EV battery repairs won't break the bank

[jcesare]

...fixing a damaged battery likely would require swapping out only certain modules, not the whole battery

http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110912/OEM06/309129984/1186" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[Stoaty]

It isn't battery repairs from a failing module that concerns me. It's the "gradual" loss of capacity that isn't covered under warranty. Time will tell.

 

[EVDRIVER]

Prediction, lots of future winning and bitching about this topic in the future even by those that claim they are not concerned. There is still quite a bit of denial and false hope on this topic and pipe dreams Nissan is going to cover larger than expected capacity loss. It's going to happen and if you think Nissan is going to cover you when your pack is down 25, 30, 40% in three years then I say good luck.

 

[SanDust]

It's going to happen and if you think Nissan is going to cover you when your pack is down 25, 30, 40% in three years then I say good luck.

I'm not a Leaf fan-boy by any stretch but those are pretty extreme numbers. Some people have had their cars for nine months and aren't reporting degradation consistent with these estimates. What are you basing this on?

This type of degradation may occur in a rare situation where people are beating on the battery or perhaps in hot environments but I wouldn't expect it as a general matter. I can also imagine this type of degradation over eight years but three years seems like too short a time period.

My guess is the bigger issue will be the EV range in colder climates.

 

[Herm]

EVDRIVER, you gotta have faith, Carlos Goshn has said 8-10 years and so it is.

http://www.coolsprings.com/news/nissan-ghosn-gone-tavares-in/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[edatoakrun]

Prediction, lots of future winning and bitching about this topic in the future even by those that claim they are not concerned. There is still quite a bit of denial and false hope on this topic and pipe dreams Nissan is going to cover larger than expected capacity loss. It's going to happen and if you think Nissan is going to cover you when your pack is down 25, 30, 40% in three years then I say good luck.

I'm not counting on luck, but I am counting on Nissan wanting to maximize future profits. In about 18 months Nissan should have over 12,000 LEAF’s a month coming off their US assembly line to sell. Will Nissan want headlines about large numbers of disgruntled 2011 LEAF owners with battery warrantee issues?

We are all conducting a real-world battery pack test for Nissan.

Unless Nissan drastically miscalculated battery life (and that is possible-I haven’t paid off my lease balance yet, for this reason) I very much doubt that the capacity loss you suggest, so far in excess of the 20%-30-% over 8 years/100,000 miles claimed by Nissan, will be common.

And for those who do experience extreme early capacity deterioration, Nissan would be foolish not to adopt a fairly “liberal” warrantee policy, to protect both future EV sales, and it’s larger Corporate image.

 

[EVDRIVER]

Prediction, lots of future winning and bitching about this topic in the future even by those that claim they are not concerned. There is still quite a bit of denial and false hope on this topic and pipe dreams Nissan is going to cover larger than expected capacity loss. It's going to happen and if you think Nissan is going to cover you when your pack is down 25, 30, 40% in three years then I say good luck.

I did not say everyone but some those high DOD warm to hot environment drivers will have issues not to mention the lead foot drivers that charge right after. Somehow any think Nissan has invented the miracle pack and it somehow has been proven over years of use. What I'm saying is there will be people with capacity issues and they are not going to be covered. I will bet that there is a large percentage of people that know to expect say 20% in X years of loss that will be upset because many first time EV buyers think this will not happen even when they are told it will. Almost all EV converters are told they will trash their first pack and they won't believe it and they do, they are told the conversion gets 30 miles at best and when it does snot they act surprised. If you think I'm joking check back to this post in a few years and watch people change their attitudes. Check my first posts in the early days of SOC and where almost everyone thought I was crazy. To be clear, I don't think everyone is going to loose 30% in three years but you are going to see a big change of attitude once packs degrade and denial meets reality. Many folks are going to sing a different tune once their pack changes even though they fully expect it to do so, even 10% loss in three years! The more people drive and learn about EVs the more they change their opinions and use of the vehicle. I remember hearing from many folks that a 3.3kw charger would always be fine and once they actually use the car they find reasons to change their mind. This is very normal for first time EV drivers and though it does not apply to all the trends have not changed in the last ten years. There is quite a bit of strange denial around batter packs and always many white lies. We all know Nissan will try to keep customers happy but the information is never specific and there is a reason for that. There is a reason Nissan does not get into specifics about replacement cost and if they were so confident about their packs they would offer a conservative conditional capacity warranty even if it were 30% loss in three years, etc.

 

[Herm]

3 years is not likely, it would take a very high mileage driver, 30-40k miles per year.. no one with that kind of commute would even look at a car with such limited range, and they would get plenty of warning from the yearly battery maintenance report.. I think we will end up with a lot of granpaws driving their Leafs for 15 miles every day.