jlsoaz
Well-known member
Hi -
Nissan's decision not to include liquid cooling with the 2019 Leaf E-Plus has thrown a wrench into my planning for a future vehicle, and so I am here to ask others for their views and knowledge they may have accumulated, as I have not been able to follow Leaf matters as closely as I would have liked since moving on to a Volt.
I have been planning to buy a 5-year-old or so electric vehicle that has a long-range battery (at least 50 kWh, but probably 60 or 70 or so) where the manufacturer's battery preservation decisions and battery warranty support have been documented in the marketplace to have led to a vehicle that still has an impressive amount of its range left on it, and some reasonable expectation of many miles left to drive ahead of it, when I finance the purchase... probably something around $16 or $18k to drive off the lot (not taking into account trade-ins, down payments, etc.) Having already gone through Leaf passively-air-cooled battery degradation here in Arizona, and having followed a small number of the comments over the years as to battery replacements, while I'm somewhat open to the idea that Nissan and its battery suppliers might have really found improved solutions, I cannot help but be very skeptical that any solutions short of liquid cooling or a radical battery chemistry known to have extraordinary properties (Toshiba?) is really the answer for the heat and punishment of driving here. So, I will be able to consider buying a used longer-range BEV with liquid cooling (I may be mistaken about some of these, but as far as I know so far) such as:
Chevy Bolt
Tesla Model 3
Tesla Model S, X
Jaguar i-Pace
Hyundai Kona Electric
a few others, I guess, that may be introduced around 2019 at the latest. I'd rather not wait past 2022-2024, so this puts the Bolt and the used Teslas kind of at the front. Yes, there are all sorts of other considerations (such as I'm not a big fan of the looks of the Bolt, and the costs, possible difficulties and possible frequency of various Tesla repairs), and looking for "liquid cooling" is just a rule of thumb, but I thought I'd ask. And, when it finally does come to the time to trade in my Volt, I may need a "beggars can't be choosers" mentality, and so I am prioritizing that, if nothing else, I get a battery that seems to be in reasonably good shape, or has the promise of a very affordable replacement.
Does anyone here really think the non-liquid active air cooling (I guess it will have?) on the Leaf e-plus, along with whatever battery chemistry and pack architecture and bms updates have been done over the years, will really do the trick and help preserve vehicle range (and related vehicle value) to a point that is comparable with the degradation curves of Teslas and other longer-range BEVs in hot climates? I took a quick look to see if I could create a poll, but I didn't seem to be able to, and it's been awhile since I posted here, and my quick look through the forum probably doesn't cover all the threads that might exist, so, in any event, here is my question.
Nissan's decision not to include liquid cooling with the 2019 Leaf E-Plus has thrown a wrench into my planning for a future vehicle, and so I am here to ask others for their views and knowledge they may have accumulated, as I have not been able to follow Leaf matters as closely as I would have liked since moving on to a Volt.
I have been planning to buy a 5-year-old or so electric vehicle that has a long-range battery (at least 50 kWh, but probably 60 or 70 or so) where the manufacturer's battery preservation decisions and battery warranty support have been documented in the marketplace to have led to a vehicle that still has an impressive amount of its range left on it, and some reasonable expectation of many miles left to drive ahead of it, when I finance the purchase... probably something around $16 or $18k to drive off the lot (not taking into account trade-ins, down payments, etc.) Having already gone through Leaf passively-air-cooled battery degradation here in Arizona, and having followed a small number of the comments over the years as to battery replacements, while I'm somewhat open to the idea that Nissan and its battery suppliers might have really found improved solutions, I cannot help but be very skeptical that any solutions short of liquid cooling or a radical battery chemistry known to have extraordinary properties (Toshiba?) is really the answer for the heat and punishment of driving here. So, I will be able to consider buying a used longer-range BEV with liquid cooling (I may be mistaken about some of these, but as far as I know so far) such as:
Chevy Bolt
Tesla Model 3
Tesla Model S, X
Jaguar i-Pace
Hyundai Kona Electric
a few others, I guess, that may be introduced around 2019 at the latest. I'd rather not wait past 2022-2024, so this puts the Bolt and the used Teslas kind of at the front. Yes, there are all sorts of other considerations (such as I'm not a big fan of the looks of the Bolt, and the costs, possible difficulties and possible frequency of various Tesla repairs), and looking for "liquid cooling" is just a rule of thumb, but I thought I'd ask. And, when it finally does come to the time to trade in my Volt, I may need a "beggars can't be choosers" mentality, and so I am prioritizing that, if nothing else, I get a battery that seems to be in reasonably good shape, or has the promise of a very affordable replacement.
Does anyone here really think the non-liquid active air cooling (I guess it will have?) on the Leaf e-plus, along with whatever battery chemistry and pack architecture and bms updates have been done over the years, will really do the trick and help preserve vehicle range (and related vehicle value) to a point that is comparable with the degradation curves of Teslas and other longer-range BEVs in hot climates? I took a quick look to see if I could create a poll, but I didn't seem to be able to, and it's been awhile since I posted here, and my quick look through the forum probably doesn't cover all the threads that might exist, so, in any event, here is my question.