Nissan is betting big on a new powertrain technology called e-Power, which will make its debut in the all-new 2026 Rogue. While this technology will be a first for the USA, it has been around for a while. To date, Nissan has sold more than 1.62 million e-Power cars, the vast majority of those in Japan.

The new Nissan Rogue is not available to drive yet, but Nissan built a third-gen Rogue e-Power engine into the body of a Nissan Qashqai, the model formerly known in the USA as the Rogue Sport, so we could see how much the technology has developed. The current Qashqai e-Power (second-generation) was on hand so we could compare the two.

DrivingOnRoad is currently in Japan driving and experiencing a host of future Nissan technologies. This article summarizes our thoughts after a back-to-back encounter with the second- and third-generation e-Power technologies.

BEV Vs. Hybrid Vs. e-Power

But before we get to the driving impression, a quick lesson on how this all works. There are many common parts between e-Power, BEVs, and hybrids, but it’s neither of those things, at least not traditionally speaking.

The e-Power Qashqai is equipped with a 1.5-liter turbocharged three-cylinder engine producing between 148 and 215 horsepower depending on the percentage of power the driver is using. Instead of a tachometer, you get a percentage counter, much like you get in a Rolls-Royce.

The engine is coupled to a generator, and both are small enough to fit under the hood of the Qashqai/Rogue Sport, so there are no space penalties. This generator feeds a tiny 1.8 kWh battery, which sends power to the rear wheels. We’re told the Rogue e-Power will also be available in all-wheel drive, with another electric motor in the front.

It’s a fairly complex solution, given that the engine’s 215-hp output would have been more than sufficient to power the compact SUV’s wheels directly, so what gives? Well, as it turns out, there are many benefits to this system.

Reasons Why You Would Want e-Power

The main reason you’d want this in your life is the EV motor driving the wheels. As we all know, electric motors have many benefits:

  • Since the car is driven by an electric motor, you get instant torque.
  • The engine is mounted more rigidly, so up to 60% of vibration is reduced.
  • You get motor control within 1/10,000th of a second.
  • The engine is made to run at its optimal thermal efficiency point, resulting in lower fuel consumption.
  • The engine is still serviced in a traditional way, and the EV part of the system hardly requires any maintenance.

In a traditional ICE car, the driver is in control of the thermal efficiency of the engine. Basically, if you rev the nuts off the three-cylinder in every gear, the tiny engine would drink like a college student during happy hour on a Friday night.

With the ECU in control of the engine, it’s constantly kept at its most fuel-efficient operating point by an ECU and a complex set of code. So even if you hoof it, the engine never sounds like you’re wringing its neck.

That’s The Theory, But What’s It Like To Drive?

To be blunt, the second-gen tech in the current Qashqai is impressive, but it misses out on two key elements I love about EVs. The first is the lack of noise, the second is smoothness. We drove it around Nissan’s test track in Yokohama, and the little three-pot screams loudly from the front when you merge at highway speeds. It also feels like there’s a slight delay in power application, which is something traditional EVs just don’t do.

To get around this, Nissan has developed the third-gen e-Power system, which consists of what it calls a “five-in-one” powertrain. Basically, it’s fancy talk for the engineers working on all of the major components and refining them specifically for this setup.

Compared to the second-generation e-Power Qashqai, this new drivetrain is claimed to have a 15% improvement in high speed, a 9% improvement in fuel consumption, and a 5.6 decibel reduction in noise. Nissan is quick to point out that these figures are not homologated yet. It sounds good on paper, but how does it feel in the real world?

It Feels Like An Electric Rogue

Jumping from the second to the third generation is pretty much like jumping from any previous-generation car into the new model. The most apparent change is the sound insulation. If you hoof it in the third-gen, you hear a little bit of a rumble from the front, and that’s about it.

For most of my driving session, I used between 40% to 60% of the available power, in which case it behaves like a traditional EV. The torque is instant, and the entire car feels more like a tight unit rather than a collection of parts borrowed from other machines. To be frank, it feels like a Rogue Sport, which is a great car. In this case, the rear wheels just happen to run on electricity. The regenerative braking doesn’t interfere, it glides smoothly, which is pretty much what you want in a car like this.

The only downside to all the sound insulation is that you notice more wind noise, especially around the side mirrors. Keep in mind that the Rogue will be an entirely new design, and the engineers were already aware of this problem when they asked for my feedback.

The Real Question: Would I Buy One Over A Basic Hybrid?

It’s tough to say. Nissan doesn’t want to say anything about price, and naturally there are no available fuel consumption figures for a car that will only be launched for the 2026 model year. That’s when the all-new Rogue arrives, not to be confused with the new Rogue hybrid, which will debut later this year.

I like the idea of using existing engine technology within its most efficient operating range to create electricity. I love the idea that you don’t need to recharge the car because you fill it up like any other regular car with an engine.

It’s like having your cake and eating it, but the big question is how much that cake will cost. Until we have concrete figures, it’s difficult to give a straight yes or no answer, but if Nissan can bring this to the US market at competitive prices, there’s no reason not to buy one, and price and eco-conscious buyers could be in for a treat with an EV without the range anxiety.

Nissan’s e-Power Coming To More American Models

When asked the question, Nissan’s executives think we should think smaller cars rather than bigger. To me, this system would make a lot of sense in the new Sentra, which is a sensational-looking thing, which we’re unfortunately not allowed to share with you just yet.

The great thing about e-Power is that it can utilize any engine in Nissan’s range, so you could easily use an NA engine to create a cheaper version of it.

With sedans quickly disappearing from our roads, it would make a lot of sense to give the all-new Sentra this unique selling point, but that’s just me speculating. It could just as easily be built into a Kicks, taking the award-winning budget car to new heights.

Whatever the case may be, the technology works beautifully, and the only real complaint from my side is wind noise and a lack of information about how efficient this system really is. According to global road tests of the existing Qashqai e-Power, it’s not noticeably more efficient than a traditional hybrid, but the truth is that we just don’t know what the third generation of this technology can do in America just yet.

At the end of the day, we should consider ourselves lucky that Nissan is not doubling down on EVs, as was the original plan. It’s thinking out of the box, and that’s when Nissan is at its very best.