Dongfeng Nissan officially opened the early order book on its new NX7 hybrid yesterday, promising up to 320 km (~198 miles) of all-electric range from a 40 kWh lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery and a $20,000 price tag.
When the first generation Nissan LEAF bowed with 70-ish miles of range from its 24 kWh li-ion battery pack, it struggled to meet widespread adoption, especially in an SUV-obsessed US market that demands forethought-free trips to Home Depot and bladder-busting range. The company’s latest 2027 Rogue Hybrid is a step in the right direction, using a gas engine to generate electricity for a pair of electric drive motors that deliver a driving experience that’s remarkably similar to a “pure” electric car – but without a plug, it’s still entirely dependent on fossil fuels. The new Dongfeng Nissan NX7, though? That’s a different story.
The plug-in hybrid Dongfeng Nissan NX7 might be called a “long range hybrid” in the same sense that Volvo’s Euro-market XC70 is, in that it’s an EV for the 360-odd days a year that you’re driving less than 200 miles, and an ICE vehicle for the handful of days you drive more. And if you’re one of those people who thinks stopping on road trips is a character flaw, a fully charged and topped off NX7 will take you an astonishing 1,666 km (~1,035 miles) from where you started.
Covering all the angles
Dongfeng Nissan NX7.
The new NX7 could be an ideal lilypad vehicle for North American drivers who are either too afraid of being caught without a charger or too invested in the outcome of one or more dumb oil wars to confidently make the switch to EV – and, even at twice the 129,900 yuan ($~19,400) asking price, I think it would be a hit.
For that money, NX7 buyers get an absolutely loaded Model Y-sized crossover (they’re within 1/4″ of each other in length), with a 17.3″ central touchscreen, a fully digital instrument cluster, and (on higher-spec models) a positively massive 55″ augmented-reality head-up display powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8295P automotive processor and running on Nissan OS 3.0 with an AI-powered voice assistant developed with iFlytek that, Nissan claims, can recognize natural-language commands, remember user preferences, and even recognize occupants, adjusting vehicle settings accordingly.
On top-shelf models, the NX7 cabins get “AI Zero-Pressure Cloud Blanket” seats that use sensors and air-cushion arrays to dynamically adjust for maximum comfort, and include heating, ventilation, and a 12-point SPA-level massage function. The front seats can be fully reclined to create a bed-like configuration that will be familiar to Cube owners. The NX7 even offers an on-board refrigerator and motion-sickness prevention system that Nissan claims can reduce motion sickness by as much as 83% (which, like, I wouldn’t want to be the one to test that – but seems cool).
Power comes from a 1.5-liter naturally aspirated internal combustion engine making 98 hp that’s paired to a 228 hp electric drive motor and the previously mentioned 40.9 kWh LFP battery. It’s not immediately clear if the NX7 uses a conventional parallel hybrid system like a Prius or a series-hybrid-plus-plug setup, but Dongfeng’s hybrid technology patents describe a pretty versatile arrangement with four possible operating modes: series hybrid, parallel hybrid, direct engine drive and electricity generation – which means the vehicle can theoretically use the ICE motor as a generator, drive the wheels mechanically, or work alongside the electric motor, depending on what the operating conditions call for. Whether any or all four modes make it to production on the NX7 remains to be seen, but it’s an intriguing bit of engineering for a vehicle promising nearly 200 miles of electric driving range.
The final production version will be shown to the public for the first time at the Guangzhou Auto Show later this month, but you can let us know what you think of the new NX7 in the comments, today.
SOURCE | IMAGES: Dongfeng Nissan, via CarNewsChina.
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