In May of this year, some Nissan Leaf owners in Phoenix, Arizona noticed that their batteries were losing the ability to hold a charge. Independent tests subsequently proved that electric cars running in hot climates could indeed fall prey to such problems.

But despite those increasingly loud complaints, the tests to back them up, and a class-action lawsuit, Nissan stood firm. Company representatives insisted that the problems documented in Phoenix weren't really problems because all batteries lose the ability to hold a charge as they age.

Now, the automaker has changed its tune. On a Nissan Leaf owner forum, the automaker has announced that it will soon be "enhancing the warranty coverage of the battery system that powers the Nissan Leaf electric vehicle".

http://www.thecarconnection.com/news/10 ... complaints


Would this decision by Nissan to extend the warranty influence you to buy a Leaf?

It certainly doesn't hurt it.
It actually influences me to purchase ANY Nissan. They handled the issue pretty horribly. They should have done this immediately instead of jerking around the consumers.



Strange too, how the warranty basically says that if it falls below this certain threshold, Nissan will simply improve it slightly until it is above that threshold (essentially 75% capacity). Sounds like they'll just band-aid it until the vehicle is out of warranty.

I could see that costing MORE money for Nissan as opposed to just fixing it correctly (to ~100% or so) the first time. Consumers could be taking multiple trips back to the dealership for warranty fixes that cost Nissan money, not to mention piss off the consumer.

I'm sure they have a math scale figured out already based on battery degradation vs time left on warranty. (Say if there are 5 days left on warranty, fix it to 76%, if there is a year left, go with 81%, etc).

instead of having this concern prospective LEAF owners should consider leasing, the terms have been very good, and in 2 years you give them the car back and can get a "fresh" one YMMV

I think this is typical Nissan customer service. I don't blame them for not jumping right at it and replacing the battery in every car that comes in with a capacity issue without doing their own due diligence, but at times Nissan has been almost neglectful or just horrible at handling situations in various cars they've manufactured, from stupid little interior bits and pieces to BIG expensive repairs thrown onto the customers' laps often due to their joke of a warranty (3 yr/36mo??) which in my opinion has tarnished their 'reliability' factor greatly.

And as a decade long electric R/C hobbyist with several batteries having been bought and trashed in my cars/planes, I can tell you that heat is the killer for any type of battery, r/c or real car. Add to that the fact that Lithium Polymer batteries are even more so "delicate" and you can't act surprised to find out that cars are losing charge life over a short time in places like Arizona (and Texas, to name a few in my quick 'Googling). Nissan should find a way to better handle the problem or insulate the batteries to avoid exposure to temperature extremes. You don't want a cold battery but you don't want a battery (li-po or the older more common NiMh) constantly staying over 100-120*F -- at least that's my experience in the R/C world where (laugh all you want!) we almost blatantly abuse our R/C cars/trucks pulling every amp and then some out of the battery with overpowered motors and systems to fly/drive our vehicles to their limits.

Also "fast" charging Lipo batteries is still only a relatively new update -- it used to be you could not recharge a lipo cell faster than 1C or about an hour. Now that we have 'fast charge' capability, the cells are still seemingly damaged in the long run by charging them on a daily basis at fast speeds -- and the other thing I've learned is you want to let the cells cool down before recharging them at the slowest rate possible to prolong battery life and keep ~100% capacity. I doubt most EV owners have the patience or practical time availability to practice such methods given how most of us have daily commutes and trips coupled with the relatively limited range of the Leaf in its current form.

While the Lithium Polymer batteries are very finicky in terms of maintenance and cost, their weight savings and power density is definitely a boon to any electric powered vehicle and I'm hoping that as time goes on and the EV world evolves and pushes technology further, we won't have to worry about dealing with the likes of Nissan's customer service or range or temperature issues!