johnlocke said:
Getting a couple of replacement batteries out of Nissan isn't the same as having a battery that actually lasts 100,000 miles. Nissan's promise was a battery that would still have 80% of it's original capacity at 100,000 miles. That might be possible in the northwest and Canada but it isn't going to happen in the south or southwest. Most of those cars will be lucky to last 60,000 miles. After 4 or 5 years most of them will need new batteries no matter how few miles they have on them. I'm seeing reports of low milage 30KWH cars in Texas and Florida dropping their first bars already. I thought that they must have solved the battery issue since they were offering the longer warranty and the Lizard battery was a substantial improvement. My mistake.
Based on their past behavior, I was unwilling to accept any of Nissan's claims re improved battery life in hot weather sans ATM, especially as I was convinced that a warranty based on 'bars' whose values were unspecified (and thus subject to change any time they chose) was pretty useless, and open to the same sort of shenanigans as they've tried to pull in the past. Sadly,based on the data we've been seeing from owners of the Lizard and 30kWh battery packs, it seems that's exactly the route they've chosen to take. Can't say I'm surprised.
So, while a pack that doesn't need ATM to limit degradation in all U.S. climates remains the ideal, Nissan and other companies are nowhere near achieving that yet. Until Nissan offers a warranty with some enforceable standards I simply wouldn't consider any of their BEVs, even though the climate I'm in isn't very hard on a pack.