If YOU were Nissan, what would you do about 11/12 battery?

[nosuchthing]

Go ahead folks. Let'r rip...

If I was Nissan, I would not sell an obsolete product unless forced to per warranty (TX, AZ).

But I would announce what batt tech I'm bringing in, when I'm bringing it, and how much will I charge you for a swap.

 

[smkettner]

I would have given a battery price and a longer prorated warranty vs the 60/60 free swap.
Also give unlimited miles on the lease.

 

[CRLeafSL]

I agree on the unlimited mileage. However battery price is not as easy as people want. What I mean is currently most 2011/2012 batteries are still under warranty by Nissan so there shouldn't be a need yet to replace the battery. With that said what price are you looking for? The price of that soon to be obsolete battery by the time you would actually need a total replacement? Or are you looking for the price of the battery that will probably be available when you actually need one which will probably be better than your current battery? I'm one that is also upset about the $100 month battery lease deal they threw at us, but I can say battery price isn't as cut and dry as some might hope.

One thing I would have done from day 1 though if I was Nissan is put a TMS on the battery. That is the biggest mistake they made as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Randy]

I would attempt to do the right thing for the early buyers where possible, but I have to balance that with parent corporation financial guidelines. Especially since I'm guessing that the profit margin on those cars was probably pretty thin to begin with...

And, by the way, I think that is exactly what kind of a conversation that took place before rolling out the additional battery capacity warranty...Well, that and the pending lawsuit...

As an owner in San Diego, I probably won't benefit from the additional warranty. I have 22,000 miles in almost 3 years and have all 12 capacity bars. So I don't see myself losing 4 bars within the next 2 years...So I guess that means that I don't think I have any major battery issues (yet)...

 

[Stanton]

One thing I would have done from day 1 though if I was Nissan is put a TMS on the battery. That is the biggest mistake they made as far as I'm concerned.

That's easy enough to say, but you're forgetting all the other things that decision affects (not the least of which is price). If/when the battery chemistry is more heat resistant and/or when battery pack capacities are bigger, TMS will become much less of a factor.

 

[sparky]

I truly appreciate the risks Nissan took in bringing this car to market and can't understand why they booby-trap themselves and EVs in general by doing the absolute minimum regarding this continuing fiasco with the '11/'12 battery pack.

As Nissan, the first thing I would do internally is acknowledge how much harm was done with bullsh*t marketing stunts like this. (see Perry at 01:00) As late as 2012, Mark Perry was giving interviews saying "you'll have 70-80% of capacity left after 10 years". Put a stop to that plus the "100 miles of range" nonsense which are truly harmful misrepresentations, aka lies, about a product. In earlier interviews, >80% at 5 yrs > 70% at 10 yrs was his standard line. I don't think anyone on this forum, even from temperate Calif, expects that kind of pack performance now.

Then I'd start to repair the damage by:
1) pro-rating capacity loss for anyone's pack that didn't live up to the bullsh*t spouted by official Nissan mouthpieces at every venue. If at anytime before 5 years, my pack falls below "80% at 10 yrs" number, it's fully replaced.
2) offering to buy-back (from non-leasers) their Nissan LEAF at the residual value established for leasing when the car was purchased. I think, in 2011, that was around $17k for 36 mo, < 36k mi.
3) pricing a replacement pack no later than November 2013 when portions of the warranty begin to run out and people need to figure out if they want to extend or not.
4) fixing the battery pack life issue with either TMS or chemistry. Honestly present what the expected improvements will yield and warranty accordingly.