Nissan will reveal an all-electric SUV at the Paris Motor Show. Called the TeRRA, the concept packs a Nissan LEAF propulsion system with a hydrogen fuel cell stack to power it.
Exterior
With fat tyres, high waist line and thick pillars the TeRRA has everything you would expect of a Nissan SUV. The slender waist and a sculptured bonnet are said to give the concept an 'Implied Structure' of musculature under the skin while sharp corners, short overhangs and sculptured lamps contribute to a clean, confident stance and give the car a look that Nissan calls 'Modern Toughness'. Don't you just love marketing speak?
Interior
Like the Ford B-MAX the TeRRA does without B-pillars making access to the interior all the easier. Once seated in the offset seats - with a unique diagonal layout - occupants are free to play with the dash-mounted tablet that acts as the driver information screen when not being used to play Angry Birds or flicking through your Twitter feed. When docked in the recyclable wood dashboard the tablet can also be used for entertainment, communications and navigation. Thanks to a flat boot floor the TeRRA has no problem swallowing bikes, kayaks or Ikea furniture once the seats are folded down.
Mechanicals
Quirky looks and wacky interior aside it is the powertrain that is the big news in the TeRRA. As past masters of electric vehicles it is no surprise that the front wheels are powered by a modified version of the system currently used in the Nissan LEAF with in-wheels motors powering each rear wheel. The innovative part of the set-up is not the delivery but the supply of power; mounted underneath the bonnet is 2.5kW/L hydrogen fuel cell stack that could theoretically provide a range of about 650 kilometres with emissions consisting of nothing but water.
Anything else?
Unfortunately we are unlikely to see the TeRRA on the roads - Nissan will present it at the Paris Motor Show purely as a design concept. It does state that all of the technology applied is the work of science-fact rather than fiction and that it is ready to mass-produce fuel cell electric vehicles whenever hydrogen becomes widely available. When that is is anyone's guess though.