The battery replacement/buyback thread.

[Stanton]

My 2016 30 kwh got a new battery pack, 40kwh upgrade Feb 2022. I love it. Now a legit 140-150 mile range, such that I now charge to 80% mostly to extend the 40 kwh battery life.

Same here with a DIY twist: I put a 40kWh pack into my 2011 Leaf (myself).
The unexpected bonus: the these Gen1 Leafs typically get better range than the Gen2 cars the bigger packs were designed for since the motor, etc. is a bit lower power.

 

[mn4az]

My turn.

Here's the thread that I've been keeping showing the progress of degradation: https://mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=632060#p632060

This morning I called the dealership that I purchased the car from and made an appointment with one of the certified EV techs for 6/21/23. I'll report back the experience. I expect it to be smooth as this particular dealership has a good EV tech.

Anyone seen reports across social media of a 40kW pack being put in or is everything a buyback? Buyback is what I've seen so just validating. This would be just fine with me and likely then would push me to contact Nissan CA as soon as the week of June 26th to push for the buyback process to begin.

My appointment went smooth. I had called Nissan CA and got case number established prior to showing up at the dealer. Out of abundance of caution they kept my Leaf for 24 hours to ensure they got everything Nissan Corporate wanted and took the Nissan CA case number from me. While they had my Leaf they provided me a Sentra (I was told that I was on the hook for the gas) - no option for EV loaner.

Net net is that I'm officially approved for battery pack replacement and continue to drive the Leaf in it's degraded capacity state. The lead time according to the dealership was 6 - 9 months. In addition, I received a JCASE number and a repair order number from the dealership.

When I called Nissan CA prior to the dealer appointment I was told to call back into Nissan CA once the dealership confirmed capacity warranty - which I did. The Nissan CA rep I spoke with confirmed the dealership address and let me know that this is now a 'backorder' case and I should expect a call from a 'Regional consumer affairs specialist' tomorrow to further establish timelines/expectations.

I keep re-iterating to everyone in writing and verbally that 6 - 9 months is 'excessive' and that come winter the car is basically not drivable due to resistance across the degraded pack which could (would?) leave me stranded on the side of the road.

Well that was quick. I never did hear from the regional CA specialist as was promised and so Monday and today made sure that via the Nissan CA chat I was clear that I haven't heard from them yet and expected to. While I didn't get a call from the regional CA specialist, I did get a call from an arbitration specialist (AS). The AS explained they had no idea when the part (ie the battery pack) would be ready and thus I had a buyback option that would follow the BBB AutoLine recommendations for my state (ie following the lemon law for my state). Given the lemon law for my state is really good I agreed to pursue that option. All the documentation/photos have been submitted and hopefully by EOD Friday I learn about next steps. The AS explained that once I was to accept the offer (none of what I'm doing mandates that I accept it - I get that chance later on in the process) it's up to 4 weeks for the repurchase process to complete.

 

[cwerdna]

Will be interesting to hear your value. If it's usage is calculated out of 120K miles, your payout won't be good. https://www.chevybolt.org/threads/this-offer-is-being-made-in-an-effort-to-keep-you-a-satisfied-chevrolet-customer.37851/ was an example of a crap buyback offer for a Bolt in CA.

I'm also in CA I had my former '19 Bolt Premier bought back related to its battery recall (long story). My letter looked like that except there was nothing about finance charges since I had no loan on my former Bolt. My usage deduction wasn't huge because I had under 21K miles at the time GM picked. So, my offer amount on my former Bolt which I surrendered at the 3 year mark was almost $36K. TheLondonBroiler (poster there) had over 77K miles.

Earlier GM correspondence made a mention of CA lemon law and the formula being out of 120K miles.

 

[mn4az]

Will be interesting to hear your value. If it's usage is calculated out of 120K miles, your payout won't be good. https://www.chevybolt.org/threads/this-offer-is-being-made-in-an-effort-to-keep-you-a-satisfied-chevrolet-customer.37851/ was an example of a crap buyback offer for a Bolt in CA.

