Any Price out on New replacement Batteries after warranty???

[Wennfred]

What's the word on cost on the batteries once the 5 year 60k mile warranty is up???

Also, can a single dead battery module be replaced does all 48 modules need to be replaced all at once?


Thanks

Fred

 

[derkraut]

No price announced yet by Nissan, AFAIK.

 

[Wennfred]

Thanks, just want to start saving for it, love me Leaf.... Tesla Model E to come next.

Fred

 

[gbarry42]

What's the word on cost on the batteries once the 5 year 60k mile warranty is up???

If Nissan gets their way, they will never tell you. Circumstances may force them to eventually.

Also, can a single dead battery module be replaced does all 48 modules need to be replaced all at once?

If one module fails it is usually a warranty item. The number of failed modules out there can be counted on your fingers. For the remaining roughly 100% of LEAFs they all degrade slowly and equally, and they would all need replacing.

 

[thankyouOB]

nissan has only offered the steal-your-battery program (SYB), where you trade in your battery for nothing, and they give you another for $100 a month perpetual lease. it even follows the car if you try to sell it.

this is after they promised a real battery price this spring, then reneged on the promise with the SYB.
they have offered precious little in the way of explanation, even at a small gathering in AZ in ~June(?).

all buyers got screwed by this bait-and-switch, which is probably illegal; that is to sell you a car without making a replacement part available for a price.

 

[chrisie75]

Things are quite clear when Nissan decides to delay Infiniti LE. It would be a disaster for them if LE comes to market with the same 24kwh battery as Leaf after Model S. And the delay itself also suggests Nissan has not found a viable way to reduce the mass production cost of battery.

It will be a long way, seems. but in 3-5 years, if Nissan can not come up with a 30-50% improvement the capacity problem, either through reduction of cost (hard), or increase energy density (even harder), Leaf will be put in a very awkward position.

 

[KJD]

Things are quite clear when Nissan decides to delay Infiniti LE. It would be a disaster for them if LE comes to market with the same 24kwh battery as Leaf after Model S. And the delay itself also suggests Nissan has not found a viable way to reduce the mass production cost of battery.

Yes, I would agree with that statement. The Infiniti EV should have at least a 36kwh battery or larger if they want it to be successful.

As for the replacement battery after warranty, I have no interest in the 100 dollar per month battery rental plan.

 

[chrisie75]

As for the replacement battery after warranty, I have no interest in the 100 dollar per month battery rental plan.

Believe or not, this might be the best they can do at this point.

After 2012, i think Nissan has been very clear what is going on. Their price slash has told us that they have given up their day-time dream to play fashion card on Leaf, there would be no hope for them to get back their 'infrastructure' investment in a short period of time. They build a mass car, they have to stick to it, and look at the future definition. What tesla could do and they never could (like what they did Tesla would never be able too).

With this background, I believe Nissan has tried its best on the battery, but unfortunately, it's their bottom line already. The cost does not come down as quickly as they expected. When they talk about the silver bullet of new battery, their actual aim is not real environments robust battery design, but how to slower the battery temp. jumping and survive from sun-up to sun-down in Arizona. That's it.

It also tells us, battery dev. got problem.

 

[chrisie75]

There is another way Nissan and other manufacturers should try. Since the tax rebate amount is based on battery capacity in current legislature, they should push the same for replacement car battery. This would help stopping the drop out of current users and giving potential users more confidence.

Nissan needs to understand, in fact, they are selling two things, car and battery - not just one car. The car itself actually costs Nissan almost nothing, they could get back their investment in no time(not true for Tesla, they have to sell the whole car and each car they sell counts--to Nissan that's each battery they sell counts). But as long as the battery adoption slows any bit, they would get nothing back, painfully.

I would say, if Nissan knew Tesla better, they would not drop their initial battery change plan. And at current selling speed, the battery cost would not come down soon. The battery lease plan actually tells us they probably have lost quite bit of their confidence, and they are preparing to be 'oil' company who sells discounted gasoline.

it's a tough bet.

 

[ERG4ALL]

I was at a Tesla showroom a couple of weeks ago and learned something that I wish Nissan would do. The rep told me that Tesla has made the commitment that any new battery that comes out will be backward compatible with the existing battery pack.

 

[DaveEV]

I was at a Tesla showroom a couple of weeks ago and learned something that I wish Nissan would do. The rep told me that Tesla has made the commitment that any new battery that comes out will be backward compatible with the existing battery pack.

Like Nissan, I'll believe it when I see it. The Roadster has been out for over 5 years now and the Model S is using higher density cells. I bet that there are at least some Roadster owners out there who would love to upgrade their pack using cells that are used in the Model S, but it can't be done.

And with Nissan, they are shipping in replacement batteries from Japan to be used for '11-12 LEAF pack replacements - something about the '13 cells/pack makes it incompatible. Not sure what, since I swear that some Nissan exec said that they '13 modules would drop into a '11-12 pack. Maybe they are replacing the pack as a whole and it's easier/cheaper to ship a whole pack from Japan than it is to drop 48 '13 modules into a '11-12 case? But then why are they still building '11-12 packs if the '13 pack is supposed to be compatible anyway?

Would love some details here.