http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/28/nissan-will-now-restore-leafs-battery-charge/ Nissan upgrades US Leaf warranties, will 'restore' batteries that lose too much charge By Steve Dent Dec 28 2012
Nissan has thrown down the warranty gauntlet to other EV makers by announcing it would be the first to "restore" battery capacity if a Leaf's full charge fell below 9 out of 12 "bars" within 5 years or 60k miles. The new clause was announced by VP Andy Palmer and will go into effect in spring of next year on all models, including those sold in 2011 and 2012. The company stressed it would only "repair or replace the battery under warranty with a new or remanufactured unit to restore capacity at or above a minimum of nine bars," and not a full charge -- saying a gradual, but not excessive loss of charge was normal. Nissan added that it'd look to improve the accuracy of the battery gauge, since the aforementioned bars on the dash were computer managed and not exactly scientific. All of this applies to US-only vehicles for now, but similar policies will soon be applied worldwide, according to the statement. So, if you've been starting to get range anxiety, check the PR below for all the details. [© 2012 AOL All rights reserved] http://green.autoblog.com/2012/12/27/nissan-leaf-battery-warranty-upgraded-first-capacity-loss/ Nissan Leaf battery warranty upgraded in US, first to cover capacity loss By Sebastian Blanco Dec 27 2012 Nissan has announced that it is going to offer a bit more security to Leaf owners than soothing words and lemon buybacks when it comes to degrading battery capacity. In a note published on My Nissan Leaf (and available below), Andy Palmer, Nissan's executive vice president, writes about a new enhancement to the "warranty coverage of the battery system that powers the Nissan Leaf." In short, if your Leaf is losing battery capacity – here defined as dropping lower than nine bars in the first five years or 60,000 miles – Nissan will "repair or replace the battery under warranty with a new or remanufactured battery to restore capacity at or above a minimum of nine bars." Nissan says it is now, "the first and only manufacturer in the automotive industry to provide limited warranty coverage for battery capacity loss for electric vehicles," but it doesn't address that the "bars," as visible on the dashboard, are not exactly scientific measurements and are controlled by the onboard computer. Nine bars, out of the maximum 12, would be "approximately 70 percent of [the Leaf's] original battery capacity." Before the Leaf launched, Nissan said it expected Leafs to have between 70 and 80 percent of its original capacity after then years. Information on a more reliable battery gauge will be coming at some point next year. There is much more detailed information below, including things like non-warranty replacement batteries and why the policy won't go into effect until spring 2013. Palmer made clear that he is only talking about US Leafs – all of them, from model year 2011 and 2012 on up to the upcoming 2013 Leafs – but that a worldwide plan will "apply and be specifically communicated to each owner worldwide in the coming months in accordance with applicable law." He says that, "Nissan is fully committed to the long-term viability of electric vehicles and we will continue to demonstrate that with action," and new plans like this warranty should go a long way to making that happen. [© 2012 AOL All rights reserved] http://www.usatoday.com/story/driveon/2012/12/28/nissan-leaf-battery-warranty/1795517/ Drive On: Nissan boosts electric Leafs' warranty Chris Woodyard, USA TODAY Dec 28 2012 Nissan is about to take away another key reason for not buying an electric by extending warranty limits on its Leaf plug-in car. Even better, the extended warranty will be retroactive, meaning it will cover all the Leafs that Nissan has sold so far, Automotive News reports. Nissan will repair or replace the car's lithium-ion battery if it loses more than 30% of its ability to hold a charge after five years or 60,000 miles, the News says. The extended warranty will address one of the problems of electric cars: that their fickle batteries wear out fairly quickly, and that new battery sets can run into the thousands. The Leaf is a plug-in that runs on battery power alone, so the state of charge is a critical issue for a vehicle priced in the mid-$30,000 range. 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