Nissan is betting on a new hybrid EV system to save it, but there’s one big problem
The Japanese automaker’s comeback plan hinges on its upgraded e-Power system, which will be crucial in keeping pace with Toyota and Honda. Nissan promises its third-generation hybrid EV tech boasts more range at a lower cost, but there’s one major issue.
Nissan bets big on upgraded hybrid EV tech
Nissan is struggling to stay alive after falling behind early in the shift to electrification. With debt piling up, sales slumping, and a wave of new competition, Nissan is sounding the alarm.
Earlier this month, the company introduced its new recovery plan, “Re:Nissan,” which includes cutting 20,000 jobs, or around 15% of its global workforce, by 2027. It’s also closing several factories and scrapping plans to build a new EV battery plant in Japan to cut costs.
The efforts come as part of the automaker’s urgent turnaround strategy. After showcasing its upgraded e-Power system on Sunday, Nissan said the new hybrid tech will be more like driving an EV.
“E-Power is different because it is derived from EV technology and drives like an EV,” Nissan’s chief technology officer, Eiichi Akashi, explained at the event (via Auto News).
According to Nissan, the new drivetrain is cheaper, quieter, and more efficient. It was also designed with the US, Nissan’s most important market, in mind. According to Nissan, the new setup boosts fuel economy on the highway by 15% and in the city by 9%.
The upgraded system will debut in the upcoming fourth-gen Nissan Rogue, its bestselling vehicle in the US, in FY2027.
Before it arrives, Nissan will launch the upgraded drivetrain in other global markets, including Europe and Japan. Later this year, the new Qashqai will debut in Europe with its third-gen e-Power drivetrain, followed by Japan in 2026.
According to Akashi, the new hybrid EV system will be key to Nissan’s comeback plan in the US, and the Rogue is the perfect vehicle to showcase it. However, there’s one major flaw.
The new powertrain setup is more “EV-like” as the gas engine acts as a generator to power the vehicle’s battery and wheels.
Nissan said the new 5-in-1 system, which combines the motor, inverter, generator, reducer, and increaser, cuts costs and is more efficient. Specifics were not revealed, but Shunichi Inamijima, corporate executive for powertrain and EV technologies, said it’s an over 10% improvement compared to Nissan’s second-generation e-Power system.
Although it sounds promising, the new tech will cost more than Nissan expected. When it initially introduced the drive unit in 2023, Nissan said it would enable it to offer hybrids at the same price as its internal-combustion engine (ICE) vehicles.
Based on Inamijima’s comments, that will no longer be the case. He said the new e-Power system will still face a price gap with cheaper gas-powered vehicles.
“We still want to realize cost parity as soon as possible,” Inamijima said. When asked when the new timeline would be, he responded, “No comment.”
Before the fourth-gen Rogue arrives in the US, Nissan will launch the upgraded LEAF EV later this year. It will be one of ten new Nissan or Infiniti models set to arrive by 2027.
In Europe, Nissan will launch the next-gen LEAF later this year, followed by the new Micra EV and Qashqai electric crossover. The new Juke EV will join the lineup in 2026.
Electrek’s Take
Nissan’s big bet already looks underwhelming. Not only will it face lower-priced gas-powered vehicles, but by 2027, an influx of new EVs (which will also likely be cheaper) will be available.
While Nissan takes another swing at hybrids, it could already be setting itself up for failure. Fully electric cars are more efficient, and as new battery and other electric vehicle technologies advance, they will only become increasingly affordable.
A recent report from Japan’s MainiChi, hinted at a potential partnership with Toyota. According to the report, a Toyota executive reached out to Nissan about a potential partnership that would involve Toyota acting as Nissan’s “backer” while it restructures.
Will Nissan’s new hybrid EV drivetrain spark a comeback? Or will it be too little, too late? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: Auto News
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(COMBO) This combination of pictures created on February 21, 2020 shows
US President Donald Trump delivers remarks at a Keep America Great rally in Phoenix, Arizona, on February 19, 2020.
Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech during a ceremony in Jerusalem on January 23, 2020 commemorating the people of Leningrad during the Second World War Nazi siege on the city.
