Hybrid Wars : With the collapse of the Nissan-Honda merger now official, some details are emerging why the talks fell apart so soon.We knew, for instance, that Nissan’s board objected to Honda’s demand that it be made a subsidiary, and bristled at the idea of being made to close factories According to The Japan News, there was another sticking point: Honda demanded that Nissan ditch its e-Power hybrid system and integrate its hybrid powertrain into its models instead
Honda viewed the platform sharing with Nissan approach as a way of broadening the sales potential for its hybrid system which would increase operational efficiencies and lower production costs from the increased scale, according to the report. Honda said Nissan would gain from lower procurement costs.
Nissan has heavily invested in its extended range e-Power hybrid tech and already has the third-generation e-Power system on the way. It’s set to hit North America later this year, and claims 20% more efficient and 15% better highway fuel economy than the existing version—one that never provided enough highway efficiency for Nissan to offer the system in North America, where Honda and Toyota ruled.
Nissan’s EREV e-Power setup, unlike Honda’s more conventional hybrid system, has a gas engine that charges an onboard battery to send power directly to the drive wheels. A version of the system is already being sold by Nissan in the Note, Kicks, Qashqai, X-Trail and Sylphy sedan in China.As for the Rogue e-Power hybrid, it won’t arrive in our neck of the woods until 2026, making it the first e-Power model to go on sale in North America. To tide us over, the company will roll out a plug-in hybrid Rogue later in 2023.
Honda, on the other hand, is forging ahead with its own hybrid plans. The company recently described a new e:HEV system that combines 1.5- and 2.0-liter direct-injection Atkison-cycle engines with lighter components and better efficiency. Honda promises that by 2027, the system will provide a 10% improvement in fuel economy, a 200-pound weight savings, and a 50% cost benefit, as compared with 2018 equivalent models. Honda has already slashed 25% of costs on the new Accord Hybrid, so it is already on the right track.