7 Years of Leaf Ownership

On May 18th, 2011, I drove off the lot with the first new car I had ever purchased. Today, we're an all-EV household. The Leaf has been a great car. Like many other owners, we've had battery degradation and I wonder if Nissan was too slow to respond and squandered their first mover advantage.

Here's the link with more of the story.

patrick0101 said:

Like many other owners, we've had battery degradation and I wonder if Nissan was too slow to respond and squandered their first mover advantage.

Click to expand...

Yep, you hit the nail on the head there.

1. They lost first-mover advantage. Tesla introduced the Model S a year later at a much higher price point. Nissan introduced one battery upgrade, and that's about it until the 2018 Leaf. Tesla introduced several battery upgrades for the S, Introduced the Model X, and even started producing the Model 3. They've completely stolen momentum in EVs from Nissan.

2. My Leaf had > 100 miles range when new. Granted, I had to drive economically to get that, but it was nice. Now I'm down 4 bars, and I can't even go 50 miles on a single charge. Teslas appear to keep 90-95% of their capacity over the same time period. Until Nissan can prove to me that they have solved their battery degradation problem, I just can't buy another Nissan EV. I'd still consider leasing one, but it doesn't make sense to buy one and hold onto it.

I thought at some point few years ago they were offering 5000 dollars for those who were leasing to address the battery issue.

Great blog post; thanks for sharing.
I agree with your conclusions...and continue to love my Leaf after almost 7 years of ownership (on my second battery pack).
I fully expect the 2019 (LG) battery packs to perform better in almost every way...and know this forum will be the place to find out if that is the case.

I am more strident in my Nissan criticism due to their miserable handling of customers just out of warranty, but I think OP offers a pretty fair summary of LEAF battery tech, its limitations, and its place in the wider context of personal cars.

The only point I would add is the improved warranty for the 30 kWh+ models. That puts a higher floor on minimum range through the warranty period.