Since its launch, the system of environmental badges for cars in Spain it has been criticized by numerous sectors. A system created at the time to facilitate the classification of vehicles by their emissions by means of a sticker on their windshield and that in 2022 will experience a critical moment with the arrival of the Nissan Qashqai e-Power. A non-plug-in hybrid that can blow up the current incongruity due to the fact that it will be able to access the ZERO emissions label and of which we already have the first images of its final design.
In 2022 the e-Power version of the Qashqai, Nissan’s most popular model in our market. A motorization that gives a return to the hybrid concept, and where we continue depending exclusively on the contribution of the gasoline engine, although this only does the work of generator.
And this is where the Nissan model could if there are no changes, be the first gasoline car with a Zero Emissions label. This despite the fact that it is clearly not zero emissions.
The e-Power technology has a very particular operation: the electric motor is in charge of driving the vehicle, while the thermal propellant acts, as we have said, exclusively as a generator.
Nissan notes that technology e-Power is the ideal transition between vehicles with internal combustion engine and 100% electric. The powertrain of the new Qashqai e-Power consists of a 154 hp gasoline engine, a power generator, an inverter and a 140 kW (190 hp) electric motor. However, the gasoline engine is used only as a generator of electricity. That is, the wheels are driven exclusively by the electric motor.
The incongruity is total, since this hybrid model will not only carry the same label as pure electric cars, it might even carry a more advanced label than some plug-in hybrids. And it is that as we remember these to be able to pass the ECO to Zero, they need to certify an autonomy in electric mode under the WLTP cycle of more than 40 kilometers. A figure that the Nissan is not even joking about since it has just 1.5 kWh of battery, and also can not be recharged more than with the gasoline engine and regenerative braking.
This brings the need to renew the DGT’s environmental labels, to avoid the absurdity of a gasoline car being the first to legally obtain a Zero Emissions sticker.
ANDDevelopment of the new Qashqai e-Power is still underway, but it is expected that the launch of the e-Power system in Europe will take place in 2022. Predictably, it will be released in the first semester while, to see it in our dealerships, we will have to wait until the end of next year.
Will this model be the end of the current DGT system of environmental badges, or will it sneak in as zero emissions?
