Source: Range Extender and Self-Steering Tech to Debut on Nissan Electric Vehicle The Japanese automaker will add a new range extender engine for its electric vehicles in hopes of relieving range anxiety. In addition, it will begin rolling out its autonomous technologies with a single-lane, self-driving steering feature. Both the range extender engine and the self-driving steering feature will debut on Japan-market vehicles in the current fiscal year ending March 31, 2017. The self-driving feature will then roll out to the U.S., Europe and China. The company didn’t reveal any plans on bringing the range extender to other markets. The new hybrid powertrain, called e-Power, made its debut on the Gripz concept at the 2015 Frankfurt Motor Show. It uses a system that is similar to the Chevrolet Volt, taking advantage of a small engine to generate electricity that charges the onboard battery. It’s also like the range extender engine offered on the BMW i3. Now this makes sense! I hope they also fix the rear end, problem solved. Bob Wilson
I'll say one thing's for certain . . . that's definitely a concept look if I ever saw one ... perhaps they're trying to make a more expensive / way longer up the hood windshield than the Model X has; I wonder if they've learned their lesson . . . or if they're going to do the same premature capacity loosing - battery destroying - lame passive thermal pack management as their current offering does. The smart folks at Nissan told us owners, "hey - air cooling aint so bad ... isn't that how our skin cools?" My answer was, "really? then what IS perspiration, pray tell ..." (somewhere around 65k miles & I can still get 72 miles at pokie freeway speeds - but I just lost a 3rd capacity bar) Thanks Nissan ... don't forget to overstate the new vehicle's range, like you did on your gen1 Leaf. Yep .. them's the early adapter grumbles. .
To clarify, it doesn't look like the Leaf model will be replaced/upgraded with this range extender, rather it looks to be an additional plug-in to choose from. From the article: What’s interesting is that Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn said the technology will be introduced on a new electric vehicle, rather than in the current Leaf. Unless this newcomer is a premium vehicle, guessing it will not offer the 60kWh battery the new Leaf will.
