Nissan's novelties at the 2005 Tokyo motor show

Motion Trends, 15th October 2005.

Environment - In line with Nissan’s environmental philosophy of fostering the “symbiosis of people, vehicles and nature,” the company is constantly reviewing how its business activities and vehicles affect the global environment and is working to identify and resolve the issues involved.

At present, Nissan’s three top environmental priorities are to: curb global warming; protect the air, water and soil; and recycle resources. Company-wide efforts on a global scale are addressing these issues throughout the life cycle of vehicles, from the development stage through manufacturing, logistics, sales, service and recycling.

Nissan’s aim is to develop environmental technologies that genuinely benefit customers at affordable prices. Technologies do not begin to contribute significantly to environmental protection until they have made an impact in the marketplace, with greater numbers of customers.

SU-LEVs and CVT - In February 2003, Nissan achieved its goal of having Ultra-Low Emission Vehicles (U-LEVs*1) account for 80% of its overall unit sales of gasoline-fueled passenger cars in the Japanese market.

A U-LEV sales ratio of 80% is estimated to have virtually the same effect on reducing nitrogen oxide (NOx) and hydrocarbon (HC) emissions that would result if electric vehicles accounted for 40% of Nissan’s passenger car sales volume.

As of March 2005, over 90% of all gasoline-fueled Nissan passenger cars sold in the domestic market were certified as U-LEVs. Aiming to further expand the penetration of clean vehicles, Nissan has set an ambitious goal of having Super Ultra-Low Emission Vehicles (SU-LEVs*2) account for 80% of its unit sales of gasoline-fueled passenger cars in the Japanese market by March 2006.

Nissan is also continually expanding the application of continuously variable transmissions (CVTs) to more model lines, aiming to sell one million CVT-equipped vehicles worldwide annually by fiscal 2007, a fourfold increase over the present level.

That will achieve a reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions equivalent to selling 200,000 hybrid vehicles.

Expanded application of CVTs and the new HR and MR engines will result in further reductions of CO2 emissions from Nissan vehicles in the near future.

Hybrid vehicles and fuel cell vehicles - In 2006, Nissan will introduce a hybrid version of its best-selling Altima sedan in the United States, the company’s largest overseas market.

Hybrid vehicles, with their low-emission and high-efficiency powertrain system, provide the combined advantages of both electric motors and gasoline engines.

Fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) are another clean-energy technology for which there are high expectations. It is thought that full-scale commercialization of FCVs will still take considerable time because of the many issues that must be addressed to support their widespread use, including cost reductions and implementation of the necessary fuel supply infrastructure. Nissan is working on these issues to support the future widespread use of FCVs, including participating in projects in the U.S. and Japan to demonstrate FCV technologies.

2005 Model X-TRAIL FCV: Nissan initiated R&D work on FCVs in 1996 and began limited leasing of the 2003 model X-TRAIL FCV in Japan in 2003.

Fuel cell stack: Nissan announced its first independently developed fuel cell stack in February 2005. The size of this new stack was substantially reduced and performance was significantly improved by adopting a newly developed thin separator and by integrating the components inside the stack case.

Nissan estimates that the new fuel cell stack can be reduced in volume to approximately 60% of the size of the previous stack, while delivering the same level of power. Moreover, improvements made to the electrode materials also more than double the service life of the new stack compared with Nissan’s previous stack.

Hydrogen storage cylinder: Nissan also announced the development of a new 70 MPa high-pressure hydrogen cylinder for storing hydrogen fuel on board FCVs. This new cylinder increases the hydrogen storage capacity by approximately 35% over the previous 35 MPA high-pressure storage cylinder while occupying the same amount of space.

These two new technologies are expected to contribute to dramatic improvements in the practicality of FCVs, including extending the driving range to 500 km, up from the present distance of 350 km.

Environmentally friendly powertrains - The HR engine (1.5~1.6L) and the MR engine (1.8~2.0L) are new in-line 4-cylinder engines, jointly developed by Nissan and Renault for worldwide use.

Sharing many new technologies, these new engines are designed to provide both excellent fuel economy and improved acceleration performance under the conditions most commonly encountered in everyday driving.

The application of a bore roundness machining technique, normally used for racing engines, has reduced cylinder bore distortion by approximately 70%, making it possible to reduce friction markedly.

A mirror-like finishing technique is also applied to polish the surfaces of the crankshaft and cam bearings to achieve a substantial reduction in friction at these sliding surfaces.

Among other improvements, thermal efficiency has been further enhanced by thinning the walls of the water jackets. These new technologies contribute significantly to improving engine efficiency.

The HR engine is used on the Tiida, Note, Cube and March compact models, while the MR engine is fitted on the Lafesta and Serena minivans.

Nissan plans to install the HR and MR engines on more than 70% of its 4-cylinder gasoline-engine vehicles in the coming years.

Improvement of transmission efficiency: Continuously variable transmissions (CVTs) represent an effective technology for improving fuel economy. Nissan has been a global pioneer in the use of CVTs, since adopting its first CVT on the March compact car in 1992. Nissan is currently the only vehicle manufacturer in the world capable of supplying a broad lineup of CVTs for application in small to large passenger vehicles.

Nissan’s third-generation XTRONIC CVT was first adopted on the Cube compact car released in the Japanese market in September 2002. In December 2002, the technology was fitted on the Murano crossover SUV launched in the U.S. market followed by the Teana luxury sedan in Japan in February 2003, thus becoming the world’s first CVT to be used on front-wheel-drive and all-wheel-drive vehicles powered by a 3.5L engine.

In 2004, Nissan also renewed its 1.5~2.0L engine lineup with the aim of further improving fuel economy and acceleration under ordinary driving conditions. These engines were first adopted on the Tiida, followed by application to the Lafesta, Note, Serena and other models. In the case of the Lafesta minivan, for example, the combination of a CVT and a new engine that generates ample low-end torque is largely responsible for improving fuel economy in real-world driving, where it really matters to drivers, by approximately 37% over that of other existing vehicles in this class.

While CVTs have attracted attention as a technology for improving fuel economy, they also enable a vehicle to respond instantaneously to throttle inputs and can continuously bring out the engine’s maximum power whenever is the driver demands. 

*1ULEVs: These vehicles generate 75% fewer NOx and HC emissions than vehicles complying with Japan’s 2000 exhaust emission regulations and 50% fewer such constituents than vehicles complying with the more stringent 2005 regulations.
*2SU-LEVs: These vehicles generate 75% fewer NOx and non-methane hydrocarbon (NMHC) emissions than vehicles complying with Japan’s 2005 exhaust emission regulations.