Ian Lamming is relieved to drive the new Nissan Qashqai e-Power, a compromise that pleases everyone
RANGE anxiety? What range anxiety? I laugh in the face of range anxiety.
Well, normally I don’t, actually. In fact, as much as I love the way electric vehicles drive, I do get wound up like the coil in an electric motor about charging.
But Nissan has plugged into the fact that it doesn’t have to be that way. In conventional EVs once the charge has gone it’s the back of a flatback recovery vehicle for the remainder of the journey I’m afraid. But with e-Power there’s a petrol generator to ensure this never happens.
Normal hybrids use a battery, an electric motor and a petrol engine to propel the car. They take turns; sometimes it’s the electric motor which moves the car along silently, other times it’s the combustion engine, then there are times when they work together to turn the wheels.
The e-Power – on this occasion residing in the Qashqai, though it does also live in the X-Trail – is different. Only the electric is connected to the wheels, driving them round at all times. The petrol motor is no more than a generator, there to charge the lithium ion battery and/or provide direct power for the electric motor.
This means that the Qashqai feels like an EV to drive, with instant torque and seamless performance, but it will never need to be plugged in and won’t run out of charge.
It definitely feels unique as when you press the throttle hard the pick-up is instant but there are no screaming revs from the combustion engine like you get with some hybrids. The engine just chugs away to charge the electric motor – genius.
This also improves emissions and fuel consumption because the combustion side of the partnership is never over-stressed. Nothing goes to waste either. Even the kinetic energy from braking is recycled into the battery and the Qashqai features e-Pedal which boosts regeneration and allows the driver to use one pedal for acceleration and deceleration, which is great.
The e-Power is the perfect combination offering hot-hatch performance, diesel economy and environment-saving emissions. It’s also brilliant to drive with instant and ultra-controllable levels of power.
On slow roads the Qashqai is more than happy to let the electric do the lion’s share of the work so you can expect the MPG readout to show anything from the upper 60s to 80s. Motorway driving remains the EV’s nemesis. Cruising at high speeds, up hills and against head winds requires more from the electric motor so the petrol engine has to work a bit harder to keep it topped up with charge. That means the MPG figure drops accordingly but average motoring still sits happily in the 50s and emissions are pretty low at 120 CO2 g/km. In town, where you don’t really want any CO2, it zeros out because it runs on pure electric.
Qashqai remains a good looking and practical car. It is sizeable for being in the ‘medium’ SUV sector but I manage to get a large bookcase in the back with the seats down and it still leaves plenty of room to pack around it.
The interior is plush and very well appointed. Quality fair oozes from every pore and the tech – and there is plenty of it – is easy to use even for technophobes like myself. The dash features the now traditional touchscreen and the clocks are TFT virtual affairs which you can rearrange at the press of a button.
Head-up display maintains your focus on the road by providing an image projection onto the windscreen, enabling drivers to access key navigation, driver assistance and road information without taking their eyes off the horizontal.
I’m not sure the world will ever be ready for full electrics because the five minute fuel stop is etched upon our souls and anything else leaves us feeling anxious.
Who says compromises please no-one; hybrids like this Nissan Qashqai e-Power must be the best way forward, surely.
Fact File
Nissan Qashqai e-Power Tekna
Engine: 1.5 litre turbo petrol/electric hybrid
Power: 190PS
0-62mph: 7.9 secs
Top speed: 105mph
Combined miles per gallon: 53.3
Transmission: six-speed automatic, 2WD
CO2 g/km: 120
Price: £39,605.00 including ceramic grey paint.