I'm also in CA I had my former '19 Bolt Premier bought back related to its battery recall (long story). My letter looked like that except there was nothing about finance charges since I had no loan on my former Bolt. My usage deduction wasn't huge because I had under 21K miles at the time GM picked. So, my offer amount on my former Bolt which I surrendered at the 3 year mark was almost $36K. TheLondonBroiler (poster there) had over 77K miles.

Earlier GM correspondence made a mention of CA lemon law and the formula being out of 120K miles.

They are using my states lemon law - which is beyond friendly. Let's just say that waiting for a new battery pack (if it ever shows) would have been a stupid financial decision for me.

 

[cwerdna]

Ok. We discovered during the whole Bolt battery recall thingy, some states didn't allow for any usage nor mileage deduction for lemon law buybacks. So, those folks got a full refund. This was thru posts on various Bolt FB groups and chevybolt.org.

I ended up starting a poll at https://www.chevybolt.org/threads/for-those-who-attempted-or-completed-buyback-due-to-the-bolt-battery-fire-recall-did-gm-deduct-anything-for-usage.43782/.

 

[Psyclonus]

We should be turning in our 2016 SV in the next week or so, I was told the check was approved and on the way. This is going to turn out to be a MUCH better financial outcome than a new battery would have been, as the mileage charge for us amounted to only $3700.

We leased the car in January 2016, and then bought it out in January 2019 at the end of the lease, which is the second group of payments/interest. Here's the math that arrived at the buyback amount:

Lease Downpayment (NMAC): $477.92
Lease Payments (NMAC): $9,027.60

Principal Paid: $12,972.75
Interest Paid: $749.08

Total Amount Paid: $23,227.35

Less Usage @ 56,674 miles (Waived 50%): $3,676.09

Total balance payable: $19,551.26

It's pretty hard to feel salty about this outcome!

 

[DavidCRod]

Completed the Nissan buyback of my 2017 Nissan Leaf SV for 17500 today with the Morley representative at the Nissan dealership. Applied all of it towards a 2021 Nissan Leaf SL Plus that provides twice the mileage range as the 2017. Paid just over 25K for the 2021. We are satisfied with the choice we made. Our ROI will be realized in 24 months and the savings in gas will make the monthly payment.

 

[Tadm]

We leased the car in January 2016, and then bought it out in January 2019 at the end of the lease, which is the second group of payments/interest. Here's the math that arrived at the buyback amount:

Thank you for posting this! I also bought out my lease and seems a lot like I expect my offer might look once I take the car in (just called & got a case number so far).

 

[mn4az]

We should be turning in our 2016 SV in the next week or so, I was told the check was approved and on the way. This is going to turn out to be a MUCH better financial outcome than a new battery would have been, as the mileage charge for us amounted to only $3700.

We leased the car in January 2016, and then bought it out in January 2019 at the end of the lease, which is the second group of payments/interest. Here's the math that arrived at the buyback amount:

Lease Downpayment (NMAC): $477.92
Lease Payments (NMAC): $9,027.60

Principal Paid: $12,972.75
Interest Paid: $749.08

Total Amount Paid: $23,227.35

Less Usage @ 56,674 miles (Waived 50%): $3,676.09

Total balance payable: $19,551.26

It's pretty hard to feel salty about this outcome!

You aren't the first one I've seen with them waiving 50% of the usage fee. Enoy whatever your next ride is!

 

[thereapeias]

We’ll be going through the process soon. Does anyone know whether the $7,500 federal rebate that was applied to our lease is considered part of the sales price? At the time we leased our 17, there was a significant discount if you leased, and they applied the rebate as well. Seems like they received the money such that under a lemon law it should go to the customer, or back to the government. Thoughts?

 

[TeaHSD]

So excited to finally join the '4th bar dropped' club!

02/16 mfg 2016 Leaf SL 30kWh. Has firmware update.

Bought: 02/20 - 36k-85.44 SOH from Carmax for $15,000 (The non-leather 'S' packages were selling for about $13,000)
1st bar: 03/2020 @ 37,000 miles-SOH 84.43%
2nd bar: 03/20/21 @ 39,889 miles-SOH 76.20%
3rd bar: 05/01/22 @ 45,690 miles-SOH 72.40%
4th bar: 06/24/23 @ 50,243 miles-SOH 66.18%
40kWh warranty batt: 3/24?