Jim Watson | Afp | Getty Images
The rift between Moscow and Washington looks set to deepen after U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Russia’s economy “stinks” and that lower oil prices will hammer President Vladimir Putin’s oil-funded war machine.
“Putin will stop killing people if you get energy down another $10 a barrel. He’s going to have no choice because his economy stinks,” the president told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
The comments come after relations between Moscow and Washington, which remained cordial at the start of Trump’s second term in office despite the ongoing war, soured in recent weeks.
Trump has appeared to lose patience with Putin given Russia’s apparent reluctance to pursue a ceasefire or peace deal with Ukraine. Last Monday, the president said he was cutting from 50 days to less than two weeks his deadline for Putin to reach a peace deal with Ukraine or face big “secondary tariffs” on Moscow’s trade partners.
That prompted former Russian President and high-ranking Russian official Dmitry Medvedev to respond on social media that each new ultimatum that Trump makes about Russia to force an end to its war on Ukraine “is a threat and a step towards war.”
“Not between Russia and Ukraine, but with his own country,” Medvedev wrote on X. Trump said on Friday said that he had ordered two nuclear submarines “to be positioned in the appropriate regions” in response to Medvedev’s comments.
Russia, one of the world’s top oil exporters, has used revenues from oil exports to largely fund its war machine in Ukraine, which it invaded in 2022. Ukraine’s Western partners have used sanctions and restrictions to try to stifle those revenues, but countries like India and China have continued to buy discounted Russian crude.
This has infuriated Trump and he has, in the last few days, threatened India with steep tariffs if it does not stop buying Russian oil. The president threatened a 25% duty on Indian exports, as well as an unspecified “penalty” last week, accusing New Delhi of buying discounted Russian oil and “selling it on the Open Market for big profits.”
On Tuesday, Trump told CNBC that the tariff threshold could be hiked above 25% in the next 24 hours.
“India has not been a good trading partner … so we settled on 25%, but I think I’m going to raise that very substantially over the next 24 hours, because they’re buying Russian oil, they’re fueling the war machine, and if they’re going to do that, I’m not going to be happy,” Trump said.
Russia earlier on Tuesday weighed into the spat, with the Kremlin saying India was free to choose its own trading partners and that Trump’s tariff threats were “attempts to force countries to stop trade relations with Russia.”
“We do not consider such statements to be legitimate,” Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov continued, speaking to reporters Tuesday.
“We believe that sovereign countries should have, and have the right to choose their own trade partners, partners in trade and economic cooperation. And to choose those trade and economic cooperation regimes that are in the interests of a particular country.”
Oil prices declined to around the mid-$65 a barrel mark on Tuesday as traders assessed the announcement by OPEC and its oil-producing allies on Sunday that they would hike output, amid potential weaker global demand.
After Trump’s comments on Tuesday, Brent crude futures were down 83 cents, or 1.2%, to $67.92 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude slipped 87 cents to $65.41.
Meanwhile, dark clouds certainly appear to be gathering on the horizon when it comes to Russia’s war-focused economy. It has labored under the weight of international sanctions as well as homegrown pressures, also largely resulting from war, such as rampant inflation and high food and production costs that even Putin described as “alarming.” Russia’s Economic Development Ministry also predicts that economic growth will slow from 4.3% in 2024 to 2.5% this year.
Environment
World record alert: 2026 Chevy Silverado EV Work Truck drove 1,060 miles on a single charge
Move over, Lucid. There’s a new world record holder in EV range. Engineers at General Motors recently took a minimally modified version of the 2026 Chevrolet Silverado EV Work Truck out on a real-world test and traveled a total distance of 1,059.2 miles from a single charge.
The Chevy Silverado EV may differentiate quite a bit mechanically from its ICE counterpart, which has been in production for nearly 30 years, but it has made a name for itself as a flagship model in General Motors’ all-electric lineup.
After debuting in 2022, the Silverado EV was released a year later as a full-size pickup in 2023. The two initial trims were fleet-focused work truck variants before a passenger-friendly RST version arrived in 2024. This summer, Chevy introduced the 2026 version of the Silverado EV, featuring an EPA range of 493 miles.
