Steal Your Battery program: Any news? Hello Nissan?

[bowthom]

a member of the advisory board told me that nissan asks for proof that we care about this and that it is not just a couple of board members' whining.

do you care about a battery replacement price?
has it affected whether you sell your LEAF and buy a new one?
has it affected your recommendations to others?

This is absolutely on my radar. It was part of my plan all along, I'm just waiting for the numbers.
I always keep my cars a looooong time and serviceability is paramount.
I have been in Automotive for 40 years and people ask for my advice and/or help regularly. Yes, it does affect my recommendations to other buyers. Right now I include a "best case" scenario that Batteries will be reasonably priced with possible upgrades in the future, hoping that Nissan will do the right thing.

In my Original $$ plan (circa 2010), I wanted to retire the old battery after 8 years and use it for energy storage for the house PV system and put a plump new batt in my Leaf.

My other vehicles and years of ownership:
Mustang = 43 yrs (my first car)
Honda 750 MC = 37 years
GMC van = 20 yrs
Prius gen I = 10 years

 

[thankyouOB]

Hey, Andy, Brian, did you vote in the nissan battery replacement poll, yet?
75% of us are pissed.
(and that includes LEAF leasers/ that is everyone; not just owners.)

 

[evnow]

(and that includes LEAF leasers/ that is everyone; not just owners.)

That makes little sense. I don't see how leasers care - the whole point of leasing is to not go thr' the anxiety some owners apparently have.

 

[thankyouOB]

(and that includes LEAF leasers/ that is everyone; not just owners.)

That makes little sense. I don't see how leasers care - the whole point of leasing is to not go thr' the anxiety some owners apparently have.

that is exactly my point.
the survey doesnt distinguish between owners and leasers.
and apparently we still have more than 95% who care about what the battery costs to replace.

 

[TaylorSFGuy]

I am not whining - I asked Nissan what the cost of a replacement battery was a long time ago. It was supposed to be available for purchase after the TN plant opened. Then it was going to be in the Spring. I want accurate information to evaluate replacement or use of flat rate QC sessions as I suspect my battery won't be able to do 63 miles once the temperature drops.

You can't expect (or maybe Nissan does) owners to accept whatever comes along and not consider financial consequences. I didn't buy this car to be green and I'm not going to dump money on charging if a new battery is going to be less expensive. Very soon I need to make a decision and I don't like the current lack of options.

So please realize there are those of us that are waiting quietly, albeit anxiously for an announcement.

 

[walterbays]

The cost of replacing the battery is the biggest factor in TCO behind the cost of the car itself. On a per mile basis, battery replacement will cost more than the electricity to run the car. No way would I buy a new or used EV without knowing the battery replacement cost.

+1

do you care about a battery replacement price? Yes

has it affected whether you sell your LEAF and buy a new one? No

has it affected your recommendations to others? Yes

(and thankyouOB asked in another thread): Do you lease or own? Own

I expect battery replacement to be perhaps 2X the cost of electricity, to be perhaps 2X the cost of an ICE engine rebuild, and to be needed at perhaps 1/2 the mileage of an engine rebuild. That would still make Leaf somewhat cheaper on TCO than a gas car, and a lot nicer to drive. However, even if I leased my car I could not recommend it to others without knowing the value of the major factor in TCO. This I suspect is the reason so many drivers of leased cars care about the battery price: we'd all like to be able to recommend our cars to others and can't do so until Nissan honors their promise to disclose the price.

 

[cwerdna]

TaylorSFGuy, maybe you'll end up being another outside of CA owner of a Rav4 EV.

 

[LEAFfan]

You feel that Nissan needs a gentile reminding them? Is there some reason Jews shouldn't be reminding them too?

Stoaty, that was an inappropriate post, and not necessary. I for one, do not find it funny.

 

[Stoaty]

You feel that Nissan needs a gentile reminding them? Is there some reason Jews shouldn't be reminding them too?

Stoaty, that was an inappropriate post, and not necessary. Also, you're OT!

Yes, it was intended to be all 3. That's why it ended with

 

[bradbissell]

I am a leasee who only leased because I did not know the cost of a replacement battery. I could not determine TCO without a firm price, so I leased instead.

