Full 2013 Nissan LEAF Specs out

[surfingslovak]

for marketing reasons, its an ugly number and it will be used against the Leaf. Why are you insisting that Nissan publish that number?.. do you need a battery now?

I seriously doubt that. Didn't Nissan insource battery development and manufacturing to make it presumably as inexpensive as possible? Either way, GM does not have a problem selling you a battery retail, and neither has apparently anyone else. With the exception of Nissan. Pardon my ignorance, but I honestly don't get it.

TaylorSFguy is down to a point where he has to quick charge each way to make his commute. He lives in the Pacific Northwest; it does not get much better than that in terms of climate. He is approaching 70K, and the battery will very likely reach EOL by 100K. This also implies that the new capacity warranty won't cover him, and Nissan has so far refused to sell him a new battery. He was told that it's available for warranty replacements only.

I'm probably not the only one, who finds this situation unfathomable. The battery pack price is an important factor when attempting to calculate the TCO.

Nissan should just announce replacement pack prices for year 2016, paid now, like Tesla has.

Yes, pre-paid battery pack replacements would be one possible solution to this problem. It's been suggested to Nissan by at least one 3rd party a while ago. Let's see what they will eventually come up with.

 

[RegGuheert]

for marketing reasons, its an ugly number and it will be used against the Leaf.

+1

I agree it is likely an ugly number and Nissan only helps themselves by holding off on pricing the battery as long as they can. Also, I think that Nissan may consider their battery prices to be a market secret that they want to guard as long as possible so that their competitors do not know where they stand. After all, it is one of the key components driving cost, performance and reliability in EVs and this is where products will be differentiated for many years to come. Nissan is the current market leader in EVs and they have more to lose than the market followers by revealing this type of information.

But I guess with the new low-cost battery design and manufacturing in three locations around the world, they may be at a point where they can reveal the pricing.

 

[surfingslovak]

Also, I think that Nissan may consider their battery prices to be a market secret that they want to guard as long as possible so that their competitors do not know where they stand.

That's the only explanation I personally would find credible. Be that as it may, there is a number of approaches Nissan could have taken without revealing their true battery pack cost. Tesla has demonstrated that with pre-paid replacements, for example. I personally like the battery rental model Renault uses in Europe, even though it would be difficult to do implement on this side of the Atlantic. While the new capacity warranty will likely work for the majority of owners, there are outliers such as Steve Marsh. I find it surprising that Nissan would not expect outliers, such as Steve's 35K annual commute miles. These need to be accounted for, and a reasonable solution should be available without having to resort the situation we have today.

 

[RegGuheert]

Be that as it may, there is a number of approaches Nissan could have taken without revealing their true battery pack cost.

Agreed. For whatever reason, they chose not to do any of those things. I personally believe they thought they would have more time to collect data both on the wear out rates and their cost reduction curve before they would need to act. But that is just my guess.

While the new capacity warranty will likely work for the majority of owners, there are outliers such as Steve Marsh. I find it surprising that Nissan would not expect outliers, such as Steve's 35K annual commute miles. These need to be accounted for, and a reasonable solution should be available without having to resort the situation we have today.

I agree they are inconveniencing some of their customers in this case. OTOH, this is affecting far fewer customers than the issues with hot-climate degradation. I'm not saying that makes it O.K., but it does seem that marketing of high-volume products can and does leave some outliers out in the cold.

Hopefully Steve will get a price soon and can decide if it makes more sense to trade/sell the car or purchase a new battery. Also, let's hope Nissan has plans for receiving the old batteries under a core charge and knows what to do with them to minimize their environmental impact. While I saw the demo trailer at the AESC plant incorporating three LEAF batteries for energy storage, I don't know how I would get one in my basement even if I could buy such a thing.

 

[Herm]

I personally like the battery rental model Renault uses in Europe, even though it would be difficult to do implement on this side of the Atlantic.

I like that model also, BTW since Renault leases the batteries they have released the real cost.. presumably the same as Nissan pays.. IIRC about $11k.

GM says about total $8k (?) for the three internal modules that make up the Volt battery pack, but many assume the Volt battery is good for the life of the car.

