2016 Nissan Leaf Expected To Receive Larger Battery, Small Range Boost

Vs. exhaust systems, oxygen sensors, catalytic converters, ignition coils, transmissions, fuel pumps, fuel filters, air filters, oil filters, oil changes, spark plugs, water pumps, radiators, belts, timing belt, turbochargers,... ICE or electric - stuff degrades and you have to replace it. I kind of like having one thing that I know is going to break and planning for it vs. internal combustion failure surprise lottery.

@mcs What mcs said. There are so many components on ICE vehicles that just aren't there on electrics, including most of the stuff that needs regular maintenance. And brakes are under much less stress because of the regen. If you leave the battery out, electrics will need tires and struts and that's about it.

@mcs And no incontinence stains on the garage floor.

@dal20402 "If you leave the ($10,000) battery out, electrics will need tires and struts and that's about it."

@Master Baiter A recent study shows battery prices are down to $300/kWh, which puts a new 24 kWh battery at $7200. With the same incremental improvements we've seen over the last decade, that $300 number will likely drop to under $250 in a few years, which puts that 24 kWh battery at $6000. That number isn't that far off from replacing a failed transmission or engine with new ones.

@Master Baiter "redav: which puts a new 24 kWh battery at $7200." AESC, Nissan's cell supplier, is losing money at current prices, and Nissan is currently selling replacement packs at cost. I doubt that situation will continue in the long run. I don't think the replacement transmissions and engines are sold for OEM cost.

@Master Baiter Even if the cost of repair is no cheaper than ICE over the ultra-long-term, it portends well for reliability and medium-term maintenance cost. You pretty much know that a battery will last for at least a certain number of cycles in any remotely normal usage pattern. It's also easy to figure out how many cycles you use per week. During that period, which will be a decade or more for a lot of drivers, it's very unlikely that anything will break. Maintenance expenses will be almost totally predictable and, before battery replacement, quite low. Contrast this with the ICE ownership experience after year 5 or so, which is often one of replacing failed minor components often.

I envy your Soul EV but I'm not paying that much. Maybe in 5 years or so when I retire an EV will be my last car. But it's gotta be tall.

The thing that worries me are the used Leafs that claim "11 or 12 bars" on the battery - I wonder if some shenanigans are happening (with software upgrades) to make the battery capacity appear higher than it actually is. I'm thinking of a used Leaf (among other options) in a year or two as a "runabout" 2nd vehicle.

@shaker Be VERY careful buying a used Leaf. I've read two reports on mynissanleaf of people buying the cars used with all 12 capacity bars remaining only to discover the BMS has been reset and the computer is temporarily fooled into thinking the pack has full capacity. The bars then drop very quickly (one every several weeks) until it's revealed to the poor sucker that they got themselves a Leaf with massive capacity loss. The Leaf's capacity bars are not linear either; the first bar represents a 15% loss with each subsequent bar representing 6.25%. A used Leaf buyer's best bet is to get the LeafSpy app for a phone or tablet and get a real reading of the car's pack at full charge before signing on the dotted line. Other than this, by all accounts, the cars are extremely reliable. The 2011-2014 battery chemistry was a mess in warm climates, however.