evnow said:
All that said, however, after the first month, "we have yet to sell one battery as part of the program."
Not surprising at all - all along I've thought the buy option is more an emotional need than an immediate practical need. Even SFTyler isn't buying one (he did buy a new Leaf).
What's surprising is that even though the expected sales rate is slow (and is not surprising given that nearly all packs are still under capacity warranty), it still took Nissan a long time to come up with it while in the meantime, it left owners with a lot of uncertainty even if nearly all would never take Nissan up on the offer.
Let's look at the economics of buying a new battery for an old LEAF:
2011 LEAF SL cost ~$25k (inc sales tax and all rebates)
2015 LEAF SV cost ~$23k (inc sales tax and all rebates)
Trade-in value of 2011 LEAF (guestimate): $12k
Cost to install 2015 LEAF battery into 2011 LEAF (inc adapter/labor/tax): $6500
So your options are for $11k you can get into a new LEAF.
Or for $6500 you can get a new battery pack.
But with the new LEAF you get a few things which have significant value, IMO:
6.6 kW OBC
Heat-pump heating
More trunk space
Fresh bumper-bumper and power-train warranty
So in the end, I think it's probably about a wash in terms of value if you want to stay in a LEAF and value those additional features. I think for most LEAF fans you're probably more likely to see them trade-in to a new LEAF than buy a replacement battery pack at this point.