Nissan (Almost) Transitions Away From Gas Engines In Favor Of Electric

Nissan will seemingly be the first Japanese automaker to pivot towards electric engines, leaving gasoline in the dust—mostly. 

Gasoline engines will start to see a decline in production especially for the firm’s Chinese and Japanese markets. However, hybrid vehicles will still be developed at the same time. Electrek deduces that these reservations about going all-electric could be due to the fact that drivers in Japan aren’t fully convinced about EVs yet.

Nikkei Asia reports that while the firm is interested in developing battery-powered vehicles, there will still be a continuation of gas engines, particularly in gas pickup trucks. These are manufactured mainly for the US market, which has a significant number of Nissan users.

Instead of redesigning the engines to become electric, the company is planning to improve upon existing ones, according to sources familiar with the matter. 

Nikkei also states that Nissan spends around 500 billion yen (US$4.3 billion) on research and development every year. Most of that has been directed toward gas-powered engines, but there are plans to shift that focus to EVs and similar new tech. 

Similarly, staff involved with the gas-engine research will be redirected to electric-engine research instead as the company begins to adapt its operations to the times.

[via Electrek and Nikkei Asia, image via Philip Lange / Shutterstock.com]