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Nissan To Double EV Battery Capacity by 2015

 
14 2,286 views December 1, 2009

Nissan LEAF Charging Port

Nissan LEAF Charging Port

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Nissan continues to make headlines on a regular basis.  The much talked about Leaf EV is of course the center of attraction for the company.  Numerous articles have popped up recently discussing every aspect of the vehicle.

A recent article on this site discussed the possibility of leasing the battery for the Leaf EV and comments ranged from people accepting of the idea to those downright outraged that Nissan would force buyers of the Leaf to lease a major component that is vital to the vehicles operation.

Now a new report is out they may indeed change your mind abut leasing your Leaf battery.  According to the Nikkei newspaper in Japan, Nissan is currently developing a battery with twice the storage capacity of its current Leaf battery.  Nissan hopes to have the batteries in its EV by 2015.  The report states that the new battery has a range of 186 miles, close to twice that of the current Leaf battery.

You may be waiting for a catch such as this new battery will cost twice as much, but that is not the case.  According to the report, the new battery with nearly twice the output will cost the same amount as the current Leaf battery.   The new battery makeup will consist of lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide cathode battery technology, called NMC for short.

Nissan intends to focus on battery production as well as EV production.  The company has stated that batteries will be a primary focus of the company for the future and this potential breakthrough battery is just the beginning.

Now back to leasing the battery.  For early adopters who purchase a Leaf in the next year or two with a standard li-ion battery, the possibility exists that these buyers will be able to lease the upgraded battery come 2015.  This allows Leaf buyers to upgrade their vehicles as new technology emerges allowing the Leaf to grow with every technological advance in batteries.  Early adopters need not be stuck with outdated technology and inferior batteries.  Certainly an intriguing idea.

Source: Nikkei Newspaper Japan  (login required)





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Comments (14)

  1. By Jason M. Hendler Posted: 12/1/2009 5:42am PST

    They need to ship a few units before they start talking about what else they are going to do.
     
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  2. By  JC Jacquemin Posted: 12/1/2009 5:51am PST

    Great,
    this is for that reason that in a previous comment I advocated a swappable battery for the Volt, remembering the first years with personal computers that where very frustrating because their technical obsolescence was so quick.
    I hope GM will realize that, Nissan-Renault gives some insurances to their customers they will not be stuck with an obsolete car for several years (especially given the cost of it) and even if we know that first adopters often pay a high price.
    Regards,
    JC NPNS
     
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  3. By Jason M. Hendler Posted: 12/1/2009 6:37am PST

    JC, there is no need for the Volt to "improve" their battery, as it is intended to only go 40 miles and then run the generator. It is starting to sound like Nissan NEEDS to promise an improved battery sometime in the future, just to get people to buy the vehicle now.
     
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  4. By Mitch Yow Posted: 12/1/2009 8:57am PST

    Leasing the battery pack (fuel) makes perfect sense when you consider that for a hundred years we have purchased our autos without fuel and then payed weekly or monthly at the gas station to fuel them. I don't see a big difference and it should bring the initial purchase price of the car down considerable.
     
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  5. By Noel Park Posted: 12/1/2009 3:34pm PST

    #4 - I agree. It's just a question of how the numbers work out.
     
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  6. By DC Posted: 12/1/2009 5:00pm PST

    MW, thats so bad its no even wrong. First of, the battery is not an EVs "fuel". Electricity is, and Nissan, unlikey your fauly liquid fuel anology, is not provided by Nissan-it comes the grid dont you know... By your reasoning, the ICE industry should have leased us all the gas-tanks in our cars as a buisness model. Nissans lease does not make economic sense, nor does seperateing a vehicle from its drive-train. Nissan offers 5yr/60,000mile coverage on its dirty ICE models, but for some reason, similar coverage is not deemed sufficent? somehow for the leaf. Oh, and nice job on the 200mile range. I wish manufactures would stop talking 2nd gen products when the 1st gen is not even on the road. This has been the problem with the Auto-oil cartel and EV's. They been promiseing all kinda of things for decades, yet somehow, they never seem to materialize. How about fewer press releases and more actual production.
     
