Across the back of the trunk the battery has huge air flow
closeup of hybrid battery
In April I drove to the capital of Hybrids – Ottawa to pick-up my new Nissan. Pretty cool to get a new car anytime, but with all the gas saving hype and relatively new model, I was the local hybrid rock star for a few weeks.
The official story is 5.9 litres per 100km which converts to about 1,200kms per tank of gas. The best we have been able to achieve is 1,100 which in retrospect is great compared to our van that gets 350km in the city. Both vehicles have 76L tanks which at $1.40 puts a serious bite in your wallet when you fill up.
You hear a lot about the battery and until last week I had not seen it myself. I was rear-ended at a stop sign causing significant damage to the back end. The result is, I got to see the battery and it is not nearly as big as I imagined. Come to think of it, neither is the electric motor which is tucked in beside the 2.5L gas engine.
Interestingly, the rental car I picked up at the body shop is a regular Altima 2.5L model (same engine as the Hybrid). It has a huge trunk but the engine noise makes it a lot louder than the Hybrid. Still as zippy, but consumption in the 9L – 9.5L per 100km range.