That range estimate also applies to the Max Pack Work Truck trim of the 2026 Silverado EV Work Truck, which GM engineers recently used to achieve a new world record for EV range, besting the previous leader by over 300 miles.
Silverado Work Trucks nabs EV world record for range
GM shared details of its recent world record-breaking EV range test this morning. Per the American automaker, this engineer-led challenge began as a passion project before evolving into a real-world test of a 2025 Chevy Silverado EV optimized for efficiency.
When we say “optimized,” we don’t mean this pickup was heavily modified to achieve such impressive range. Per GM, both the hardware and software of the Silverado EV Work Truck were left untouched. Here are the modifications that were made before testing:
- Windshield wiper blade position lowered to reduce drag
- Tires inflated to their highest acceptable pressure for lower rolling resistance
- Spare tire removed reduce weight
- Wheel alignment optimized
- Tonneau cover added for smoother airflow
- Climate control turned off for the duration of the test
- Testing was performed in summer for optimum ambient temperature for battery efficiency
With these optimization techniques in place, a team of 40 engineers at GM drove a production model Silverado EV WT on public roads near its Michigan proving ground over the course of seven days. To further optimize the EV’s range in hopes of a world record, GM said the engineers used “smart driving techniques” and limited the pickup’s speed to 20-25 mph the entire time.
The result was an industry milestone and, per GM, a new world record in EV range. The Silverado EV WT traveled 1,059.2 miles on a single charge, beating the previous record of 749 miles held by the Lucid Air Grand Touring. The pickup’s range tally also blew away the WT’s EPA-estimated range of 493 miles.
Contrary to GM, Guinness documented and confirmed Lucid’s EV range world record. Additionally, Lucid still wins in efficiency, as the Air Pure achieved 5 miles/kWh compared to 4.9 miles/kWh by the Silverado EV. However, that is not to take away from the team at GM, as this latest real-world test has achieved a welcome industry milestone that should be recognized and celebrated.
Congrats to GM and the engineers at Chevrolet!
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Hyundai’s thinking small, but aiming big. The E3W and E4W concepts, an electric tuk-tuk and mini four-wheeler, are Hyundai’s smallest EVs yet, but they could be a surprise hit.
Check out Hyundai’s E3W and E4W mini EV concepts
Earlier this year, we got our first look at the E3W and E4W at the 2025 Bharat Mobility Global Expo. Hyundai partnered with TVS Motor Company to bring the electric three-wheeler to life, while the four-wheeler is expected to make its way into global markets.
The E3W, an electric tuk-tuk, is custom-tailored to navigate India’s tight city roads. However, Hyundai stated that “the development of the Four-Wheeler is under review, with a focus on its global potential.”
Hyundai, in collaboration with TVS Motor, developed the three-wheeler with an adjustable body. This way, it can be lifted if the streets are flooded during the monsoon season.
The concept features larger tires for a smoother ride and even includes tow hooks, just in case you get stuck in a pothole.
Hyundai and Genesis global design boss SangYup Lee said, “We aim to locally produce the three-wheeler while exploring global opportunities for the four-wheeler.”
According to Hyundai, the new mini EVs offer more than just getting around the city. The automaker previewed several concepts for last-mile delivery, police, and even an “N” branded sporty-looking version.
Will Hyundai launch the E3W and E4W in other global markets, such as the US or Europe? Sorry to disappoint, but given America’s love for bigger trucks and SUVs, the mini EVs are unlikely to make the trip. Not to mention, the new auto tariffs would make it even more challenging.
Europe, however, could be a potential “global” market Hyundai is referring to. Hyundai is expected to reveal the new IONIQ 2 at the Munich Motor Show next month, the smallest from its dedicated EV series. It will sit between the Inster EV and Kona Electric in Hyundai’s lineup.
In the US, Hyundai is ramping up production at its new EV plant in Georgia, where it builds the IONIQ 5 and three-row IONIQ 9. The new and improved IONIQ 5 is coming off its best sales month to date in July.
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