stjohnh
Well-known member
This is my theory, see if the following fits:
2010: Nissan engineers are convinced they have a good battery, Management makes it and markets it in MY 2011 and 2012. By the end of 2011, they realized the battery had a severe Achilles heel. Researchers start frantically developing a better battery during 2012. By the end of 2012 they are convinced they have a better battery. BUT marketing and management say, "no way are we going through that boondoggle again, we are not announcing a better battery until we have real world data so that we don't look like fools again." So they announce a "minor electrolyte tweak" for the 2013 Leaf, but it is actually what they think will be the Lizard battery. If it doesn't work out, no big public relations problem. If it does work, they announce the New Lizard Battery for the 2015 MY.
So they install the (as yet unnamed) Lizard battery in all 2013 and 2014 Leafs, use a variety of programming tweaks to see if changes in the BMS can give an extra couple of miles of range (accounting for the observation of many MY2013 owners that Gids, AHR capacity, etc are all over the map), sit back and collect data via carwings for all of 2013 and by the time a year has gone by, it is clear that the new 2013 battery is MUCH better than the earlier batteries. They smile, give a big sigh of relief, and announce the Lizard battery for 2015 (the MY 2014 has already been out a few mo, so they can't announce it for that).
Any of this seem unlikely either from the information that is known, or for the likely behavior of a big car company?
2010: Nissan engineers are convinced they have a good battery, Management makes it and markets it in MY 2011 and 2012. By the end of 2011, they realized the battery had a severe Achilles heel. Researchers start frantically developing a better battery during 2012. By the end of 2012 they are convinced they have a better battery. BUT marketing and management say, "no way are we going through that boondoggle again, we are not announcing a better battery until we have real world data so that we don't look like fools again." So they announce a "minor electrolyte tweak" for the 2013 Leaf, but it is actually what they think will be the Lizard battery. If it doesn't work out, no big public relations problem. If it does work, they announce the New Lizard Battery for the 2015 MY.
So they install the (as yet unnamed) Lizard battery in all 2013 and 2014 Leafs, use a variety of programming tweaks to see if changes in the BMS can give an extra couple of miles of range (accounting for the observation of many MY2013 owners that Gids, AHR capacity, etc are all over the map), sit back and collect data via carwings for all of 2013 and by the time a year has gone by, it is clear that the new 2013 battery is MUCH better than the earlier batteries. They smile, give a big sigh of relief, and announce the Lizard battery for 2015 (the MY 2014 has already been out a few mo, so they can't announce it for that).
Any of this seem unlikely either from the information that is known, or for the likely behavior of a big car company?