Language Rights: Nissan Readies 'e-4ORCE' for Showrooms

Within a couple of years, Nissan hopes to put the company’s current dark clouds behind it and get on with the business of selling cars and making money. One vehicle expected to help the automaker in this supposedly EV-hungry decade is a production version of last year’s Ariya — a concept crossover powered solely by electricity.

Looking pretty fleshed-out for a concept, the Ariya, or whatever Nissan chooses to call it, will join the long-running Leaf in the company’s emissions-free stable. At this week’s Consumer Electronics Show, the automaker chose to show off the system that gets the Ariya moving. It’s an unholy marriage of letters and numbers.

e-4ORCE (we’ll call it e-4orce, as unnecessary capitalization can prove too stimulating), is a twin-motor, all-wheel drive setup that makes heavy use of regenerative braking to control body motion while underway. CES attendees were given the opportunity to see the system in action with the help of a Leaf testbed.

“This technology enables excellent cornering performance and traction on slippery surfaces and comfortable ride for all passengers,” said Takao Asami, Nissan’s senior vice president of research and advanced engineering, in a statement.

Nissan claims e-4orce was born of lessons learned during development of the torque-split system found on the GT-R and the latest Patrol’s (Armada’s) four-wheel drive system. Using regenerative braking fore and aft can erase pitch and dive in normal driving situations, while boosting regeneration on just one corner of the vehicle can aid in cornering, just like with a sophisticated stability system that utilizes conventional brakes. The model’s twin electric motors allows Nissan to vector torque to individual wheels as needed.

Nissan’s e-4orce will join the brand’s “e-Power” system in its electrified lineup. As for the production version of the Ariya, Nissan didn’t take the opportunity to expand on the vehicle’s specs, nor did it hint at when production might commence.

[Images: Nissan]