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Going Green in Geneva: The Nissan ESFLOW or is it the Nissan z? Find out about the lithium ion battery and the two electric motors on this concept vehicle.
At first glance, the ESFLOW could be mistaken for a concept of Nissan's next Z. However, underneath the sporty sheet metal there's a lithium ion battery lifted from the Leaf and a pair of electric motors connected to the rear wheels.
The battery is placed almost in the center of the car which Nissan representatives point out make it easier to maintain weight balance: Unlike a gas tank, the battery maintains the same mass no matter how much fuel it's holding. The car's aluminum body and chassis keeps weight down, allowing the ESFLOW to go from 0-60 mph in just under five seconds with a range of about 150 miles, 50% longer than what the company says the Leaf should do under ideal conditions.
What kind of buyer is Nissan courting with the ESFLOW? According to a press release, the car is aimed at a tech worker named Daniel who carries a "pocket PDA" and DJs on the weekend.
No, really. That's almost verbatim from the press release. Daniel like the ESFLOW because it's easy to park and it impresses his friends.
Marketing exercises aside, the ESFLOW does have a unique performance enhancement thanks to the electric drivetrain: simplified torque vectoring. When you go around a curve the inner and outer wheels spin at different rates. Torque vectoring systems allow more power to be applied to one side of the car, aiding with cornering. Nissan was a pioneer in this field with the ATTESA-ETS Pro system used in the 1995 Skyline GT-R. Since then similar systems have become a signature of high-performance all wheel drive systems. Adding this to conventional vehicles is very expensive, requiring complicated clutch systems and electronics to redirect power from the engine. However, the ESFLOW's two motors can forgo that, achieving the effect by powering the left and right motors independently. Implementing this requires no more than some additional programming for the traction control.
We probably won't see a production car with the ESFLOW's styling because the front end is too complicated for mass production. However, there's a good chance we will see something similar in execution: Nissan has said time after time that their electric vehicle plan will extend far past the Leaf, and a car like this would be a perfect counterpart to the GT-R and 370Z.
A production version of the ESFLOW would compete directly with the Tesla Roadster, offering similar straight line performance with a more practical interior and larger dealer network, albeit with somewhat less range.