New Nissan Navara and Patrol to go solid-state EV

The next-generation Nissan Navara looks set to skip hybrid tech and go straight to battery-electric propulsion as part of bold plan by the Japanese car-maker to introduce 27 electrified vehicles including 19 EVs by 2030.

The leap to a full zero-emissions drivetrain would also take in the all-new Y63 Nissan Patrol, as part of a move by Nissan to fast-track the adoption of advanced new solid-state battery technology.

That’s the word from Nissan executive Guillaume Cartier, the company’s Chairperson of Management Committee for AMIEO (Africa, Middle East, India, Europe and Oceania), who is bullish about the brand’s EV shift.

Visiting Australia for a dealer conference earlier this month, Cartier gave the strongest clue yet that heavy-duty vehicles such as the yet-to-be-revealed new Nissan Patrol and Navara would utilise solid-state battery technology in their advance to EV power without bothering with hybrid.

“Solid-state batteries is a technology that we want to own – it’s a game-changer,” said Cartier.

While the new Navara and Patrol, which is expected to downsize from petrol V8 to turbo-petrol V6 power by 2025, will both be launched with combustion engines, they will also be engineered for EV applications.

While the architecture of the next Navara is being developed by Alliance partner Mitsubishi (and will be shared with the new Triton that’s due to debut soon), Nissan appears to be having significant input with battery technology for the EV variant that will follow.

Cartier suggested that EV versions of any future high-performance or high-load models from Nissan – including those currently weighing more than two tonnes, such as the Patrol and Navara – will be fitted with solid-state battery technology, which has higher energy density than the lithium-ion batteries commonly used today.

That solid-state battery-electric tech could also power the next-generation Nissan GT-R supercar, which has been teased in the form of the all-electric R32 EV concept.

When asked whether the next Patrol would adopt Nissan’s innovative e-POWER hybrid technology, Cartier said it was more likely to shift to the brand’s upcoming new battery tech when it came to the EV version.

“This type of car is more linked to the solid-state battery technology,” he said. “If you have a car that you want to keep the capability, if it is a car that is more than two tonnes, the battery you need to have is making it heavier and more expensive.”

Solid-state batteries use a solid electrolyte to improve battery efficiency and safety, without the intense cooling requirements common on EVs today.

That not only makes them safer but also smaller and lighter, in turn able to provide more electricity with less weight – something that will become increasingly important for cars with big power and/or distance requirements.

It means vehicles such as the Navara and Patrol may be able to offer the range and load-carrying ability – including 3.5-tonne towing capability – that people expect of large off-road vehicles.

The question for both Patrol and Navara is timing.

The next-generation Navara is expected around 2025 and it’s unlikely the EV version would be available from launch. But it’s also likely an EV variant will be one of the 19 battery-electric models Nissan is planning by the end of the decade.

Similarly, an all-new Patrol is likely to arrive around 2025 and the EV version would likely follow soon afterwards, although Cartier said that wouldn’t happen before 2026.

One of the big challenges with creating a battery pack that can store a lot of energy is the cost of manufacturing those batteries.

Crucially, Cartier said solid-state batteries would be cheaper to manufacture than existing NMC and LFP lithium-ion batteries.

He said that was key to ensuring the overall cost of ownership of an EV was comparable with an ICE vehicle.

“The cost is going down,” he said.

“Because you can reduce the [manufacturing] cost per kiloWatt-hour, and that’s the one which is helping to reduce [costs] by more than 50 per cent.

“Some of the cars you are unable to electrify today you can electrify tomorrow.”

Electric versions of the Navara and Patrol will no doubt be important models for Nissan Australia, particular in the face of upcoming electric utes from Toyota, Ford, Kia and a range of Chinese car-makers, but there’s more EV love coming from the Japanese brand.

Cartier said the free trade agreement with the UK made exporting cars from there to Australia more viable moving forward.

“All the cars that we have in the UK can be sold here,” he said.

As well as the replacement for the Nissan LEAF, which is expected to morph from hatch to SUV, Cartier said the EV-only replacement of the Micra city-hatch was also on the cards for Australia.

Battery-powered versions of the JUKE and QASHQAI compact SUVs – both of which is built at the Sunderland plant in England – are also due within a couple of years, as is an X-TRAIL EV.

Meantime in China, Nissan has also revealed an all-electric version of the Pathfinder large SUV, as well as a concept for an all-new mid-size electric SUV called the Arizon.

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