Qashqai E-Power Oil - Dealer

[Jake Sully]

One disappointment with the E-power is the lack of information about the engine and what its doing while driving. It would be very useful to have a temperature gauge and an rpm readout. It seems to warm up quickly in cold weather, especially when the heating is on, and this must be a good thing for the oil if not for the economy. Presumably cooling uses an electric water pump which only kicks in when needed. It would also be interesting to know how the lower parts of the variable compression mechanism are lubricated especially as some of the bearings reciprocate but don't rotate.

All of these factors and more affect the decision to use a particular oil and as its a unique design I wouldn't like to deviate from Nissan's recommendation .

Absolutely on-point, they should have engine temp and battery temp on display specially in e-Power as both the engine/battery switch-over and the regen-charging depends on battery temp. When the battery is cold, it won't have higher output hence the engine runs more, similalry when the battery is cold there will be no regen, rather the generator will rev really load and just dump off all the energy because the battery can't effectively accept and store that energy when its cold. You can still see that data via the OBD2 port but it should've been on the driver's display somewhere.

[Dodo78]

One disappointment with the E-power is the lack of information about the engine and what its doing while driving. It would be very useful to have a temperature gauge and an rpm readout. It seems to warm up quickly in cold weather, especially when the heating is on, and this must be a good thing for the oil if not for the economy. Presumably cooling uses an electric water pump which only kicks in when needed. It would also be interesting to know how the lower parts of the variable compression mechanism are lubricated especially as some of the bearings reciprocate but don't rotate.

All of these factors and more affect the decision to use a particular oil and as its a unique design I wouldn't like to deviate from Nissan's recommendation .

Happy new year ! The engine does not warm up quickly, it is only an electrical resistor in the heating system, which consumes a lot of electricity and keeps the engine running. Turn off the heating and the car behaves like in summer

[MontyB52]

I think one aspect with the ePower is how many miles covered have been ICE miles & how many battery miles, odometer may say 9000 miles but how many of those are ICE only - the main reason for servicing the ICE.
Are there any readouts tell the driver this?

[alexcrist]

The engine does not warm up quickly, it is only an electrical resistor in the heating system, which consumes a lot of electricity and keeps the engine running. Turn off the heating and the car behaves like in summer

If that was true, try to think of the implications:

1) engine heat is a mandatory byproduct of the engine. It's literally free heat. To throw that away and use electricity instead is an efficiency nightmare.

2) electric heaters warm up in seconds, while e-Power needs 5+ minutes to start pumping heat, and even then it's limited. To reach maximum capacity takes longer. It'a a clear proof that the heat comes from the engine. And yes, the engine in the winter will run longer only to produce heat, even if the battery is full - meaning that turning off the heat will also make the engine shut off more often.

3) the traction motor can run on battery alone for up to 20-25% of it's power, meaning 30-36 kW. There's no other equipment on that car that eats up even close to that. So even IF there was a full-blown electric heater on board it should be able to run fine on battery alone. Aa a comparison, a household electric heater outputs a ton of heat for big rooms while usually being limited to 2kW, and a car cabin is much smaller that that, you can literally melt the dashbord with 2kW of heat

4) electric heaters have no heat inertia, while the water heater does. Meaning that when the engine stops, a "presumed" elevtric heater also stops and cold air instantly enters the cabin. That doesn't happen. A water heater still takes heat from the engine, even if the engine stops (after it reaches normal operating temperature).

Full blown electric heaters are only available on cars which can run for long periods on battery alone, without running the engine at all, meaning PHEVs and EVs. FHEVs of all types (including e-Power) will always use engine heat to warm the cabin.

At best Qashqai may have what's called a PTC (although I didn't see it mentioned in the manual). Many modern cars have it, even classic ICEs (not even mild hybrids). But that can only output a few degrees above freezing point, barely enough to defrost the windows in the morning. That's its entire purpose. In no way a PTC is meant (or capable) to heat the entire cabin.

[Jake Sully]

I think one aspect with the ePower is how many miles covered have been ICE miles & how many battery miles, odometer may say 9000 miles but how many of those are ICE only - the main reason for servicing the ICE.
Are there any readouts tell the driver this?

