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Big shoulders, sharp lines: Nissan Qashqai e-Power 2026 video review

All the electric car smoothness, without ever having to worry about charging at a motorway service station.

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You can measure the success of a car not by how exciting it is, but by how many of them are in the middle lane of the M25 doing 43 miles per hour. By that metric, the Nissan Qashqai is the national bird.

This one, however, is different. It is the e-Power, which is a bit confusing because it is not really a plug-in, it is not a hybrid, and it is not electric either.

Here is how it works. It has a 1.5-litre petrol engine with three cylinders, which is roughly the size of a large food processor. That engine does not actually drive the wheels. Instead, it drives an electric motor, and that powers the car.

For SME fleet operators, this setup provides a clear operational benefit: drivers get all the electric car smoothness without ever having to worry about which charging point to use at a motorway service station.

The system generates 205 brake horsepower and will get you from naught to 62 miles an hour in just under 8 seconds, which is pretty respectable.

But the crucial point for a business fleet is that it has an economy of around 61.4 miles to the gallon. I have been driving this car around for a one-week period, and the economy is truly, truly impressive.

Thinking about those economy credentials, this efficiency is what really makes the e-Power stand apart. Let us also talk about how it looks.

The Nissan Qashqai has always been, let us just say, visually apologetic. This one, however, has been to the gym. It is all big shoulders, sharp lines, aggressive LED lighting, and it has some pretty funky alloys as well. It looks like a car that has read the design brief, understood it, and delivered, which is a pretty rare feat.

On the road, the Qashqai e-Power feels very calm and collected in a way that you would want and expect. I am not dismissing it by calling it a runabout; it is a proper family car. The ride is supple and it rides over the bumps with consumer ease.

The steering is light, as you would want from this class of vehicle. This is not a performance vehicle, but if you want some excitement, you can flick it into sport mode, and then things pick up pretty respectably.

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