On Tue, Jun 25, 2013 at 11:22:57AM -0700, Bruce EVangel Parmenter wrote: > I would also like to see an after market product to correct why the > original Leaf pack had a premature death (I assume it was mainly because > of its less expensive 'air cooled' pack design). Throwing another pack > in there (Nissan's or aftermarket), is just going to have the same loss > of capacity issues unless the proper steps are taken to reduce that ... > (right?).
Essentially all the known Leaf battery problems have been in Arizona and Texas. In Texas, we had two unusually hot summers. We went about 100 days above 100 deg summer before last and last summer was almost as bad. So, Nissan might have gotten by in the short term had we had "normal" weather. In cooler sections of the country, the Leaf battery may not give any trouble for 3-5 years. However, ThunderSky has rated their LiMn cells at 800-1000 cycles (as I recall) while their LFPs are/were rated at 2000-4000. Even in cooler sections of the country, Leaf owners that drive and charge daily might expect battery problems in as few as three years. When I bought my Leaf, I was aware of the LiMn problem but the Leaf was the only available car that fit my needs so I went ahead and bought it, misgivings and all. And, I figured wrongly, "Nissan must know what they are doing". Amusingly, I am also aware of the combustion risks of LiCo. But, I figure, "Tesla must know what they are doing". Perhaps rightly in that case. On the subject of aftermarket batteries for the Leaf, I think there will be a very good market for attractively priced bigger and better batteries. But only after many Nissan batteries are out of warranty. What is that? 3 or more years from now? Except for the crappy battery and the crappy instrumentation, the Leaf was a good car for me and I would otherwise be looking forward to driving it for many more years. -- Willie, ONWARD! Through the fog! http://counter.li.org Linux registered user #228836 since 1995 Debian3.1/GNU/Linux system uptime 45 days 20 hours 05 minutes _______________________________________________ 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)
