2013 Nissan Leaf Electric Car To Use New, Cheaper Battery

[Nubo]

...
I can understand switching to Hitachi if their cost is lower, but then what are they going to do with the battery plants they are just finishing in Tennessee and the UK?...

Maybe not as major a change as it seems. The chemistry sounds similar. A lot of the equipment is basically mechanical assembly of the various foils and films into cells, modules, and packs (cutting, rolling, folding, welding, etc...).

[palmermd]

If you look at the comments under the article on greencarreports.com you can see the author concede that he messed up.

John Voelcker
Posted: 8/27/2012 7:29pm PDT
@Bruce: Interesting point. But the lengthy discussion of Leaf sales--the only Nissan model named--makes it the logical car being discussed.

Perhaps nuances of the original story were lost in translation, and it refers to a different Nissan "eco-friendly" model--that's not named or otherwise described. Japanese readers are welcome to weigh in here, but the Leaf is now Nissan's sole "green" car in the U.S. market.

If that's the case, I have to think that car is the Altima Hybrid to be introduced for 2014. It would be odd for that model to use Hitachi cells when the Infiniti M35h (the company's only hybrid now sold in the U.S.) used AESC cells. Though, I suppose, not entirely impossible...

[bruce5]

E-mail to me from the editor of the paper that started this speculation about the Leaf and Hitachi.

Thank you very much for your inquiry. The story was written by the two reporters in Japanese and translated by one of our staff for the English edition. In the process of translating the article, the translator throught there was only one "eco-friendly" model. The original story, however, mentions two models-- "Altima" and "Pathfinder."
We are sorry for creating confusion over the story.

Best regards,
Yumiko Miyai
Editor, The Daily Yomiuri

[spike09]

E-mail to me from the editor of the paper that started this speculation about the Leaf and Hitachi.

Thank you very much for your inquiry. The story was written by the two reporters in Japanese and translated by one of our staff for the English edition. In the process of translating the article, the translator throught there was only one "eco-friendly" model. The original story, however, mentions two models-- "Altima" and "Pathfinder."
We are sorry for creating confusion over the story.

Best regards,
Yumiko Miyai
Editor, The Daily Yomiuri

Here is the orginal article in English
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/business/T120827003564.htm

"Nissan Motor Co. will adopt lithium-ion batteries produced by Hitachi, Ltd., a non-affiliated company, for two of its eco-friendly models--Altima and Pathfinder--to be marketed in the United States for 2013, Nissan officials have said."

The article also mentions that Honda is using an outside vendor for the Honda Fit EV!

[bruce5]

They Japanese publication corrected their english version after i pointed it out to the editor.

[TomT]

Maybe the OP can correct the title so people don't continue to be confused by this thread...

They Japanese publication corrected their english version after i pointed it out to the editor.

[TimeTrap]

E-mail to me from the editor of the paper that started this speculation about the Leaf and Hitachi.

Thank you very much for your inquiry. The story was written by the two reporters in Japanese and translated by one of our staff for the English edition. In the process of translating the article, the translator throught there was only one "eco-friendly" model. The original story, however, mentions two models-- "Altima" and "Pathfinder."
We are sorry for creating confusion over the story.

Best regards,
Yumiko Miyai
Editor, The Daily Yomiuri

Here is the orginal article in English
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/business/T120827003564.htm

"Nissan Motor Co. will adopt lithium-ion batteries produced by Hitachi, Ltd., a non-affiliated company, for two of its eco-friendly models--Altima and Pathfinder--to be marketed in the United States for 2013, Nissan officials have said."

The article also mentions that Honda is using an outside vendor for the Honda Fit EV!

Damn. I have a google alert on "nissan leaf", so I saw a bunch of articles a few weeks ago repeating this same "news" of the 25% increase in battery capacity and lowering of cost for the 2013 model. I think they need a more prominent retraction.

[DanCar]

http://blogs.wsj.com/drivers-seat/2012/ ... r-battery/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Not much new here. Ghosn saying cheaper battery being manufactured now.

[FairwoodRed]

http://blogs.wsj.com/drivers-seat/2012/ ... r-battery/
Not much new here. Ghosn saying cheaper battery being manufactured now.

To me, that’s VERY new. As far as I know, this is the first direct admission from a reputable Nissan source that a new battery pack is coming this fall. Sure, there have been rumors and hints, but this quite clear.

Of course, Mark Perry was quite clear about Phoenix heat too…

[DaveEV]

http://blogs.wsj.com/drivers-seat/2012/ ... r-battery/
Not much new here. Ghosn saying cheaper battery being manufactured now.

That is new news - previous news were rumors at best.

To read the full article if you don't have a WSJ subscription, Google "Nissan's Ghosn Battles Cross-Currents" and then click on the online.wsj.com link (or just click on the link I embedded).

Edit: after reading that article, it doesn't even have the quote mentioned in the blog post DanCar refers to. Weird. This article has a bit more detail: http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-201 ... 03503.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;