cwerdna said:
If this turns out to be true, not a temporary snafu and the price for a new 24 kWh battery for the near to medium term and there's no ~$2850 10+ "refurbished" battery for the US, this is VERY bad news.
Very few people will want to fork over this kind of $ on a car that has little value by the time the driver wants a replacement. If it were a 30 or 40 kWh battery, the % of folks willing to pay this price would go up.
Nissan did claim at the time of the $5499 announcement (http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=17168&p=374490) that they were losing money (subventing): https://insideevs.com/nissan-says-leaf-battery-replacement-money-loser/.
Perhaps now that AESC (NEC and Nissan JV) has been sold to a Chinese company, they're getting stiffed or that Chinese company at least wants some profit? Maybe Nissan's tired of making $0 or losing $?
One would've figured that the per kWh cost should've come down in an almost 4 year time span...
Although I have no inside knowledge, I strongly suspect this is the reason. I expect the cost to Nissan of those batteries has gone up now that they no longer own and control the company, and they're passing those costs on to the consumer.
If this is the case, the real answer is to update the BMS and pack to a battery chemistry that's significantly cheaper (such as LG), but whether Nissan cares to do that investment for customer loyalty is anyone's guess. I'm guessing they probably will not do this.
Honestly, if they just removed the dealer-only lockout and documented what the BMS needs to do so that anyone could match a BMS & battery to the car, that would encourage a third party to get involved in this--and benefit both parties. If Nissan truly has no desire to be involved in the battery replacement business, making it as easy as possible for 3rd parties to provide replacement batteries would be a win/win for them, the 3rd party, and Nissan Leaf owners.
Nissan: Take note. Actions like these are why Tesla's resale value of used cars is extremely high and you basically have to give away Leaf's, even though the Leafs are more reliable cars (according to CR). Teslas have long-lived battery packs, over the air updates, and a constant focus on making their cars better--not just the new cars, but existing ones.
My Nissan Leaf is permanently stuck with a fixed 24 kWh pack that is getting more (not less) expensive over time, a nag screen that appears every time I start the car, no navigation or maps updates, no new software features, never to be fixed bluetooth bugs, and no support for new battery technologies. You've built a disposable car, and most people expect their car to last 10-20 years. Hell, my last car was a "cheap domestic" Chrysler minivan, and it lasted 16 years and 200k miles... and it's still on the road.
5 engineers whose job it is to continually improve the Leafs on the road (software updates, battery updates, etc) would cost you less than $5 per car per year. Sell those upgrades and pay their salary. I would pay good money for a new battery pack that got me 150 miles range. I would pay to remove the "accept/decline" nag screen on every start of the car. I would pay to fix the bluetooth issue that causes the first incoming call to have no sound. I would pay to update the DC/DC converter algorithm to properly charge the 12v battery. The demand is there.
But I wanted to thank you. Because of this, I managed to pick up VERY cheap set of wheels in great condition used. And when the battery is completely toast, I'll probably have plenty more to choose from.