2018 Nissan Serena e-POWER

[Jamesc]

10 minutes ago, Heartlander said:

Non-hybrid. 

Oh I meant the e power one lah.

[Heartlander]

7 hours ago, KANEYONG7 said:

Seems like whatever we say about Serena, you have something ‘similar’ or better to say about Steppie. So my sincere & honest advice, just go for Steppie. You’ll feel more balance daily since both cars are designed to be minivans with different design & engine. No perfect car out there, can’t expect Lexus standard by paying Toyota pricing. 

I’m not bothered about Genting since i don’t go there weekly, even if i do, I’m sure it’ll do better than 40km/hr. But why risk it? The important fact is to reach destination safely not fastest. 

Come to think of it, I’ve tried driving on the famous PIE Anak Bukit Flyover towards Tuas close to 100km/hr. Serena handles pretty well like an EV tank all lane 1 cars gave way. 

Happy Steppie-ing 🙂 

Maybe I can talk more about this kind of cars categorized as Minivan because perhaps nobody owned any minivans more than me. Pardon I talking like Trump but I have owned 3 minivans so far: Biante, Vellfire, Steppie, beside other mid-size MPVs like Touran and Carens. Every ride I owned I always try to read up a lot to find out more about the car and understand them more, and over the years have developed some inkling of my perfect car - power but small engine to save on roadtax, spacious and modern and functional and quality interior, handsome look but not huge footprint for easy parking at my limited car porch, latest safety features, reasonably good FC. So this Steppie ticked most of the boxes above and make me very excited about it. FC is not my number 1 priority as coming from 2017 Vellfire that can get only less than 8km/L, I do not need 16km/L to be happy. Just 12km/L would be satisfied already. 

Anyway anyone reading my recent posts will see that beside giving my take on both cars, I always advise potential buyer to go do due diligence and molest all the minivans such as Serena, Steppie, Triplets, etc before deciding on one that suit him/her. If the person prefer the AD factor or FC factor, then please go get the Serena is what I always touted. Of course it is not the perfect car so do not be bitter if other people do not agree with you that other aspect of the cars are also number one lah. The forum is for all to share. I am not going to get bitter if fellow mcfers choose this Serena over Steppie after considering the factors as I not earning any cents from it, same as how I promoted Biante in the past. Anyway, I am not promoting my Steppie any more over here as I have said. Please step up to talk more about this Serena so that more people will take notice if you like it so much. Cheers.

[Heartlander]

17 minutes ago, Jamesc said:

Why complain going up Genting?

Electric motor is all torque and should climb even better than a petrol.

And what kind mpg or kml are they getting?

In Boleh land people always ask those 1 litre perodua can go up Genting or not?

Even this 660cc Viva can go up Genting.

 

 

The problem with Serena e-power is that it uses its battery to power the alternator to move the car, while its 1.2L engine is used to charge the battery directly. So when the car go up a long and elevating road, its battery will get depleted till almost 0% despite the 1.2L engine constantly charging it as it exert more power than it can get charged, and that is when the alternator does not have any more juice but able to power the car at 40km/hr as sort of limping mode. This is similar to hybrid Freed aircon blowing hot air when caught in prolong causeway jam because battery power getting depleted. If you stop the car half way and let the engine run for half and hour, I am sure it will be able to move faster than 40km/hr unless it get depleted again.

Btw I am not bad mouthing Serena in case any get this opinion. I am just stating a fact for potential buyer to take note. My colleague had been angry about it as he bought the car so that he can bring his family up Genting often to relax. Now his plan gone down the drain.

[Jamesc]

14 minutes ago, Heartlander said:

The problem with Serena e-power is that it uses its battery to power the alternator to move the car, while its 1.2L engine is used to charge the battery directly. So when the car go up a long and elevating road, its battery will get depleted till almost 0% despite the 1.2L engine constantly charging it as it exert more power than it can get charged, and that is when the alternator does not have any more juice but able to power the car at 40km/hr as sort of limping mode. This is similar to hybrid Freed aircon blowing hot air when caught in prolong causeway jam because battery power getting depleted. If you stop the car half way and let the engine run for half and hour, I am sure it will be able to move faster than 40km/hr unless it get depleted again.

Btw I am not bad mouthing Serena in case any get this opinion. I am just stating a fact for potential buyer to take note. My colleague had been angry about it as he bought the car so that he can bring his family up Genting often to relax. Now his plan gone down the drain.

This is because the Serena battery is only 1.8 KWh.

The Leaf is 40 KWh.

A car the size of the Serena need a battery pack of 3 - 4 KWh

and then will climb Genting no problem.

The Note e power is 1.5 KWh so the much bigger and heavier Serena only 0.3 KWh bigger.

Its way too small. 

[inlinesix]

8 hours ago, Jamesc said:

This is because the Serena battery is only 1.8 KWh.

The Leaf is 40 KWh.

A car the size of the Serena need a battery pack of 3 - 4 KWh

and then will climb Genting no problem.

