Imminent hybrid push from Nissan Australia with e-Power

Nissan is set to join the hybrid race in Australia – even if the brand isn’t going into details just yet.

The recently-unveiled X-Trail e-Power is expected to be one of the early arrivals to take advantage of a surge towards fuel-saving hybrids.

As with the Qashqai e-Power that was unveiled earlier this year, the X-Trail e-Power uses on an electric motor to drive the wheels, so has the near-instant responsiveness and flexible torque e-motors are known for.

EXPLAINER: Nissan e-Power hybrid tech

However, instead of a large battery pack, the e-Power system uses a petrol engine as a generator to recharge the batteries. Because the engine only has one job – to act as a generator; it never drives the wheels – it can be specifically tuned for efficiency for the task at hand.

e-Power is not a plug-in hybrid system, though, and like all Toyota hybrids runs purely on petrol – albeit much less of it.

Nissan Australia managing director Stephen Lester won’t talk details but has all but confirmed the e-Power hybrid system is coming to Australia.

“We fully expect to have e-Power in Australia,” he says, refusing to answer questions about timing and which models will lead the way.

Logically, the Qashqai e-Power would be first out of the blocks.

The new Qashqai is coming to Australia late in 2021 and given the success of the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid – which makes up more than two-thirds of RAV4 sales – it’s difficult to see why it wouldn’t be sold here as part of the mix.

It’s a similar story with the X-Trail, which is due in 2022.

In years to come Lester also believes e-Power could eventually be used exclusively in a model range, although there are no plans for that yet.

“Down track I could see that being a possibility, but not in the short term… it’s not in our plan.”

Other brands are starting to ramp up hybrid tech as a volume seller rather than the marketing novelty it was a decade or more ago.

Honda, for example, is gearing up for more hybrid tech in its future models, including the HR-V SUV.

Kia (with the Sorento and Niro) and Hyundai are also planning to step up their hybrid offerings over the next 12 months.