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Technologies applied to the Nissan Tino Hybrid, marketed in March 2000, in Japan, are expected to evolve into the core powertrain technologies of the future, for the following technical advantages inherent to hybrid EVs: 1 Regeneration of deceleration energy 2 Motor driven propulsion at low speed, combined with power-assisted operation in the mid- and high-load ranges. It is expected that a number of models will be introduced to the market in the future, which pursue these advantages in various forms, resulting in HEV technologies to accelerate the use of electric power for the vehicle. Fuel cell vehicles will be included in this future scenario. In this paper, our view on the future HEV technologies will be described. In addition, the latest technologies applied to the Nissan Tino Hybrid will be introduced.

This paper presents a new hybrid propulsion system that has been developed to address environmental issues related to the automotive powertrain, based on the view that such systems will be a core automotive technology in the future. To achieve market acceptance, it is essential that hybrid systems do not compromise engine performance or driving performance. The following target performance characteristics were considered to be important in the development of this hybrid propulsion system for the Japanese market. First, driving performance should not be sacrificed for the mere reason that it is a hybrid car. Second, fuel economy should be twice that of gasoline-powered vehicles in the same class under 10-15 test mode operation, or even better. Further, performance in other areas should be comparable to conventional vehicles. The system presented here has two motors for propulsion and energy regeneration. Both are inverter type permanent magnetic synchronous motors.

We succeeded in developing a parallel hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) with a fuel efficiency in the 10-15 mode more than double that of existing vehicles of the same class of driving performance. A prominent feature of this HEV system is the belt-drive continuously variable transmission (CVT) with built-in traction motor and powder clutch. Adopting a more efficient configuration proved effective in minimizing cost increases and loss of space utility and offered the same reliability provided by existing vehicles. This paper discusses the functional design aspects of the parallel HEV system, which holds great promise for viable mass production.

Nissan has now developed a second-generation ceramic turbocharger, improving upon its original ceramic turbocharger in order to meet the increasingly demanding requirements of drivers.