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  7. By RL Posted: 12/1/2009 6:07pm PST

    DC I think you are spot on. Goshen just does not understand his market at all. I fully EXPECT to save money on fuel and keep all that savings. That is why I am thinking of buying an EV. I am certainly never going to contemplate paying Nissan the difference between the cost of gasoline and electricity as a battery leasing fee. Otherwise I would regular old Civic. But all this talk from Nissan about how batteries will degrade and better ones are just around the corner has made one thing clear to me: before I ever even think about buying a Leaf it needs to come with a battery trade-in guarantee where Nissan promises to give you a credit of 50% of the price of a new battery in year 5 or so. Because it is pretty clear that the company does not expect them to last any longer than that. (The Leaf/Volt thing is starting to look more and more like the Insight/Prius where the Leaf is going to just sit on the showroom floor while the Volt re-defines the market.)
     
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  8. By Eric Posted: 12/1/2009 6:28pm PST

    To RL,
    The Insight/Prius and Volt/Leaf comparison is simply not valid. Why? Both the Insight and Prius are comparably priced. Within a thousand of each other. The Leaf and Volt don't even come within $10,000 of each other. The average consumer will have a difficult time affording the Volt's $45,000 price tag, while the Leaf at $32,000 is much more reasonable. Now if the Volt was $23,000 like a Prius, its sales volume could redefine the market, but sales of $45,000 plus cars are low and these vehicles in this price class never redefine a market. The vehicles that do are mass sellers like the Civic, Accord, Focus and so on. Vehicles must be affordable to redefine a market. The Volt is not affordable, and the Leaf really isn't either. In five to 10 years, the Volt's EREV setup will be outdated as battery technology will be able to provide the range of the Volt without the need for a generator and the Volt will give way to fully electric vehicles.
     
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  9. By David Posted: 12/1/2009 6:42pm PST

    Statements like the battery should not be seen as same as fuel does not take into consideration the reality that it should be viewed that way. With the tecnology advancing rapidly leasing the battery makes much more sense than asking for a trade in guarntee. Thats why most of us get cell phones on a contract instead of buying them outright. A few people appear to be pushing hybrids using nickel hydride or natural gas. I have a feeling these are like other technologies are ones whose time has come...and gone. I drive about 80 miles a day and would take a Leaf over a Volt anyday. With a leased battery.
     
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  10. By jeffhre Posted: 12/1/2009 11:15pm PST

    Begrudging Nissan's terrific and EV advancing ideas is simply jingoistic paranoia. Although juddging the market potential for their technical innovations at this point is really anyones guess.
     
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  11. By  JC Jacquemin Posted: 12/2/2009 1:37am PST

    Jason #3 and all,
    Thanks for your opinions.
    I think we must stick to the facts and learn from our past experiences.
    I took the example of the PC, I could have taken the ones of Betamax vs VHS, HDDVD vs Blueray, argentic photography vs digital photography (4 years ago I paid 400€ for a digital camera that is completely obsolete today even if it was the best buy stuff at that time), etc.
    Contemporary customers have learned a lot (a study made among european university students has shown that they are aware of the economic risks linked to the purchase of a new technology), corporations should adapt to this knowledge and propose products that give an obsolescence warranty of some kind, otherwise the market will be reluctant to accept that risk (in normal circumstances i.e. not skyrocketing oil prices,etc.)
    My point is that - given that knowledge - the Nissan-Renault communication about batteries seems more palatable than the GM one with the Volt.
    I nevertheless accept the idea that if you buy the Volt for its anticipated price with its announced performances without making expectations on the future, you could be happy with your decision.
    I however think that educated customers should make expectations on the future and demand warranties on the value for the money they spend. if this assumption is true, Nissan-Renault IMHO perform better.
    Regards,
    JC NPNS
     
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  12. By James E Posted: 12/2/2009 1:53pm PST

    Sounds good to me..I have said this time and time again. With electronics something new and better comes out right after you make your purchase. This will be the same for EV batteries. Every year they will hold more power in a smaller package for a lower cost.
     
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  13. By Mitch Yow Posted: 12/3/2009 2:31pm PST

    Concerning the possibility of us leasing our "Fuel" or fuel storage device "battery pack" check out what Better Place and CEO Shai Agassi have in mind and you will better understand where Nissan-Renault are heading. It is only with the infastructure of battery change stations that long range driving without polluting our environment is possible in the future ten to twenty years.
     
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  14. By Robert E. Fisher Posted: 11/3/2010 8:36pm PDT

    SEE MY COMMENT AT THE END OF ARTICLE:(http://yubanet.com/california/Big-Oil-Bankrolls-Research-Bias-at-California-Universities.php)


    Robert E. Fisher, Master of Social Welfare, 1971
    The University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA)
    Former Legislative Analyst for the City of Los Angeles
    DMV Driver's License K007....

    http://robertfisher60.homestead.com
    http://blogs.myspace.com/robert.fisher
     
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