That's a valid point, although with such short pure EV range it's not going to make much difference. Nissan does not have an official number for e-Power's electric-only range but considering that most EVs have an efficiency of 3 to 4 miles per kWh and with e-Power's 2.1kWh battery pack, it's pure EV range should be around 6.3 to 8.4 miles (my experience has been far less than this), but the real stress on a hybrid engine is the start/stop, more importantly the lack of warmup during load switch-overs. I make a habit that when I switch ON the car and its on EV, I give it a tap of gas in P mode, it starts up the engine, I let it warm up for a minute (wish there was a temp gauge), then drive off. And if I forget to do this or didn't have time to do this, during the travel when the engine comes online and has to pick the load while being cold, it ain't happy, gets loud and rumbly like a tractor engine.

[Dodo78]

The engine does not warm up quickly, it is only an electrical resistor in the heating system, which consumes a lot of electricity and keeps the engine running. Turn off the heating and the car behaves like in summer

If that was true, try to think of the implications:

1) engine heat is a mandatory byproduct of the engine. It's literally free heat. To throw that away and use electricity instead is an efficiency nightmare.

2) electric heaters warm up in seconds, while e-Power needs 5+ minutes to start pumping heat, and even then it's limited. To reach maximum capacity takes longer. It'a a clear proof that the heat comes from the engine. And yes, the engine in the winter will run longer only to produce heat, even if the battery is full - meaning that turning off the heat will also make the engine shut off more often.

3) the traction motor can run on battery alone for up to 20-25% of it's power, meaning 30-36 kW. There's no other equipment on that car that eats up even close to that. So even IF there was a full-blown electric heater on board it should be able to run fine on battery alone. Aa a comparison, a household electric heater outputs a ton of heat for big rooms while usually being limited to 2kW, and a car cabin is much smaller that that, you can literally melt the dashbord with 2kW of heat

4) electric heaters have no heat inertia, while the water heater does. Meaning that when the engine stops, a "presumed" elevtric heater also stops and cold air instantly enters the cabin. That doesn't happen. A water heater still takes heat from the engine, even if the engine stops (after it reaches normal operating temperature).

Full blown electric heaters are only available on cars which can run for long periods on battery alone, without running the engine at all, meaning PHEVs and EVs. FHEVs of all types (including e-Power) will always use engine heat to warm the cabin.

At best Qashqai may have what's called a PTC (although I didn't see it mentioned in the manual). Many modern cars have it, even classic ICEs (not even mild hybrids). But that can only output a few degrees above freezing point, barely enough to defrost the windows in the morning. That's its entire purpose. In no way a PTC is meant (or capable) to heat the entire cabin.

The heating system of e-power and the hybrid version 1.3 uses a resistance and water from the thermal engine. I assume that the resistance is used only temporarily to quickly heat the passenger compartment.

[Obo110]

I am glad of the heated steering wheel and heated seats whilst waiting for warm air to warm my tootsies. Especially on these frosty mornings at 06:00

[MontyB52]

I’m finding ”heating” does warm up quickly with the ICE has run, open the middle vents & you will soon feel the warm air.
The footwell vents don’t seem to point at the feet position so they are just warming the air in the footwell space between legs & seat, this will always take longer to feel the heat on the tootsies.

Is the heat exchanger the small thin aluminium box under the plastic engine cover?

[roadster]

These are just my recent observations. Unless you are completely obsessive about fuel saving the quickest way to get everything warmed up and defrosted is to force the engine to start by depressing the accelerator while still in park. If you avoid using the ECO driving mode heating will also be more responsive in the short term.

[Dodo78]

I’m finding ”heating” does warm up quickly with the ICE has run, open the middle vents & you will soon feel the warm air.
The footwell vents don’t seem to point at the feet position so they are just warming the air in the footwell space between legs & seat, this will always take longer to feel the heat on the tootsies.

Is the heat exchanger the small thin aluminium box under the plastic engine cover?

The electric radiator has the number 271431BP1A it is in the heating system.