I think that the industry knows exactly what Nissan pays, the public is the only one that has to be kept in the dark since 70% remaining capacity (in AZ) at 5 years and $11k plus labor replacement cost must feel like a COLD SHOWER when it comes time to sign on the dotted line. Could you imagine if they made you initial such a statement?

 

[JPWhite]

Just be sure your daily drive is less than about 40 miles. 50 miles at the most.

Agreed. An 'end-of-life' LEAF should be able to handle a total of 50 miles, but not much more. When advising someone if they should buy a LEAF or not, I let them know that at end-of-life they will only get 50 miles, so any commute over that requires they trade sooner rather than later. A 60 mile commute is OK if you live in a cool climate and can expect a long life from the battery well beyond the time you expect the keep the vehicle.

Of course if you can charge at the destination, then the total commute can be much further.

 

[Bicster]

Local dealer quoted 491/mo for 24 months, 12K, 0 down on a Focus BEV. Drive off price. 385 for 36 months/12k.

That's a lot higher than the 285/mo with 1k down I've been reading about. Maybe TTL and options make up the difference? Still seems high to me. I didn't ask what numbers they used to arrive at those figures. I will try to go look at the thing this week.

Edit: I read today that Ford has built 1600 of these cars and only sold about 600.. This makes me think better deals are ahead.

 

[LEAFfan]

I visited a dealer today and all you people planning on leasing/buying a 2013 will be happy to know that the RVM is Standard on the SL. The Spec Sheet is incorrectly marked. One of the sales people had a question/answer sheet from Nissan. The dealer is expecting their first '13 LEAF inthe new white color FEB 15.

 

[evnow]

I visited a dealer today and all you people planning on leasing/buying a 2013 will be happy to know that the RVM is Standard on the SL. The Spec Sheet is incorrectly marked. One of the sales people had a question/answer sheet from Nissan. The dealer is expecting their first '13 LEAF inthe new white color FEB 15.

So, I'm guessing RVM is not available to SV .. or does it come standard ?

 

[OrientExpress]

Interesting observation about the SL trim including the RVM. Maybe my dour note to a few folks about it not being included got some attention.

I need to follow up on this.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

Hopefully Steve will get a price soon and can decide if it makes more sense to trade/sell the car or purchase a new battery. Also, let's hope Nissan has plans for receiving the old batteries under a core charge and knows what to do with them to minimize their environmental impact. While I saw the demo trailer at the AESC plant incorporating three LEAF batteries for energy storage, I don't know how I would get one in my basement even if I could buy such a thing.

did you by chance get a pix of that trailer? i took a few from the bus and none came out. one has the flash on the window obscuring the trailer, the other has a passerby in it. cant believe I missed that pix chance. I should have gone outside and took the pix but the AESC people were so insistent upon ushering us into the building as quickly as possible

as far as Nissan's battery issues. I have to agree with your statement that their timeline was simply not robust enough to catch the AZ degradation or Steve's very high demand. And yes, it is very difficult to understand why they simply wont give him a price or even sell him one at a loss based on their expected offering price in the next few months.

His quick charging both ways is only convenient one way at this time because the station is too close to his work. He only needs a 5 minute stop over to get enough to get to work but going home, its probably at least 20-30 minutes which is hard to take. Fife (another Blink disaster story in the making) was supposed to be on a few weeks ago but now has some unexpected technical issues.

Terribly sorry for the long delay on the DCFC. Here is the latest feedback we've received from the ECOtality team today: "They are still having trouble. We do not have an estimate for it being live. Please check in late next week." The Tahoma Team is doing our best to get this up and running and we really apologize for the delay. Unfortunately it's not "live" on the network yet, so we don't have any control. More to follow as available. Thanks for your patience

http://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=397662680307981&id=117135758360676&set=a.319055584835358.73208.117135758360676&comment_id=1049961&ref=m_notif&notif_t=photo_reply&actorid=117135758360676" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

the thing that really sucks is that Steve's battery still has a lot of value, just not to him. The portable storage would be perfect for him because he still has all his CB's so it still holds at least 20.4 Kwh so an exchange "should" be fairly reasonable

 

[LEAFfan]

I visited a dealer today and all you people planning on leasing/buying a 2013 will be happy to know that the RVM is Standard on the SL. The Spec Sheet is incorrectly marked. One of the sales people had a question/answer sheet from Nissan. The dealer is expecting their first '13 LEAF in the new white color FEB 15.

