Nissan’s Electrified Future Lineup of Sports Cars and Pickups Looks Incredibly Exciting
They go far, far beyond the humble Leaf EV and branch out into numerous key segments, including trucks.
khodrocar - WHAT THEY ARE: It's getting tough to keep track of which automaker has promised a flood of electric vehicles over the near term, how many EVs each one has pledged, and by exactly when. So, what's Nissan up to? The Japanese carmaker is spending nearly $20 billion to deliver 20 electrified vehicles in the next four years, and it aims for 15 fully electric models (among 23 all-new vehicles for Nissan and Infiniti) by 2030.
The automaker recently previewed a smattering of concept vehicles representing potential EVs, including a pickup truck, an SUV-ish thing with van-like sliding doors, and even a two-seat roadster. Each of these carry ephemeral names such as Chill-Out, Hang-Out, and Max Out. We figure the production versions, if indeed these concepts directly preview electric cars and trucks coming in the next few years, will have normal designations—or they might even outright replace various existing Nissan nameplates.
WHY THEY MATTER: Nissan's next-generation Leaf might be previewed by the Chill-Out, a small crossover EV that uses the same CMF-EV architecture as the 2023 Ariya SUV. Transitioning the Leaf into a taller, more appealing vehicle than the dumpy hatchback it is today makes so much sense, it'd be shocking if Nissan weren't thinking about it.
Far and away the most consequential future Nissan—besides the next-generation Leaf—is the electric pickup truck almost certainly bound for production. It might not look exactly like the Surf-Out concept here, which is a virtually sales-proof two-door regular cab with digital panels front and rear including not only the headlights and taillights but also lots of display space for animations and such.
The front panel is also translucent, offering a view from the cabin all the way out the nose. Perhaps the general shapes on this concept will carry over to a four-door, midsize-ish pickup to be sold alongside the Frontier. But no matter what form it takes, the truck is the concept we'd prioritize.
PLATFORM AND POWERTRAIN: Other than their cool-vibes names, Nissan's EV concepts showed off novel packaging and fanciful solid-state batteries that, as of today, don't exist in a production vehicle. Nissan is working on the tech, which promises better energy density, lower cost, and quicker charging, but we figure that come 2025, the first round of the automaker's EVs is going to run on conventional lithium-ion tech, as found in the Ariya. That production SUV also is likely to donate its dual-motor drive system to a host of upcoming Nissan EVs.
ESTIMATED PRICE: $30,000-$50,000
EXPECTED ON-SALE DATE: 2024-2030
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