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When it comes to electric vehicle design, manufacturers face constant pressure to balance performance, cost, manufacturability, and structural integrity. In this expert Nissan Ariya hoist review, Munro & Associates engineers took a deep dive into the underbody of the Ariya to uncover how Nissan approaches this balance. And to see where they succeed or fall short. What we found offers valuable insights for automotive engineers, EV enthusiasts, and investors following lean design, teardown analysis, and emerging EV technologies.
A Holistic View of the Ariya’s Underbody
With the Nissan Ariya lifted on the hoist, the Munro team began by walking through the key architectural and engineering choices visible beneath the car. While aero shields obscured much of the view, the inspection still uncovered key elements of Nissan’s design priorities. In particular, it highlighted choices related to manufacturability, cost, and structural robustness.
Critically, Munro’s review highlights not just what Nissan engineers did, but why. This is core to Munro’s teardown philosophy. It focuses on understanding how design decisions affect manufacturing efficiency. In addition, it considers weight reduction, supply chain impact, and overall cost.
Missed Opportunity: Active Grille Shutters and Range
At the front end, one immediate observation stood out: the Ariya lacks Active Grille Shutters (AGS), a feature now common on many EVs to reduce drag and improve efficiency. AGS systems dynamically close or open to optimize airflow based on cooling and aerodynamic needs. Their absence on the Ariya likely contributes to its inability to reach the 300-mile range benchmark — now considered a competitive baseline for new BEVs.
In a market where aero efficiency directly affects perceived value and customer choice, this decision may reflect either a cost-saving measure or a tradeoff Nissan deemed acceptable within its product strategy.
Front End Architecture and Energy Management
Moving further under the front of the vehicle, the Munro team noted several interesting features:
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Lower cross member and polystyrene energy absorbers: These structures assist in managing crash energy, particularly in small overlap crashes.
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Double monuments: These structural elements help distribute crash loads both vertically and longitudinally through the cradle and shock tower assemblies.
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Pedestrian protection: The flat front-end design and lower monuments comply with European pedestrian protection requirements, improving safety in low-speed impacts.
An additional cross member aft of the primary cradle suggests a late-stage design update — potentially added to stiffen the front structure after initial testing.
Front Suspension and Structural Choices
The Ariya employs a stamped steel full-perimeter cradle with isolated front mounts and hard rear mounts — an unusual hybrid approach. The front suspension uses a conventional MacPherson strut with possible low-pressure die-cast lower control arms and knuckles.
One curiosity: dual wheel speed sensors on each corner. This redundant setup likely supports Nissan’s ProPilot 2.0 autonomous driving suite, where higher autonomy demands physical redundancy in critical sensors.
Harness Management: A Missed Lean Opportunity
Another odd design choice emerged when inspecting the harnesses for the Ariya’s exterior LED “welcome” lights. The wiring uses excessive slack bundled with zip ties — an inefficient and messy routing method more common on dealer-installed accessories than OEM designs.
Such details matter in lean manufacturing. Every unnecessary fastener, bracket, or extra inch of harness adds complexity. In turn, this affects assembly time, reliability, and overall cost.
The Battery Pack: Integration Excellence Beneath Excessive Shielding
Moving to the heart of the Ariya’s underbody: the 87 kWh usable battery pack. This component offers some of the review’s most compelling engineering insights.
Nissan uses aluminum extrusions to form the pack’s structural base and integrated thermal management channels. Unlike stamped and braised cold plates used by brands like Volkswagen (ID.4) or Hyundai (Ioniq 5), these extrusions simultaneously serve structural, thermal, and routing functions:
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Coolant channels integrated within the extrusions circulate fluid for both battery cooling and rear drive unit glycol heat exchangers.
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Brake lines and additional fluid runs are also captured within these profiles, reducing external plumbing and simplifying assembly.
This multi-functional use of extrusion profiles represents a best practice in lean design and a strong example of elegant engineering that reduces parts count, improves serviceability, and enhances structural integrity.
Unfortunately, this clever integration is partially masked by Nissan’s choice to use five separate aero shields beneath the pack. More integrated underbody solutions — as seen on other leading EVs — would reduce fasteners and simplify maintenance. The Ariya’s multi-piece shielding approach feels at odds with the pack’s otherwise advanced design.
Airflow Management: Subtle Innovations
Munro’s review also noted Nissan’s smart use of airflow around the battery and drive units. For example:
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Open-ended ducts near thermal management lines may leverage the Venturi effect to extract hot air and improve underbody airflow — aiding both thermal performance and NVH (noise, vibration, harshness) characteristics.
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The Ariya’s underbody “Swiss cheese” approach to airflow shows Nissan’s engineers carefully balanced thermal needs with aerodynamic efficiency, achieving a quiet ride without negative side effects like whistling or turbulence.
Rear Architecture and Opportunities
At the rear, the Ariya reviewed was front-wheel drive only, but provisions for rear drive units and half shafts were evident — confirming that Nissan’s platform supports both FWD and AWD variants.
One integration opportunity stood out: exterior light brackets. Nissan’s design uses bolt-on, cantilevered brackets when a molded clip-in approach could have simplified assembly and reduced parts. This mismatch between elegant battery integration and overly complex auxiliary lighting suggests room for refinement.
Another smart choice: PTC heater integration. The PTC heater for cold-weather battery conditioning appears to pull high-voltage power directly from the battery pack, eliminating the need for separate cabling from a DC-DC converter — a small but cost-effective optimization.
Structural Continuity with Double Shear Brackets
Finally, double shear brackets connect the rear cradle and battery pack to the vehicle structure. These brackets improve torsional rigidity and help maintain structural continuity in areas where second-row seating introduces kick-ups and gaps. This solution, while not unique to Nissan, is becoming a standard best practice in crossover EV design.
Conclusion: A Study in Contrasts
Overall, the Nissan Ariya hoist review reveals a vehicle where sophisticated battery integration and airflow management coexist with less optimized choices in aero shielding and harness routing. For engineers and investors, it’s a clear reminder: excellence in one subsystem doesn’t always translate across an entire vehicle.
Nissan’s battery design earns strong marks for lean engineering, teardown efficiency, and innovative use of extrusion profiles. Yet its overall underbody execution suggests opportunities remain to tighten integration and reduce complexity elsewhere.
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For ongoing insights into EV teardown analysis, lean design strategies, and manufacturing breakthroughs, follow Munro & Associates and subscribe to Munro Live. Stay tuned for future reviews — and, hopefully, a full Nissan Ariya teardown in the future.