https://youtu.be/YkZeGpzcuzw?si=CVBwS6RsQvFc1WgS
They discuss the current Leaf. Nissan had a small budget to develop this and wanted it priced to a cheaper price point, with this comes come a bunch of shortcomings.
https://youtu.be/YkZeGpzcuzw?si=CVBwS6RsQvFc1WgS
They discuss the current Leaf. Nissan had a small budget to develop this and wanted it priced to a cheaper price point, with this comes come a bunch of shortcomings.
I worked for a Nissan dealer for a bit, in an EV friendly area that had strong rebates available.
We had decent traction in selling clean pre-owned Leafs, and new units as well if rebates were available.
We had waiting lists in 18/19 for Leaf+ models with the 62 KW/H battery. Nissan was very poor in fulfilling units to dealers while the Leaf was a commodity.
The day the standard range Model 3 hit ground and qualified for rebates, it was over for the Leaf. Nissans unwillingness to do subvented rates or any promo wasn’t helping either. Making them effective as much as a Model 3 on a payment level.
While down on range vs a 62 KW/h Leaf, for most the difference in wow factor & offering a thermally-managed battery was more than enough to cancel their Leaf order anyways.
It’s as typical Nissan as it gets, a good innovative product muddied by lack of updates & refinement.
MY 2025 will be 15-years of production for the Leaf, there is still not even an option for thermal-management.
Nissan reminds me of Suzuki and Mitsubishi where they were pretty strong brands of car companies that eventually for one reason or another decided to stop and became what they are today, with Nissan only able to not become as irreverent thanks to selling a great mass-use car with the Altima and keeping the Z around in some shape or form.
Outside of the US Suzuki is fine, they never had a big market presence there anyway. The Swift, Jimmy and Ignis are all good cars
Clearly Nissan does not have enough engineering budget and is spread too thin. They could have added thermal management to this car with minimal effort and with the development costs depreciated after 10 years price could stay low. Its an interesting lesson on industry choices.
IIRC some versions of the e-NV200 van did have some form of battery cooling. Not sure how effective it was.
When I was in the market for a cheap second hand EV the choices were basically an early 40kWh Leaf or the original 28kWh Ioniq. I went with the Ioniq and am glad I did - sure it’s a rattly little penalty box on wheels but it hasn’t suffered from any noticeable battery degradation, can charge relatively fast and handles 100kmh highway speeds without a dramatic drop in range.
Hey, that’s Nissan’s slogan!