Nissan reveals torquey 300hp+ Leaf prototype at Tokyo Motor Show week

Aside from unveiling the Aria and IMk electric vehicle (EV) concept cars, Nissan invited some regional media to test a variety of its EV cars at the proving grounds of Grandrive, Nissan’s proprietary test track located just beside its Oppama manufacturing plant in Yokohama. The track area was once a naval airfield, its flat and expansive layout made it an ideal area not as a racetrack, but more of a proving ground designed to simulate public roads.

It was during this time, Nissan revealed a prototype Leaf car, using Nissan’s popular EV model and is currently the world’s best selling EV. The prototype is a high performance, all-wheel-drive test car using Nissan’s Leaf e+ EV but fitted with two electric motors, one in front and one at the rear that powers all its four wheels and packed with new technologies being developed for the company’s next generation of EVs.

This enhanced all-wheel drive system powered two high-power motors integrated with Nissan-developed chassis control technology, allowing Nissan to take its electric cars to a whole new level of performance. Participants also got to see the Nissan Leaf Nismo RC, the dual electric-motor all-wheel-drive performance car also based on the Nissan Leaf in action at the Grandrive.

“Soon, Nissan will launch a next-generation EV that will be a true breakthrough,” said Takao Asami, senior vice president for research and advanced engineering at Nissan. “The new electric-drive four-wheel-control technology now being developed integrates Nissan’s electric propulsion and 4WD control technologies with our chassis control technology to achieve a huge leap in acceleration, cornering and braking performance, on par with the latest sports cars.”

These exciting revelations are a sign that Nissan is heading in the right direction on EV technology, which is a key component of Nissan Intelligent Mobility, the company’s vision of how vehicles are driven, powered and integrated into society. Thanks to its separate front and rear electric motors, the powertrain generates 227 kilowatts of maximum output (304 horsepower) and a whopping 680 Nm of maximum torque. All that power is controlled provided by Nissan’s advanced EV technology which offers highly responsive, yet smooth and linear acceleration. The all-wheel-control system offers much more control and better handling on nearly any road condition, heightening driving performance and confidence.

During the test track exercises, part of the track was continuously doused with water, simulating bad and rainy weather road conditions and the traction controls were purposely turned off and on so drivers could compare the difference in handling. The difference was night and day.  The test car’s precision control of both motors also provided a much better ride comfort. Vehicle pitch and dive are minimized by adding regenerative rear motor braking to the usual front motor regenerative braking, and to prove this, drivers were asked to drive the prototype to speeds up to 40 kph and quickly slow down to 20 kph and with the control system, there was minimal head shake back and forth. This gives the car a more balance road grip and also the benefit of less motion sickness and related discomfort when these cars are driven hard.  On rough, bumpy roads and when accelerating, motor control is optimized to maintain ride comfort by minimizing irregular movement.

Aside from optimizing front and rear torque allocation, the system also applies independent brake control at each of the four wheels to maximize the cornering force generated by each tire. This lets drivers enjoy faster cornering that faithfully follows their intentions with minimal steering.

Inside the test car, there was a 12.3 inch display mounted in the center of the instrument panel that reports, in real-time, information on the vehicle control technology with a graphic interface showing vehicle movement, and how the all-wheel-control technology is performing at a glance, including how power and brakes are applied in real time.

Nissan did not give any specific timeline on when this technology will be applied to its road going EVs, but from the looks of it, it will be very soon. Since it was a prototype test car, most of its technology were hidden inside, but the custom exterior shows overfenders and rally style Volk Racing alloy wheels implying that this car was designed and built for grueling road conditions.  We are truly excited to see this tech packed into road going EVs real soon.