tkdbrusco said:
(1) Drop the price of a replacement pack to about $4,000 or so.
Would be nice. Something to look forward to and would keep the resale value up (even if people don't do it much, the option would help..).
tkdbrusco said:
(2) Offer a replacement pack for Gen1 Leaf that has slightly more miles of range (about 115-125) and sell it for $6000 or so.
Interesting possiblity. I don't see it happening, as I think Nissan would rather people buy their new cars..
But I could maybe see this as an option if something about the battery manafacturing/availability makes it cheaper for them to do this rather than keep/produce the older style batteries..
(Although I could see them doing something like sending the newer packs, but "capping" them somehow to still encourage people to buy the newer / longer range models.. Then we'd have a great thread from Phil and his new "uncapping" service!! ;-) )
tkdbrusco said:
If they don't do something like this, there will be a hell of a lot of lease returns that they won't be able to move and a lot of pissed off owners with no re-sale potential. Not to mention that there is a serious environmental concern about a car that has <100K of usable mileage and then just sits there worthless.
There wasn't much re-sale value with my Kia Rio when I turned it in and it was in great shape. ;-) Not all cars have great re-sale, and that can be OK.
I also think that unless the car is down to under 30 miles in range, there will still be value. College kids, very local commuters.
A cheap car that doesn't require gas. Heck, the lack of range might be a bonus. Would be a great car for a teenager. They can't go on long drives.. Yeah, they can speed, and then call their parents for the tow truck because they drained the smaller range. ;-)
tkdbrusco said:
Maybe we will start to see the government kick in credits/rebates for people purchasing replacement batteries for cars?
Wow, that's a great idea... I'm sure it will never happen then.. ;-) ;-)
I like that one.. Would encourage people to exchange their batteries too, rather than leave them in a dump or something.
I can see if Nissan doesn't have something affordable, smaller businesses possibly doing something with the cheaper and cheaper Chinese batteries... But some smaller local shops are probably less likely to properly dispose of older batteries. However, a credit tied to some type of exchange would help that...
desiv