http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1084937_nissan-to-offer-leaf-battery-replacement-plan-100-a-month [images] Nissan To Offer Leaf Battery Replacement Plan: $100 A Month By John Voelcker Jun 20, 2013
[images http://images.thecarconnection.com/lrg/2013-nissan-leaf_100426951_l.jpg 2013 Nissan Leaf, Nashville area test drive, April 2013 http://images.thecarconnection.com/sml/2011-nissan-leaf_100345418_s.jpg Lithium-ion battery pack of 2011 Nissan Leaf, showing cells assembled into modules ] To allay fears about loss of capacity in its Leaf electric-car battery packs, Nissan announced today that it would offer what amounts to a battery leasing program after the pack goes out of warranty. The cost of to ensuring minimum capacity will be $100 a month. The company now warranties the Leaf pack to maintain at least 70 percent of its capacity (or 9 of the 12 bars on the display) over the car's first five years or 60,000 miles. But for owners who want assurance that they will continue to have at least that level of capacity, Nissan is introducing the new program. The program will launch during "the first half of 2014," and Nissan said would provide more details before then. The program was first revealed on the MyNissanLeaf forum. Most won't need it "Nissan anticipates that the great majority of our current LEAF drivers," said Erik Gottfried, Nissan's director of electric vehicle sales and marketing, "will never need this battery replacement option." Some owners might also want the assurance that their car will have the very latest battery technology that's compatible, Nissan said--including any performance upgrades. Leaf owners who sign up to pay the $100 monthly fee--presumably after the warranty expires--will have their car fitted with a new, 12-bar battery pack if the car's existing pack falls below 9 bars. New or reconditioned That replacement pack may be brand-new, or perhaps reconditioned, but it will provide 12 bars of capacity either way, said Brian Brockman, Nissan's senior manager of corporate communications. Nissan will take back the car's used pack, to ensure proper recycling or reuse, but will own the car's newer pack thereafter. What happens if the Leaf owner stops paying the monthly fee? Apparently the same thing as if the owner stops paying the car loan. Life over 15 years? More than 65,000 Leafs will have been sold globally by the end of this month, a number that includes almost 30,000 in the U.S. But battery-capacity losses in a small number of Leafs operated in Arizona's high temperatures raised the question of what would happen to a hard-used battery pack that lasted the average lifetime of a car, or about 15 years. Under such circumstances, a 5- or 10-year-old Leaf could potentially need a replacement pack. The new program is designed to meet that need at an affordable cost. It was designed based on discussions with current and potential Leaf owners, and it also drew from Nissan's experience in Europe, where Leaf owners can choose to lease their battery pack from the start for a separate payment. Price to fall The price of electric-car battery packs today is sure to fall, just as prices for earlier nickel-metal-hydride battery packs for Toyota Prius hybrids have done. When the first 2001 Toyota Prius hybrid was launched in the U.S. in late 2000, the cost of a replacement pack was just under $10,000. More than a decade later, with volume efficiencies, that price has fallen by a factor of four, to $2,299 after a "core credit" of $1,350 for turning in the old battery pack to be recycled. Retail cost of pack: not available The price of a replacement lithium-ion battery for the world's most popular electric car would be a useful number, you might think. It would help owners assess both the value of this battery-replacement program and the Leaf's overall lifetime total cost of ownership. But, Nissan said, "Retail purchase of a standalone pack is not currently an option" for Leaf owners. That would appear to contradict statements last October by Nissan's executive vice president, Andy Palmer, that the company would give a price for replacing the battery pack by "this spring." Today marks the last day of Spring 2013. [c 2013 Green Car Reports] http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-06-20/nissan-to-offer-battery-upgrade-option-for-leaf-ev-correct Nissan to Offer Battery Upgrade Option to U.S. Leaf Owners (1) By Alan Ohnsman June 20, 2013 Nissan Motor, seeking to be the biggest mass-market seller of electric vehicles, said it will offer an option to U.S. owners of its Leaf hatchback to upgrade to the latest lithium-ion battery technology. Starting in the first half of 2014, the Yokohama, Japan-based automaker will set up the program for customers to exchange battery packs, charging about $100 a month, Nissan said in an e-mailed statement. Currently, the automaker guarantees to replace or fix Leaf battery packs that fall below a certain performance level within the first five years of ownership, or 60,000 miles (96,540 kilometers). “Technology is evolving and battery prices are projected to decline as EVs become increasingly mainstream,” Erik Gottfried, Nissan’s director of North American electric vehicle sales, said in the statement. The optional program “affords more flexibility for the future so that customers can both upgrade to the latest available technology for their Leaf and enjoy more predictable vehicle operating costs.” The evolving battery vehicle market has forced carmakers to be flexible in how they sell their models. Honda Motor recently cut the lease price for its electric Fit and Nissan repriced the Leaf model line for 2013, adding a modified lithium-ion pack that recharges faster and has improved range. Tesla Motors, which led North American electric car sales in the first quarter, is building a U.S. network of supercharger devices to let customers recharge in about 30 minutes. Leaf Sales Nissan said details of the battery replacement program are still being worked out. Leaf sales have almost tripled this year to 7,614 through May, according to the company. The company has declined to say how many of the cars it plans to sell this year, after falling short of initial volume targets in 2011 and 2012. The base model Leaf, now built in Smyrna, Tennessee, costs $28,800, down from $35,200 for the previous entry-level model. The car averages 75 miles per charge, up from 73 miles previously, and qualifies for a $7,500 federal tax credit. The 2013 Leaf can be repowered in three hours using a 240-volt electric outlet, half the time previously required, the company has said. Nissan’s North American unit is based in Franklin, Tennessee. [©2013 Bloomberg] http://www.nitrobahn.com/news/nissan-leaf-battery-replacement-program-announced/ Nissan Leaf Battery Replacement Program Announced by priyankanair8 June 24, 2013 ... This new program calls for participants to get a new or upgraded battery once their current battery capacity falls below 70 percent of initial output. The program will work with the Japanese automaker’s standard battery warranty for the Leaf which is a five year, 60,000-mile coverage against battery capacity loss and eight years, 100,000 miles against defects ... For all EVLN posts use: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/template/NamlServlet.jtp?macro=search_page&node=413529&query=evln&sort=date Here are today's archive-only EV posts: EVLN: Honda issued an apology for not having Fit EVs available EVLN: Charlottesville's Patrolling Police Leaf (video) EVLN: Child under the hood of a Central Valley Electric Vehicle EVLN: Zaptera is interested in mass-producing the Aptera 2e + EVLN: $99 EMW Juicebox 7.2kW EVSE kit (time-limited pricing) {brucedp.150m.com} -- View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/EVLN-100-mo-Leaf-Battery-Replacement-Plan-tp4663851.html Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
