First Reports Of Leaf Battery Capacity Loss

An erev phev has the most advanced tech Certainly there is a lot of advanced technology in the leaf, and even more in the tesla S. Part of the leaf claim was lower maintenance. Part of musk's claim against the leaf, was without active cooling it would lead to lower reliability. We do not know the extent of the leaf problems in heat, and likely they will only happen in hot places, like where I live. We do have different maintenance here, than in cold places.

I agree that if there are battery or bms problems with the leaf, nissan needs to fix them. I would not indite all BEVs though.

zythryn, I am not sure how you get to less expensive maintenance. That is the claim, but if car owners need to replace batteries early that is more maintenance not less. Clearly each car needs to be taken on their own.

 

Sorry Austin, I should have been more clear.
I should have started the paragraph with "In my experience...". As well as to indicate that I include fueling a vehicle as maintainence.
I have been driving electric for 2 years now. I don't know if the long term costs will even out.
I do know that the fuel for my Roadster hass costs about $400 for 25,000 miles. Another sporty gas car would have cost me about $3500.
I have had no oil changes, nor the associated loss of time for oil changes or similar work.

I haven't had to replace the battery. If I did, it would be free at this point due to warranty. Range has been cut only by 3%, which has no affect on me.

Again, the statement about me finding EVs far superior is exactly that. For me, there is no comparison, EVs win hands down. For others, an ICE or hybrid may win hands down. Some people need to haul a ton of stuff, some need to drive long distances. I get that, but for me, the EV is the answer

 

Thanks. I would expect that a tesla roadster would be lower maintanance than a similar performance convertable, or a tesla S lower than say a bmw 5 series. I don't think it applies to a leaf versus a fit or focus though. Only time will tell.

Those tesla's will do better in the heat with their liquid cooled packs. There is also likely spare room. When we get to the leaf if you need to only charge it to 80% to maintain range and it loses 20%, then 73 epa will become47 mpg epa aer. Buyer beware. As long as buyers understand, and nissan warrants their packs I wish them success.

 

One of the Leaf owners near us posted an intriguing thought on the Leaf chat site - tieing together Leaf's premature capacity loss, with Nissan's own claim that Nissan plans to more than double capacity (to the U.S.) over last year's numbers:

I don't know if the low sales numbers is directly tied to "damage control" ... but dang if that isn't a interesting thought.

 

the thought of throttling supplies to the South while still trying to sell to the North *might* have some merit.

i talked with Nissan Sales Rep from the Oly dealer who now has 5 LEAFs on the lot to SELL. (big difference here because despite LEAFs not selling, around here most dealers did not have a large supply of LEAFs not already spoken for)

also a dealer in Seattle has more than 20 to sell. all of this extra stock seems to have appeared in the last 2 weeks or so.

keep in mind; most of the Midwest has recently opened up for LEAF sales including states that dont get very warm (normally) in the hottest of Summer days (this year not counting...)

as for me? 100 miles short of 19,000 miles and 2 days short of 18 months. measured a "281" on Saturday so still have all my capacity