Warning: Battery Replacement Cost Increase (now $8500)

My Nissan Leaf Forum

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Lothsahn said:
I tried to put down a deposit but your website doesn't seem to work. The paypal window just closes and never asks me to enter the paypal information. I sent you an email with more details (and what I think is the solution).

Did you get this sorted out? I just did it and it worked fine:

Fenix-with-both-codes.jpg
 
I cannot see people donating $150 en mass to assist someone make a prototype of a product.

If practical battery replacements are possible, there is BIG money in this... I don't know why developing a working battery pack (and demonstrating it) would cost a lot of money....

I wish you luck on your potential business.
 
Developing a working battery that integrates seamlessly into a Leaf is a big deal and no easy task. There is proprietary software and maybe even patents that make this a complex engineering challenge.
 
joeriv said:
Developing a working battery that integrates seamlessly into a Leaf is a big deal and no easy task. There is proprietary software and maybe even patents that make this a complex engineering challenge.

This is reason why our only option to date is something that doubles size of battery. Easy to fool BMS that way. Adding a more reasonable 25% is a huge challenge (plus it doesn't take up the entire hatch!)
 
Which is why @mux would be a perfect fit for this! Hope he gets involved (ie licenses his tech and makes a bunch of $$$ in the process), as his CANbus bridge would go a long way to making different sized packs a possibility.
 
alozzy said:
Which is why @mux would be a perfect fit for this! Hope he gets involved (ie licenses his tech and makes a bunch of $$$ in the process), as his CANbus bridge would go a long way to making different sized packs a possibility.


what is exactly is mux doing? I don't recall seeing anything about him
 
Has anyone on here actually bought a new pack from Nissan and used their financing option? I'm curious as to what Nissan is charging per month to finance a new pack. I'm still seriously considering a used Leaf as it seems to be about the only way I will ever be able to afford to get into an EV, but I won't be in a position to drop $8500 for a new pack anytime soon since that's more than the cost of the cars I have been looking at. I also wonder what happened to Nissan's plan to sell replacement packs for around $2800. I had read it was being done in Japan, but that it was supposed to be expanded to the U.S. as well.
 
tattoogunman said:
Has anyone on here actually bought a new pack from Nissan and used their financing option? I'm curious as to what Nissan is charging per month to finance a new pack. I'm still seriously considering a used Leaf as it seems to be about the only way I will ever be able to afford to get into an EV, but I won't be in a position to drop $8500 for a new pack anytime soon since that's more than the cost of the cars I have been looking at. I also wonder what happened to Nissan's plan to sell replacement packs for around $2800. I had read it was being done in Japan, but that it was supposed to be expanded to the U.S. as well.

the refurbished options won't give you a 100% pack but hard to beat the price especially if you are using old tech packs with 5 or 6 bars down.

I heard a rumor that Nissan NA will start offering them by mid 2019 so...might not have long to wait.
 
DaveinOlyWA said:
tattoogunman said:
Has anyone on here actually bought a new pack from Nissan and used their financing option? I'm curious as to what Nissan is charging per month to finance a new pack. I'm still seriously considering a used Leaf as it seems to be about the only way I will ever be able to afford to get into an EV, but I won't be in a position to drop $8500 for a new pack anytime soon since that's more than the cost of the cars I have been looking at. I also wonder what happened to Nissan's plan to sell replacement packs for around $2800. I had read it was being done in Japan, but that it was supposed to be expanded to the U.S. as well.

the refurbished options won't give you a 100% pack but hard to beat the price especially if you are using old tech packs with 5 or 6 bars down.

I heard a rumor that Nissan NA will start offering them by mid 2019 so...might not have long to wait.

So mid 2019 for the refurbished $2900 (give or take) packs, do I have that right? So the $8500 is for newly manufactured ones? I've been trying to find out more information, but the only news I can find about the refurb pack program just talks about it being implemented in Japan. I almost went out looking at a few Leafs yesterday, but talked myself out of it for the time being ;)
 
Part of my decision making, when purchasing my used 2013 SV, was an assumption that an after market battery pack market would arise. It's nice to see the beginnings of just that and I hopeful that by the time I need to replace my LEAF's pack, there will be an affordable option available.
 
DaveinOlyWA said:
tattoogunman said:
Has anyone on here actually bought a new pack from Nissan and used their financing option? I'm curious as to what Nissan is charging per month to finance a new pack. I'm still seriously considering a used Leaf as it seems to be about the only way I will ever be able to afford to get into an EV, but I won't be in a position to drop $8500 for a new pack anytime soon since that's more than the cost of the cars I have been looking at. I also wonder what happened to Nissan's plan to sell replacement packs for around $2800. I had read it was being done in Japan, but that it was supposed to be expanded to the U.S. as well.

the refurbished options won't give you a 100% pack but hard to beat the price especially if you are using old tech packs with 5 or 6 bars down.

I heard a rumor that Nissan NA will start offering them by mid 2019 so...might not have long to wait.

For what it's worth, I talked to someone who said that new EPA guidelines are going to prevent Nissan from implementing the refurbished pack program in the U.S. I don't have anything to back that up, but just as an FYI......
 