The Note e power is 1.5 KWh so the much bigger and heavier Serena only 0.3 KWh bigger.

Its way too small. 

For Genting, 4Kwh is unlikely to be sufficient. The only way is to manually override car computer to run engine all the time.

[diming87]

Serena is an EV with petrol generator. There’s no way a 1.2L engine can power 1.7T MPV when the battery is empty. Physics tell me it is impossible. 

[Cklasse]

On 5/26/2020 at 2:09 PM, inlinesix said:

At least it shows can go to KL and return with 1 tank. Or 1.5 tank.

I did a drive From KL to Singapore with 1/4 tank. So the Serena can do 2 times KL on one full tank if you go easy. 

[inlinesix]

1 minute ago, Cklasse said:

I did a drive From KL to Singapore with 1/4 tank. So the Serena can do 2 times KL on one full tank if you go easy. 

All the way 90km/h?

[Cklasse]

The Serena is good for city driving like In Singapore and Japan. I drive this in Japan and it fits in nicely with the slow easy going driving style of Japanese. Always move off easily and start stop traffic is a joy with single pedal mode. 
 

Similarly in Singapore, I do not mind a start stop traffic now in the Serena because the single pedal makes driving so easy. The torque makes moving off effortlessly. As long as one drives easy, the Serena is a good city car. 

[Hamburger]

JDM ipsum, previa, odyssey, sharan

 

Ooops... I own 4 Mpv. 

[Sigeena]

1 hour ago, inlinesix said:

All the way 90km/h?

90 is actually optimal cruise efficient, as long as no car in front of you slows down. 

 

[Cklasse]

2 hours ago, inlinesix said:

All the way 90km/h?

Cruise at 90-100 km/h. No hard acceleration, overtake only when can accelerate slowly. Use regenerative braking (release gas pedal) whenever road slopes down, all in D mode.

[Heartlander]

2 hours ago, Cklasse said:

I did a drive From KL to Singapore with 1/4 tank. So the Serena can do 2 times KL on one full tank if you go easy. 

You sure? KL to Singapore is about 350km, so you are claimimg this Serena can go 1400km per tank? Then why i saw some youtube videos the reviewers were so happy when their car can hit 1000km? Maybe someone should go remind them not to xia suay as why so happy at 1000km, can go 1400km you know?

Btw are you aware of petril tanks being pear shape? My Steppie can go 800km if i based it at half tank mileage.

 

[Didu]

Nissan Serena e-POWER 一千公里接力戰（內附字幕）｜TopGear HK 極速誌

 

[Cklasse]

12 hours ago, Heartlander said:

You sure? KL to Singapore is about 350km, so you are claimimg this Serena can go 1400km per tank? Then why i saw some youtube videos the reviewers were so happy when their car can hit 1000km? Maybe someone should go remind them not to xia suay as why so happy at 1000km, can go 1400km you know?

Btw are you aware of petril tanks being pear shape? My Steppie can go 800km if i based it at half tank mileage.

 

The trick is drive in D mode so that the car can cruise when you let go the gas pedal and always regenerative charge when there is down slope, even for gentle slope. By maximizing battery drive and regenerative charging, you use less petrol and that translates to more range. 
It’s a lot of pedal foot work and I won’t go to this extreme next time. 
 

[Jamesc]

On 5/27/2020 at 9:13 PM, diming87 said:

Serena is an EV with petrol generator. There’s no way a 1.2L engine can power 1.7T MPV when the battery is empty. Physics tell me it is impossible. 

Actually physics tells you the size of the 1.2L engine does not matter.

The important thing is the size of the battery.

The Serena has a small 1.8 kWh battery

while the Leaf has a bigger 40 kWh battery.

So if the Serena had a 40 kWh battery it will run no problem.

The 1.2L engine will only need to recharge the battery.

[Heartlander]

2 hours ago, Cklasse said:

The trick is drive in D mode so that the car can cruise when you let go the gas pedal and always regenerative charge when there is down slope, even for gentle slope. By maximizing battery drive and regenerative charging, you use less petrol and that translates to more range. 
It’s a lot of pedal foot work and I won’t go to this extreme next time. 
 

Sounds convincing. Please explain this to the youtubers who got so excited over the 1000km they can achieve with their Serena with just one full tank of petrol, that they can actually do 1400km no less. Maybe help them find a gentle down slope of more than 2000km in case your theory works so well that it can cover 2000km.

[Heartlander]

1 hour ago, Jamesc said:

Actually physics tells you the size of the 1.2L engine does not matter.

The important thing is the size of the battery.

The Serena has a small 1.8 kWh battery

while the Leaf has a bigger 40 kWh battery.

So if the Serena had a 40 kWh battery it will run no problem.

The 1.2L engine will only need to recharge the battery.

Actually Serena is very spacious. Nissan could have provided owners the option of buying different size of batteries to suit their living lifestyle, maybe 1.8KWh for those living in basically flat land, and upto 50KWh for those who want to drive into hilly areas. Normal sedan would not have the space for bigger batteries but Serena sure can. That would be good for marketing too.