Featured Nissan LEAF Slide Confirms 225-Plus Mile Range, $35,000 Price Tag For 60-kWh 2019 Model

rumor link is above in my previous post. A rumor that it will use NCM 811 battery cells which would be liquid conditioned. Production of the new cells should begin this summer. I don't think battery has been confirmed but this is what renault will be using in the 2019 zoe. rumored price for the cells are less than $130/kwh which is much lower than estimates are for the cost of current nissan air cooled cells.

 

Oh - sorry I discounted that, being the rumor.

my bad - truncated my hot California notion. Should have included many many other hot places. Seems like the last time I drove through your area late-summer, getting in the car felt like I was followed by 20 panting Great Danes. 
Even parts of Japan get extremely hot and sticky. As for added cost of a liquid thermal management sys, one would think it's just not that which adds to costs. With extra cooling, now the car is heavier, that's going to require beefier heavier suspension - more costs. One mod leads to another.
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Stopped by my local small town Nissan dealer. Salesguy said they had no Leafs, no demand and did have a charger. No interest in getting my name for a followup, etc. Local GM dealer has not had Bolts either.

 

To the engineering part of your note - Larger packs will add more weight. 60 kwh liquid cooled pack with cooling will be much heavier than the original 24 kwh air cooled pack, while not greatly increasing yearly bev mileage ;-) That was part of the japanese group think of small batteried air cooled plug-ins ;-) The upside, better acceleration, longer range, faster charging, less range degradation with weather seems to make these much more popular.

My guestimate is the cells of the new zoe pack will weigh about as much as the tesla packs, which is about 80 pounds less than the cells in the 40 kwh leaf if they fit in a 60kwh pack. Original leaf 160 wh/kg, 40kwh leaf 224 wh/kg, tesla S 260 wh/kg. Will a liquid cooled 60 kwh pack with cooling system weigh more than a air cooled pack? I really don't know, but the liquid cooled pack is probably not that much heavier when battery size gets this big with today's technology. About half of the pack weight is the cell weight. Tomorrow's technology may not need liquid cooling but the odds are likely that it will. Solid state can tolerate heat well but not cold. I really think solid state sodium based batteries are where it will be at in 20 years ;-) The original leaf pack was about 650 lbs, a liquid cooled 60 kwh pack will be around 1000 lbs with the cooling system. This should have upgraded suspension and tires, but really its within range. Make it more upscale with power seats and it probably gains 500lbs versus the stripped down original leaf. The 80.5 kwh model 3 still is under 4000 pounds, and car makers know how to make suspensions for heavier SUVs (the nissan armada weighs over 6000 lbs with driver when the heavy options are selected). Its better if its designed for the heavy pack like the model 3 or the bolt, rather than shoved in an existing design. That is probably why the 60 kwh pack is waiting for the redesign. $35K is a lot more money than a 40 kwh version costs today, but its likely sell better in my part of the country ;-)

On the heat here, yep it kills batteries. I see a lot of teslas and volts but haven't seen many leafs. In 2011 we shattered all records and had 90 days where the temperature hit or exceeded 100.

 

Nissan Leaf 2019 will have ‘over 225 miles’ of range, 100 kW fast-charging, and more, says report | Electrek