John -
You are exactly right. In our opinion there are four major drivers to EV success (and it's interesting to note the relatively slow take-up of hybrids now in their 3rd generation, compared with EVs at the same point in there evolution).
1) The Car - in our opinion, on a dedicated EV platform and capable in every way - but 100% EV
2) The Incentive - The technology is eye watering expensive - it cost Nissan 4B Euros to develop LEAF - at the beginning, incentives are important to help make the cars affordable - the US, Denmark, Japan, France and the UK to name but a few do a good job here
3) The Infrastructure - more fast chargers means less range anxiety and less waiting time - it's why Nissan now builds it's own fast chargers and partners with as many people as we can - even competitors
4) and finally battery range - obviously I cannot disclose to our competitors exactly our plans for batteries and their timing - but the speed of new chemistry development is jaw dropping. However, there are places in the world where a 24kwh battery is more than adequate for most people - Okinawa, Bhutan, Juju, Jersey....... Tokyo. My daily drive (in fact my only car in Japan, is a LEAF and a full charge will last me a week - partly because my journeys in Tokyo are short and partly because of the many fast chargers and I know I can run the battery low). Now else-where, journey distances differ and there is a case for a choice of batteries, but for those that don't need it, we don't need to burden with the price or the weight.
Nissan has sold over 110k LEAF since 2010 - we have 47% global share of the EV market - we have telematic data on how all those cars perform. We are using that data to see how best to evolve the technical offers at regional, country, state and even city level. For sure you can count of Nissans intentions to maintain it's lead in EV technology and sales and internal debates are passionate because we are passionate about EVs.
Andy Palmer
Chief Planning Officer
Nissan Motor Corporation
Japan
(I apologise for using English English in my posting, but wanted to follow up on your points quickly)
jhm614 said:Be sure and read the comments on the that Green Car Reports thread. Andy Palmer has a reply....
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4) and finally battery range - obviously I cannot disclose to our competitors exactly our plans for batteries and their timing - but the speed of new chemistry development is jaw dropping. ...
Stoaty said:The two main reasons they need higher capacity batteries:
--Permanent capacity loss from calendar aging/cycling of the battery pack
--Temporary capacity loss from cold
Nissan Motor Corp. wants its next-generation Leaf electric vehicle to get more mainstream styling and a new battery that more than doubles its range. And Infiniti’s delayed electric car will debut with the improved battery by early 2017...
Stanton said:I guess this would rate as the first credible (is Andy Palmer credible?) mention of the "hot pack" battery that is supposed to be imminent; this answers one of the big questions in the other (recent) battery thread. It's good to see Nissan addressing the competition in 2017, but I for one am counting on the "hot pack" upgrade by the time I need/get my (free) replacement battery next year.
Valdemar said:Stanton said:I guess this would rate as the first credible (is Andy Palmer credible?) mention of the "hot pack" battery that is supposed to be imminent; this answers one of the big questions in the other (recent) battery thread. It's good to see Nissan addressing the competition in 2017, but I for one am counting on the "hot pack" upgrade by the time I need/get my (free) replacement battery next year.
It is not clear if 11/12 MY will ever see "hot packs". Current replacement batteries are shipped from Japan as the batteries made at the Smyrna plant are different. I'm skeptical that Nissan will make any additional effort to make the hot pack available to the older models, most likely it will be limited to those cars whose battery is swappable with the ongoing model.
While this may be true, then why don't they have a way to swap in a '13 pack into a '11-12 car?Stanton said:It's not cost effective for Nissan to continue sourcing multiple battery packs/types (or any major part) from a volume perspective;
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