SageBrush said:
[...]
OP: your suggestion of Nissan battery leasing in hot climates just boils down to shifting the costs of battery degradation to Nissan. You can manage the same by buying a heavily depreciated LEAF that comes off lease.
I wish that were true . Because of the (painful, in my view) amount of time that Nissan took finally to install longer-range batteries in its cars, heavily depreciated Leafs are, so far, not very useful to me. They all came with ranges which, when new, were either not useful, or borderline. Now that those batteries are older, the ranges are even less useful to me.
However, in theory, once the 200+ mile (when new) Leaf e+ have been in the marketplace for a few years, they are something I could consider buying if/when they come down to below $25k or (better) below $15k. However, what will there range be then?
I've only done one lease, but I think when we lease a new vehicle, we are in some way sharing the cost of the steep early depreciation curve with the financing company (often captive to the automaker). The terms of the lease, including end of lease possible vehicle purchase terms, I guess would determine who bears more or less of that cost. The performance of the Leaf e+ battery over time in hotter climates is to be treated as an unknown and a steeper than usual risk, at least by some of us, and so in suggesting a Lease, I think I"m suggesting raising the cost of ownership, but shifting some of that risk to the automaker, in this special case.
To get this back on track, I think the more important things to me to get across (to Nissan, or to whomever is interested to think it over) about my suggestion here are:
a) given Nissan's relationship with Renault, they could study what has worked and what has not worked about battery leasing in Europe.
b) given what happened with range degradation (on what was already very modest range to begin with), with the early Leafs in the hotter climates, battery leasing might be a candidate to address some of the concerns of the drivers, now that Nissan has finally come out with a battery size that is better suited to a larger addressable market.
c) in a sense what I'm suggesting is possibly raising (not lowering) the overall cost per mile, over the course of the ownership (or leasing) experience) to those who might get a new or used Leaf, in return for reducing the risk of a driver being stuck with a vehicle that seemed to meet their needs when the range was near the EPA ratings, but in a worst case scenario turns out to not be able to go as far as they need (or DCFC as frequently as they may need) once a few hot seasons have taken their toll.
I'm not sure I'm a huge believer in my suggestion, but I'm looking at not only my experience, but what I saw a bit with other Arizona drivers - for some of them, it will be awhile before they consider another Leaf. For others, they have read the stories and know that there is still a question that has not yet been answered by real-world data as to how the ranges will hold up here. So, battery leasing was an idea that didn't take hold in the US (in light duty BEVs), but I've always wondered if we would return to it. I don't think there will be quite as much impetus for that if the batteries just flat-out hold up nicely over 10-20 years, but if they tend to lose a lot of their capabilities over just the first 5-8 years, then, depending on the lease terms maybe battery leasing could help the automaker meet the driver halfway?
I wish I knew more about how/if/when this has worked out (or not) in e-buses.