Just waiting on the tech to confirm the 8 bar paperwork and submission to Nissan. The 1 local EV tech and the 1 local EV service advisor. He's done a handful this year, and the current queue at the dealer is about 6 other Leaf owners, the longest is 9 months and he just today got an email that two batteries have shipped for his two 9 month wait list customers.

Hopefully battery comes by Summer 2024!

 

[mitrals]

Completed the Nissan buyback of my 2017 Nissan Leaf SV for 17500 today with the Morley representative at the Nissan dealership. Applied all of it towards a 2021 Nissan Leaf SL Plus that provides twice the mileage range as the 2017. Paid just over 25K for the 2021. We are satisfied with the choice we made. Our ROI will be realized in 24 months and the savings in gas will make the monthly payment.

Did they pay you based on the price you paid on the vehicle? Or the 120k mile formula from msrp? I live in Illinois which has terrible lemon laws and had bought the car used.

 

[Driver8]

So excited to finally join the '4th bar dropped' club!

02/16 mfg 2016 Leaf SL 30kWh. Has firmware update.

Bought: 02/20 - 36k-85.44 SOH from Carmax for $15,000 (The non-leather 'S' packages were selling for about $13,000)
1st bar: 03/2020 @ 37,000 miles-SOH 84.43%
2nd bar: 03/20/21 @ 39,889 miles-SOH 76.20%
3rd bar: 05/01/22 @ 45,690 miles-SOH 72.40%
4th bar: 06/24/23 @ 50,243 miles-SOH 66.18%
40kWh warranty batt: 3/24?

Just waiting on the tech to confirm the 8 bar paperwork and submission to Nissan. The 1 local EV tech and the 1 local EV service advisor. He's done a handful this year, and the current queue at the dealer is about 6 other Leaf owners, the longest is 9 months and he just today got an email that two batteries have shipped for his two 9 month wait list customers.

Hopefully battery comes by Summer 2024!

What kind of charging are you doing that you're dropping a bar (and 8% SOH) in a year while only driving less than 3k miles?
I bought a 2017 in Sept of 2020 (originally 88% SOH) and I'm only down to 84% and dropped my first bar 6 months ago with 13k miles of driving.

 

[LeftieBiker]

The 30kwh pack has a reputation for being extremely variable in how well individual packs hold up over time. Some, like the above pack, are as bad as or worse than the original 2011-3/2013 "Canary" packs. Others are as good as the improved "Wolf" and "Lizard" batteries. Strange indeed...

 

[DavidCRod]

They paid original sales price plus interest on the car loan minus usage fee based on mileage. They reduced the usage fee 50% which amounted to -3000. So that left me with $17500, which is a few hundred more than the origiinal sales price.

 

[DavidCRod]

Forgot to mention that it also covered tax and license on the original purchase.

 

[SageBrush]

I'm surprised that Nissan prefers to pay the better part of $20k rather than supply a replacement battery and pay for installation.

 

[Flyct]

I'm surprised that Nissan prefers to pay the better part of $20k rather than supply a replacement battery and pay for installation.

If batteries were readily available they would be installing them instead of buying the car back.

It seems that the buy back offer is following the state lemon law guidelines for reimbursement. If Florida they pay all money paid for the car, including interest, taxes and registration fees. Then deduce a “usage fee” based on estimated 120,000 mile life. I’ve used Lemon law 3 times in Florida. The “usage fee” was negotiable and typically can be reduced to 50% without any difficulty. I used it for a 2000 Oldsmobile Bravada, a 2011 Ford expedition and most recently a 2019 Ford F-350.

 

[SageBrush]

I'm surprised that Nissan prefers to pay the better part of $20k rather than supply a replacement battery and pay for installation.

If batteries were readily available

As in, being produced for new cars such as the 2018+ LEAF, model S ?

 

[TeaHSD]

What kind of charging are you doing that you're dropping a bar (and 8% SOH) in a year while only driving less than 3k miles?

I just plug in and charge to 100% nightly with my home level 2 charger. Once the 89% charge was only enough juice to get me barely around town for errands I just started doing 100% to try and get the best use.

I’m also in San Diego and the car lives in the driveway not garage.

451 quick charges
1900 L1/L2 events