Nissan Note e-POWER Review

Nissan’s e-Power system is what’s referred to as a series hybrid powertrain. That’s as compared to the more common — as in, the Toyota Prius — parallel hybrid. So, while in a Prius, both gasoline engine and electric motor can both drive the wheels — hence working in parallel — the little 1.2-litre three-cylinder in the Note only generates electricity, either charging the on-board 1.5 kWh lithium-ion battery or sending electrons directly to the electric motor. Essentially, it’s an electric car with a gasoline-powered generator on board to keep the battery topped up.

The Nissan Note e-POWER hides a small 1.2-litre three-cylinder petrol engine (58kW/103Nm) in its tiny engine bay but it’s not connected with the front wheels – only the electric motor (80kW/250Nm) is.

Again, this sees it drive very differently (read: better, smoother and more responsive) to popular hybrids from Toyota, such as the RAV4 and Corolla. It’s basically a range-extender EV in operation.

With the petrol engine isolated from the driveline, serving only to wait on the electric motor hand and foot, the Nissan Note e-POWER electric motor has more mumbo than its petrol engine delivers alone, the electric spinner pumping out a handy 80kW of power and 250Nm of torque.

By the time the car reaches 40km/h, right foot firmly planted, no engine noises materialise as in conventional hybrids. At 60km/h it’s still running on pure electricity completely silent.

After another couple of minutes driving the petrol ‘generator’ kicks in, when battery gets low on charge. Then after a minute or so it shuts down again. But what’s a little odd is that the noise of the petrol motor has no relation to acceleration.