Read This -->>> No New 2013 Battery

[TonyWilliams]

It just seems funny think of the Leaf battery modules being "remanufactured" vs making new ones. What can you save from the old one, the tin box? Is that even worth the effort?

1. Saves on average, 30% to 50% of the costs of new equipment

2. Restores service life from 80% to 100% of original service life. Important note: Nissan could take sub 70% "End Of Life" batteries, swap out enough cells to bring it up to 80%-ish, and call it remanufactured. Then, they charge you $5000 exchange, it cost them $1000 to fix, they made $4000, and you got another less-than-new battery with somewhat more range.

3. A proven method to support fleet modernization, insert new technology, and supplement acquisition costs of new equipment.

4. Warranties comparable to OEM

 

[ENIAC]

Once Nissan is able to achieve better economies of scale on the LEAF and a lower price point, it would be interesting if the vehicle was sold with a one-time battery replacement feature. Perhaps its not a new pack but maybe a pack with say >90% original capacity. As the LEAF owner, you decide when you want to use the one-time battery replacement feature.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

http://insideevs.com/nissan-to-add-cheaper-leaf-in-2013/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Also expected for some time in 2013 is a new battery chemistry that would allow for either some cost reduction (and weight savings) on an entry level offering, or a greater range option for the higher end models. However, sources now suggest that may not become a reality until the fall of 2013 on the 2014 model.

 

[LTLFTcomposite]

http://insideevs.com/nissan-to-add-cheaper-leaf-in-2013/

Also expected for some time in 2013 is a new battery chemistry that would allow for either some cost reduction (and weight savings) on an entry level offering, or a greater range option for the higher end models. However, sources now suggest that may not become a reality until the fall of 2013 on the 2014 model.

The reason I was wondering about the weight savings in the absence of increased capacity is maybe that plays into the LE story. The LE could be getting the same modules as the Leaf, just more of them, but at the current weight/module that would be problematic. If the weight per module were reduced by 25% then you increased the number of modules by 50%, you'd be at 730-ish pounds.

 

[Herm]

Nissan could rebuild batteries with used modules that are matched in capacity, lets say 80% modules.. an 80% battery still has 5 years to lose another 10%..

 

[surfingslovak]

It looks like this thread was right on the money.

 

[hill]

It'd be great if the Leaf were farther into developement. If there were 100,000 in the U.S. running around the landscape - it'd likely be more beneficial for aftermarket folks to consider getting into sales of Leaf traction packs. That way we wouldn't be stuck having to accept a half ars / overpriced rebuilt pack from Nissan. As it is now ... what it there ... just one person/company that's kind of doing Leaf packs?

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

2014 or maybe mid year options on 2013 at best

 

[TomT]

I don't think this would work if we assume that all the cells degrade at about the same rate... If this is indeed the case, replacing just a few cells would make little difference in capacity since all the other cells would still be the limiting factor.

Important note: Nissan could take sub 70% "End Of Life" batteries, swap out enough cells to bring it up to 80%-ish, and call it remanufactured. Then, they charge you $5000 exchange, it cost them $1000 to fix, they made $4000, and you got another less-than-new battery with somewhat more range.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

It just seems funny think of the Leaf battery modules being "remanufactured" vs making new ones. What can you save from the old one, the tin box? Is that even worth the effort?

packaging is a significant cost in nearly any product. you need to ask a chemist but creating a product from scratch generally is MUCH harder than cleaning up an existing product.

keep in mind the batteries thru out their lives deal with a very small handful of chemicals in various ratios. guessing the process to separate those into the original starting ratios has to be cheaper than

with Li, you are digging the most reactive metal in the world out of the ground, shipping it to a factory, processing the element to remove a bunch of inpurities (each inpurity could require a separate process or batch of processes) , all of which has to be done and paid for before the process of making a battery can begin.

still guessing here but thinking that at some point, depleted batteries can be added to the mix somewhere in the process where as instead of making 100 batteries with what you mined, you can take 100 depleted batteries mixed in with the newly mined stuff and get 175 (all numbers used for clarity and NOTHING else) battery packs or some such which is how "some" remanufactured processes work

now, whether it is that simple or not, dont know but have read several articles that state that Li is relatively (relative to what? dk...) easy to recycle and does save a lot of money but these articles were talking heads summarizing what they were told right? so...