a pure EV. But for those who still prefer using gas every day, it could be an intersting alternative…
I don’t understand why they chose a 3 cylinder engine for the charging system. They are known for being pretty rough and noisy. Even a small four cylinder seems like it would be a better choice for an electric drive system which is quiet.
Nissan should have brought the e-power system over to the states years ago. The technology is promising and seems like a good in between ICE and full EV. Let’s hope that Nissan can survive long enough to bring over the updated and improved 3rd generation e-power system to the new 4th generation Rogue as they’ve planed.
That means at least 55 mpg