So for those of you who are complaining that leasees should not care, stop it. There are many of us who love our LEAF but felt the need to lease since Nissan was not forthcoming with battery price nor truthful regarding battery degradation.

 

[evnow]

So please realize there are those of us that are waiting quietly, albeit anxiously for an announcement.

You are the obvious exception here - you definitely have a genuine need to get the price quickly.

 

[evnow]

So for those of you who are complaining that leasees should not care, stop it.

Nobody is saying leases shouldn't care. I'm doubting the statement that a lot of leasers actually do care.

 

[Deleted member 9549]

The reality is that the price is likely to be extremely high. Costs for batteries are running somewhere between $200-$600/kwh. The Leaf has a 24kwh battery. Assuming $400/kwh, you're looking at $9600.

Nissan may not want to sticker shock consumers. They will likely subsidize the cost but they're trying to decide by how much. The expectation with all EVs is that battery prices will come down once there is sufficient volume. But we're not there yet.

Hopefully the price will come down over time, so today's price is likely to be much higher than in 5 years after the performance warranty runs out.

 

[surfingslovak]

The reality is that the price is likely to be extremely high. Costs for batteries are running somewhere between $200-$600/kwh. The Leaf has a 24kwh battery. Assuming $400/kwh, you're looking at $9600.

Nissan may not want to sticker shock consumers. They will likely subsidize the cost but they're trying to decide by how much. The expectation with all EVs is that battery prices will come down once there is sufficient volume. But we're not there yet.

Hopefully the price will come down over time, so today's price is likely to be much higher than in 5 years after the performance warranty runs out.

Yes, but it would be fair to note that this is based on a fair number of assumptions. Another thing to keep in mind is that the battery has some residual value when it reached the end of its automotive life at 70% of nominal capacity. There was equal amount of speculation about Volt's battery pack, which seems to be expensive but not unreasonably priced (below $10K I believe).

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

(and that includes LEAF leasers/ that is everyone; not just owners.)

That makes little sense. I don't see how leasers care - the whole point of leasing is to not go thr' the anxiety some owners apparently have.

guessing cause leasers don't want to be leasers but Nissan's lack of information has given them little choice in the matter and ZERO opportunity to make an informed decision

 

[LEAFfan]

The reality is that the price is likely to be extremely high. Costs for batteries are running somewhere between $200-$600/kwh. The Leaf has a 24kwh battery. Assuming $400/kwh, you're looking at $9600.

Nissan may not want to sticker shock consumers. They will likely subsidize the cost but they're trying to decide by how much. The expectation with all EVs is that battery prices will come down once there is sufficient volume. But we're not there yet.

Hopefully the price will come down over time, so today's price is likely to be much higher than in 5 years after the performance warranty runs out.

Ok, I'm going out on a limb here and say that a replacement pack from Nissan will cost $5K installed with the trade in of the old pack.

 

[surfingslovak]

guessing cause leasers don't want to be leasers but Nissan's lack of information has given them little choice in the matter and ZERO opportunity to make an informed decision

Yes, very likely, and you can include me in that camp too.

 

[Deleted member 9549]

guessing cause leasers don't want to be leasers but Nissan's lack of information has given them little choice in the matter and ZERO opportunity to make an informed decision

I do wonder what nissan will do with all the lease returns. Resale value is likely not to be very good is the Leaf gets a reputation for worn out batteries. If replacement batteries were cheap... ever, then resale might make sense. The rest of the car should last much longer than an ICE drivetrain.

 

[TomT]

I'm a leaser and I care from the standpoint that I want to see how Nissan is going to stand behind the Leaf and how I should temper my future recommendations to others.

So for those of you who are complaining that leasees should not care, stop it.

Nobody is saying leases shouldn't care. I'm doubting the statement that a lot of leasers actually do care.

 

[GetOffYourGas]

guessing cause leasers don't want to be leasers but Nissan's lack of information has given them little choice in the matter and ZERO opportunity to make an informed decision

BINGO.

The other reason I leased is because it was cheaper than buying outright. I don't have a $7500 tax liability, but Nissan was able to claim it and passed it all to me in the form of a down payment. If I buy out at the end of the lease, it will be cheaper than if I had purchased upfront.