Nissan presents three electric concept cars and new images of the SUV that will replace the Leaf, with details of its electrification strategy for 2030. This includes the launch of electric models equipped with solid electrolyte batteries.
Nissan details its electrification strategy for the current decade. Unlike others, the Japanese manufacturer does not plan to become 100% electric by 2030. Nevertheless, it aims for carbon neutrality over the entire life cycle of its products by 2050 and will therefore, initially, multiply electrified models. By 2030, 23 hybrid or electric Nissan vehicles will be marketed, including 15 “zero emissions”. Twenty of them will be launched over the next five years. To accompany these announcements, Nissan presents three electric concept cars which could prefigure some of these cars to come.
The next electric crossover takes shape
Last July, Nissan announced that an electric crossover with a coupe profile would be produced at its UK plant in Sunderland. The Yokohama firm today unveils new images of an SUV that will replace the Leaf, still in the form of a concept called Chill-Out for the occasion. Its lines are clean. Its black front panel incorporates lights flared upwards and linked by a luminous ring in their upper part.
The bottom of the doors is slightly hollowed out, while the black sills and roof lighten the silhouette. On the stern, the lights are integrated into a glass panel that can evoke the Honda CRX and CR-Z or the first Citroën C4 Coupé. The car will be based on the CMF-EV platform of the Renault-Nissan alliance, like the Nissan Ariya and the Renault Mégane E-Tech Electric, avoiding head-on competition with the latter in the C segment thanks in particular to its “fastback” body. The car will be offered with Nissan’s e-4orce electric all-wheel drive. It is expected for 2024.
Hang-Out, between crossover and minivan
Will minivans see a comeback in the electric age? While some rumors suggest the arrival of such a model at Mini, which would be called Traveler and would be derived from the Urbanaut concept, Nissan presents the Hang-Out concept.
Under the false air of an SUV conferred on it by its black bodywork protections, this “zero emission” vehicle offers a low and flat floor in a passenger compartment designed for user-friendliness. The front seats can be swiveled to face those in the second row; those at the rear can also be turned upside down so that all occupants can together watch a movie displayed through the rear window. Nissan is also considering the Hang-Out as a recreational vehicle which takes in its small roof box a canvas allowing for example to shelter from the sun next to the car. On the style side too, we can note an astonishing proximity between this Nissan concept and certain creations badged Mini, graphic patterns of the rims reminiscent of the Cooper SE at the stern of the stern evoking the Countryman through the color close to that of the Traveler. Nissan designers are not lacking in imagination, but it’s hard not to notice these similarities.
Surf-Out, “zero emission” leisure pick-up
Outdoor recreation always, the Nissan Surf-Out is an all-wheel drive electric pickup concept designed for off-roading and capable of supplying power to external devices. Like the Hang-Out, its front lights arranged on a glass panel are framed by an oblong luminous border. On the utility, it is the same at the back. The bow of this model only displays the manufacturer’s name and not its logo, which is however visible on the central pillars.
Max-Out, a future electric Z Roadster?
Nissan is finally presenting the Max-Out concept, a “zero emission” roadster advertised as ultra-light. Very low, the vehicle has a very inclined windshield, and the light frame of its lights is more angular than on the Hang-Out and Surf-Out for more aggressiveness. Here again, all-wheel drive is on the program. The passenger seat can be folded flat into the floor in order to provide more space for solo journeys.
Solid-battery Nissan before 2030
The Hang-Out, Surf-Out and Max-Out concepts are designed for a next generation modular architecture. Always built as a “skateboard” (battery in the center under the floor, motors on the axles), this will accommodate solid batteries that Nissan plans to market in fiscal year 2028. The Japanese manufacturer becomes the first to give such a precise date for the launch of these new kind of accumulators. It announces a charging time equivalent to about a third of what is needed today and a reduced weight compared to that of current lithium-ion batteries.
But, before solid electrolyte, Nissan is working on cobalt-free batteries which will reduce the production costs of electric cars by 65% by 2028. The company will also develop battery recycling with dedicated sites in Europe. and in the United States, in addition to the existing one in Japan, and the marketing of second-life batteries from the mid-2020s. In the next five years alone, Nissan plans to invest the equivalent of 15 , 6 billion euros in its electrification strategy.
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