DougWantsALeaf said:
Agreed. They didn't want to foot the bill for dealer stations, where they could have used that as a kind of mini nation wide network. Nissan misses a lot of ships....including the current one with Ariya coming so late.
It seems like after the Carlos Ghosn scandal - Nissan just sort of stalled with the forward thinking nature and placed itself in the general Japanese automaker - one foot in the EV door and one foot out. I don't know it's entirely fair to say they completely neglected to invest in EV charging (https://www.evgo.com/press-release/nissan-and-evgo-expand-charging-network-with-200-new-ev-fast-chargers/#:~:text=The%20joint%20investment%20by%20Nissan,across%20the%20country%20since%202010)
They just did it halfway while Tesla burned a lot of money making sure it has a robust network which has paid off really well. As technology has moved faster than Nissan - what could once have been considered an ok L2 charging network at dealers hasn't aged well as L3 becomes more available and expected and dealers make choices to either A) not repair decade old L2 chargers or make them otherwise unavailable by ICEing or using a Leaf as a courtesy shuttle and using the charger to support that instead of Leaf customers.
For me it certainly would have been nice when I was working the census to have something better than a small trail of municipal and utility installed L2 chargers available when they decided to send me to locations all about 2 hours north of me. Thankfully the mileage rate covered the L2 charging for Galena's L2 charger that i could use while walking around and knocking on doors - but L3 would have been a much less stressful planning experience.
I think Nissan is probably going to stay on the too little too late train with L3 investment as all of us with 30/40kwh batteries start to need them more and more as packs degrade. I don't get Tesla envy really with the charge network since at least in Iowa they've done a decent job of adding L3 where I desperately need it as my range dwindles away - but i definitely get range envy of folks with the 150-250 mile range since I might actually be able to make road trips with dogs and kids with the stations available across IL and MI.
Fortuitously, in 2017 - there was a 30kwh on the lot rather than the 24kwh models i originally wanted. I can't imagine trying to make due with a 24kwh pack now that it's my only car.
As i eye a 2025 replacement year for my Leaf shortly before the battery warranty expires for me - i think I'm less concerned about QC infrastructure and more concerned about range wars and the average price going up rather than down as everyone seems to be racing for ICE range and "oh wow" tech I don't really need.
With the Leaf probably going away before I'm ready to tackle another car note I might actually consider something like the Kandi K27 if they can show the company isn't a fraud and that the battery won't be a warranty nightmare and it's not a death trap. (I can probably make do with a laughable 59 mile range when the price after federal and state incentives makes it a $6k car) but I'd really rather see more EVs at the current Leaf price point and mileage. I know I'm certainly in the minority with the viewpoint - but i think the race to compete with Tesla's range/price point hinders adoption insofar as it's a tough pill to swallow a car note higher than a mortgage payment and adoption will be driven more by price point to range tradeoff than charging networks since it's a lot easier to notice a $670-$770 a month car note as an expense than the potential fuel cost savings. From that perspective - I think the $27k-$35k price point and a 180-280 mile range for EVs will be just as important for widespread adoption as any sort of meaningful charge station build out.