Nissan will introduce range extender in new compact EV soon

While we’ve heard that Nissan will introduce a 200-mile all-electric Leaf but it looks like there will be another long-range EV in the company’s future. Nissan CEO Carlo Ghosn spoke at the company’s annual shareholder meeting this month and said that Nissan is going to introduce a range extender on a new compact car in Japan. Ghosn also said that new a autonomous-drive, single-lane self-driving steering feature is also on the way. We will see both of them by the end of March, 2017.

We saw a sort-of preview of a Nissan range extender in the Gripz concept at the Paris Motor Show last fall. The difference was that that concept was more of a traditional hybrid, with a fossil-fuel engine powering electric motors. Automotive News notes that the Gripz hybrid system and the new plug-in range extender will share the e-Power name for the powertrain. A longer-range all-electric concept was on display in NIssan’s IDS (pictured above) at the Tokyo Motor Show last fall.

At the meeting, Ghosn said that, “This new electric vehicle will meet consumer demand for greater autonomy and fuel efficiency. It will utilize a new e-Power system that matches the agility, quietness, strong acceleration and efficiency of the Nissan Leaf.”

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