So, I'm guessing RVM is not available to SV .. or does it come standard ?

Standard on SV also; Optional on the S

 

[evnow]

Standard on SV also; Optional on the S

That is great news. That will save $1k and some space at the back.

 

[evnow]

Standard on SV also; Optional on the S

Well, the specs on the new MY13 Leaf pages on the Nissan website has to be wrong as well.

At this point, we'll have to wait for actual reports once the car hits the lots.

 

[edatoakrun]

Xpost from:

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=11243&start=190" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Compare LEAF® to Competitors


Range


130/102 city/hwy MPGe*

http://www.nissanusa.com/electric-cars/leaf/versions-specs/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

bradbissell wrote:
Specs are up on NissanUSA.com. Looks like the MPGe increased to 130/102 city/hwy MPGe*. What do we think this means for "real" range?

http://www.nissanusa.com/electric-cars/ ... ons-specs/

I'm impressed, if those numbers are correct. Beats every other 2012 BEV:

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/byfuel/EV2012.shtml" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Quite an improvement over the 2011-12 LEAF's 106/92.

Could mean it will beat my guess of 79 EPA range.

This has me seriously thinking (for the first time) about replacing my 2011...

_________________

 

[MikeD]

Customer ChatChat Transcript [just now]

Amanda: Thank you for contacting Nissan LEAF Customer Support, my name is Amanda. How may I help you today Mike?
Amanda: Good Afternoon!
Mike: I have heard that the Rear View Camera Monitor has been determined to be Standard on the 2013 SV/SL -- can you verify this? And the All Around Camera Monitor is optional on SV/SL.
Amanda: Yes, correct on our SL and SV models. The all around is an option that [can] be added to the vehicle.
Mike Thank you! That is great to hear! Before I go, can you say whether this was a change or merely a typo in the original specs?
Amanda: Sure not a problem. Yes, this is a change...

 

[OrientExpress]

{RVC} Standard on SV also; Optional on the S

Here is an update on this. I spoke with my contacts in Nissan product planning and confirmed that the RVC is NOT standard on any of the 2013 LEAF models. Quite probably what happened is that the OP of this rumor saw a RVC that was part of the AVM on a 2013 car and did not notice the other 3 cameras.

With that said, look for a return of the RVC on the 2014 LEAF when the NVSS section mandating RVCs kicks in next year.

I will also pass on the note about customer care incorrectly listing the RVC as standard (though the transcript below, does not actually say that the RVC is standard, only that the AVC is optional. It looks more like a typo than an affirmation).

This:

Mike: I have heard that the Rear View Camera Monitor has been determined to be Standard on the 2013 SV/SL -- can you verify this? And the All Around Camera Monitor is optional on SV/SL.
Amanda: Yes, correct on our SL and SV models. The all around is an option that [can] be added to the vehicle.

Probably should have been this:

Mike: I have heard that the Rear View Camera Monitor has been determined to be Standard on the 2013 SV/SL -- can you verify this? And the All Around Camera Monitor is optional on SV/SL.
Amanda: Yes, correct on our SL and SV models, the all around is an option that [can] be added to the vehicle.

 

[cwerdna]

With that said, look for a return of the RVC on the 2014 LEAF when the NVSS section mandating RVCs kicks in next year.

You sure about that?

Have they gotten past the delays that I referred to at http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=259688#p259688" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;?

 

[OrientExpress]

With that said, look for a return of the RVC on the 2014 LEAF when the NVSS section mandating RVCs kicks in next year.

You sure about that?

Have they gotten past the delays that I referred to at http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=259688#p259688" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;?

Nissan's planning is that the standard will be in effect for the MY2014 cars.

 

[jfon101231]

{RVC} Standard on SV also; Optional on the S

Here is an update on this. I spoke with my contacts in Nissan product planning and confirmed that the RVC is NOT standard on any of the 2013 LEAF models. Quite probably what happened is that the OP of this rumor saw a RVC that was part of the AVM on a 2013 car and did not notice the other 3 cameras.

Agreed on this. I chatted with Kathleen today, who confirmed the website is correct in that NONE of the models come with any camera/monitor standard, and that the choice is to add the optional rear view camera for the S, or the premium upgrade for the SV/SL to add the all around monitor.