I purchased a replacement battery in August. My cost was $8,200 out the door. But that is because the dealer made a mistake when ordering the battery. I am told the normal cost is around $8,500 to $8,800. Financing has been a real problem for me. I took my local dealer 2 months to get information from Nissan. This is what I have been told by Nissan:

They will only finance $5,500 for the purchase. The interest rate for that loan would be 4.05% but they changed is after the papers were signed to 3.01%. My payments are for 5 years at $99.16. The loan is through Nissan Signature Direct Financing and it is a "VERY" special type of loan. So special that they forgot to send me any paperwork before the first payment was due. I had to beg for the payment amount, the account number , and where to send it. I was given the wrong account number and the first payment was lost. I received a payment overdue notice 2 weeks later and sent another check along with a payment slip which came in the notice. That payment is also lost. They are now in the process of investigating the lost payments.

What I am saying here is. Forget about financing with Nissan Signature Direct. Borrow the money elsewhere and pay cash. Or trade in your Leaf and buy a Chevy Bolt. I love my Leaf. But I will never buy another Nissan product.
 
tattoogunman said:
For what it's worth, I talked to someone who said that new EPA guidelines are going to prevent Nissan from implementing the refurbished pack program in the U.S. I don't have anything to back that up, but just as an FYI......

I was told that as well a few months ago. More recently, I told they were evaluating their options in the US/prototyping. It's unclear what the reality is--I'm currently waiting to see, hoping that more options appear before my pack degrades to the point of unusability.
 
Altaflyer said:
I'm no expert, but it seems to me that currently, Nissan is much more interested in promoting the sale of new vehicles and to that end, a high replacement cost might prompt people to replace the car rather than the battery. Non-OEM battery replacements are available for one-third the cost of OEM.
But why would anyone buy a new Leaf knowing that Nissan will not support them in 6 years when the battery is weak. Gouging early adopters and therefore pissing them off does not build product loyalty. Tesla's may be expensive, but they will fix any problem without question in the first 8 years. And the 10 year old Tesla batteries are averaging 93% of their original capacity. I certainly will not recommend any Nissan product to anyone.
 
Usaverageguy said:
Altaflyer said:
I'm no expert, but it seems to me that currently, Nissan is much more interested in promoting the sale of new vehicles and to that end, a high replacement cost might prompt people to replace the car rather than the battery. Non-OEM battery replacements are available for one-third the cost of OEM.
But why would anyone buy a new Leaf knowing that Nissan will not support them in 6 years when the battery is weak. Gouging early adopters and therefore pissing them off does not build product loyalty. Tesla's may be expensive, but they will fix any problem without question in the first 8 years. And the 10 year old Tesla batteries are averaging 93% of their original capacity. I certainly will not recommend any Nissan product to anyone.

Go talk to someone on a Tesla forum who has had to have their battery pack replaced outside of warranty (and it happens more often than people think) - it makes $8500 for the Leaf one seem like a bargain by comparison.
Tesla has also been forcing people to purchase larger batteries than what they started with since they change how they do things on practically a daily basis. One guy I talked to needed a new 60 kWh pack and they would only sell him a costlier 75 kWh pack (conveniently software limited to 60 unless he wanted to pay several thousand dollars more to unlock the full capacity) since they didn't make the 60 anymore, so Nissan is not alone in this. Now that first gen Tesla cars are beginning to come off warranty more and more, I expect to start hearing more horror stories besides the ones I already hear about.

At the end of the day you pick your poison - you buy what you can afford and if it works for you, great. If not, you move on to another product. Maybe a company like Fenix will help even the odds here, we'll have to wait and see.
 
Shouldn't be any Tesla's other than roadsters off warranty yet. iirc, they all came with 8 year/unlimited miles and the oldest S is still over a year away from being 8
 
alozzy said:
Part of my decision making, when purchasing my used 2013 SV, was an assumption that an after market battery pack market would arise. It's nice to see the beginnings of just that and I hopeful that by the time I need to replace my LEAF's pack, there will be an affordable option available.
I'll be surprised if it happens at all, let alone be affordable:

The USA market is tiny;
The Swap itself complicated and expensive;
The car heavily depreciated;
And Nissan is in the way.
 
DaveinOlyWA said:
Shouldn't be any Tesla's other than roadsters off warranty yet. iirc, they all came with 8 year/unlimited miles and the oldest S is still over a year away from being 8

Right, but the early S models are close and there are plenty of people with brand new cars having their packs replaced. I'm just trying to point out that Tesla's batteries are not exempt from problems either (although their packs are arguably better than Nissan) since people seem to think they have zero problems.
 
DaveinOlyWA said:
Shouldn't be any Tesla's other than roadsters off warranty yet. iirc, they all came with 8 year/unlimited miles and the oldest S is still over a year away from being 8
No, the original 60 kWh had a DU warranty that matched the battery warranty.

From https://www.tesla.com/support/vehicle-warranty-ms-mx:
The Battery and Drive Unit Limited Warranty covers the repair or replacement of any malfunctioning or defective Model S or X lithium-ion battery for a period of 8 years or unlimited miles/km, with the exception of the original 60 kWh battery (manufactured before 2015) that is covered for a period of 8 years or 125,000 miles (200,000 km), whichever comes first.
Per page 5 (or 2) https://www.tesla.com/sites/default/files/blog_attachments/modelsnewvehiclelimitedwarranty.pdf, the battery warranty on the 40 kWh (which ended up being 60 kWh software limited to 40) was 8 years/100K miles, whichever comes first.

Gotta love Tesla's hype: https://www.tesla.com/blog/infinite-mile-warranty.

There are also folks with salvage title vehicles who have no warranty. I'd watched a YouTube video (can post later) of a salvage title S who had a DU with shot bearings and also worn splines. Of course, Tesla won't fix that so someone else did.

And, yep, numerous folks have had their S and X packs replaced. There have definitely been some bad packs on 3's, as well.
 
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