0.01% Failure Rate for LEAF Battery in Europe

Here is some interesting news from Europe:
http://www.newsroom.nissan-europe.com/uk/en-gb/Media/Media.aspx?mediaid=131212" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Over 5 years and 35,000 LEAFs sold in Europe and the failure rate of the battery pack has been 0.01%. That is 3 units in total, according to the article.

An independent study by an insurance specialist in the UK claims a 0.255% failure rate for ICE cars.

nice!

jamieo said:

Here is some interesting news from Europe:
http://www.newsroom.nissan-europe.com/uk/en-gb/Media/Media.aspx?mediaid=131212" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Over 5 years and 35,000 LEAFs sold in Europe and the failure rate of the battery pack has been 0.01%. That is 3 units in total, according to the article.

An independent study by an insurance specialist in the UK claims a 0.255% failure rate for ICE cars.

nice!

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As was noted in the comments, failure of the entire pack is a different thing from extremely rapid degradation causing the battery to reach end-of-life in a very short time. I'd consider end-of-life in less than three years to be a failure.

So, not so nice.

Weatherman said:

As was noted in the comments, failure of the entire pack is a different thing from extremely rapid degradation causing the battery to reach end-of-life in a very short time. I'd consider end-of-life in less than three years to be a failure.

Click to expand...

Any numbers on European Leafs that reached end-of-life before three years?

Expected life from the wiki in Sevilla, Spain is 4.7 years. Most of Europe is cooler.

The YouTube video link that it includes claiming the LEAF has no battery problems is strictly from a UK climate perspective, an extremely moderate climate.
But a lot of places in the US the 2011 and 2012 LEAF battery was defective with regards to an acceptable service life from capacity degradation, compared to what Nissan marketed as the expectation.

To be fair, three things come to mind..
1: As has been mentioned, this is Europe. The climate is much nicer to EV batteries (like here in the PNW).
2: This is (IMHO) basically a response to the Jeremy Clarkson's of the world, who have been spouting that all EV batteries are going to need to be replaced and won't last, etc.. etc.. to varying degrees.
The subtext/point is that EV batteries, if the temperature is right (or active TMS, etc) can be more reliable than has been talked about / thought. Even the danger of rapid charging seems to have been mostly overblown.
3: It shouldn't be surprising that Nissan isn't going to make a commercial that says something like, "Well, we blew it initially in hot climates, but other than that, the EV battery is doing great!!!"

desiv

This video is just being thrown out there because they know that the 2015 Lizard batteries are very much improved and want to encourage sales of those, or even perhaps promote the used Leaf market.

desiv said:

It shouldn't be surprising that Nissan isn't going to make a commercial that says something like, "Well, we blew it initially in hot climates, but other than that, the EV battery is doing great!!!"

desiv

Click to expand...

Excellent idea for a community college video class project
Might need to spell Nissan a little wrong just so you don't get sued for damaging their good name

Would be good on Saturday Night Live, but just doesn't seem funny enough.

What (how many remaining bars) would you all consider "end of life" state for the Leaf battery pack? I would think that "end of life" means the car will not move. For instance: if my range is down to 15-20 miles (maybe about 4-5 bars), and I'm only driving short errands less than 10 miles from home, I would not say that the pack has reached "end of life".

derkraut said:

What (how many remaining bars) would you all consider "end of life" state for the Leaf battery pack?

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In the industry, end of life is generally considered to be when capacity is down to 70% of the original capacity. For individuals needs, this number could be higher or lower.