When you think about it, Nissan’s e-Power tech makes a whole lot of sense. One can run solely on electric power with the engine’s sole purpose being a generator to recharge the batteries. It’s not exactly zero emissions, but that’s one way to cure range anxiety.
It’s known as a series hybrid system, and we’ve seen it in various applications. However, no one has installed that kind of powertrain in a pickup truck. That is, until now.
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Surprisingly, it’s not Nissan to come up with a series hybrid pickup truck. Instead, it hails from China in the form of the Changan Hunter EREV. With that, Changan can claim to be the first to bring an extended range electric vehicle to market.
Like Nissan’s e-Power, the engine in the Hunter EREV’s sole job to keep its batteries charged. In this case, it’s a 2.0-liter turbocharged mill that packs 188hp. Mind you, that engine isn’t connected to the drive wheels. That’s to keep the 31.18-kWh lithium-iron-phosphate battery pack topped up as quickly and as long as possible.
The Changan Hunter EREV is available with either rear or four-wheel drive. The prior uses a single motor setup, while the latter comes with a dual motor arrangement. The rear-wheel drive version makes 174hp, while the extra motor in the four-wheel drive adds another 94hp to bring the total to 268hp. No torque figures were mentioned, but we reckon it’s on par with modern turbodiesel engines at the very least. Thanks to the range extender, Changan claims a range of up to 1,031km.
As for size, the Hunter EREV is about the same as contemporary midsize pickups such as the Ford Ranger and Toyota Hilux. It measure 5,380mm long, 1,930mm wide, and 1,885mm tall, with a wheelbase of 3,180mm. But if that’s not enough, there’s an extended wheelbase version with a longer bed that stretches it out to 5,630mm.
Payload capacity for the standard model is rated at 495kg due to the added weight of the electric drive components. While it’s not quite a heavy-duty workhorse just yet, it does offer an interesting and electrified alternative to diesel in this segment. Who knows, we might see this sort of tech applied to the more mainstream models in the future.
