Caracalover said:
If you think any company that is building compliance cars is going to treat you better than Nissan, you are not thinking very clearly. I have talked with people that leased the Mini E for $800 a month, had a breakdown, and had no car for weeks - yet still had to pay the $$$. Ford isn't even telling people they have an EV - what makes you think they are going to stand behind that car? They will be glad to have you angry and unhappy with it, they will even take it back and crush it giving you a new gas burning focus to replace it and keep you addicted to the ICE.
Most major car companies don't want the EV movement to succeed, and those that are willing to continue to be the pawns of the oil companies are just aiding them.
No new car without a plug. Make one better than the Leaf and I will consider trading mine in for it, but more than likely I will give up my ICE for another EV before that happens.
No more blood for oil. No more sullied water through fracking, No more space heaters being turned on just to get us to the store.
Point taken. While we all likely have heard of or experienced situations with less than ideal outcome, I think your post generalizing a bit too much. I did not participate in the MINI E field trial, but I have an ActiveE and I would have agreed with you wholeheartedly couple of months ago. The ActiveE had a number of teething issues, some of them quite serious. I myself was without the car for nine weeks. The LEAF on the other hand was performing surprisingly well and I was very fond of it, even though I would have liked Nissan's marketing message to be more honest and realistic.
Now the tables have turned. The battery issue Nissan is facing appears even more serious than I would have thought two months ago, and BMW has demonstrated a strong commitment to EVs. Among other things, they made significant investments in support of infrastructure players such as Coulomb, and struck other strategic deals and partnerships. They spared no effort or expense to repair affected vehicles, which often exceeded their replacement cost, as was the case with my ActiveE. They offered to make a goodwill payment on my lease despite of providing a (gas) loaner. The list goes on, and I would expect BMW to be a serious contender in the EV market.
Tesla is obviously already committed today, and although they are pushing the envelope in every imaginable direction, their vehicles won't be exactly affordable anytime soon. If the sticker is not an insurmountable obstacle, I don't think that you can go wrong when getting a Tesla. Although I had a Model S reservation, I cancelled it when I heard of the ActiveE program. The car is simply too big for my needs, it's larger than my old A6 Avant. I could use the range though!
I'm curious about Honda, and hope to find out more soon. I would not consider buying a gas car again; plugin hybrids are the outer edge of my comfort zone now.
We can only speculate about the reasons and whether Nissan knew of the battery longevity issue upfront or not. Although, Mark Perry was quick to point out that they have been researching this technology for 17 years. While I can understand that Nissan might want to play it close to the vest, the silence is deafening.
The only logical answer in my mind is that it's early in the game and nobody has everything figured out. If that's the case, then it would be more honest and beneficial to admit that. I think that would garner more favorable response and better participation. While it might have implications to the speed of adaption of this technology, it's important that prospective owners considering one of these cars (and there aren't that many on the market to begin with) clearly understand the limitations, potential pitfalls and can budget the total cost of ownership reasonably well.