Nissan Announces Leaf Battery Pack Pricing

[mechman600]

Nissan Leaf New Battery Cost: $5,500 For Replacement With Heat-Resistant Chemistry

Wow...that's cheap. $5500 including $1000 core credit, plus a $225 kit to retrofit the newest, latest and greatest pack into older cars. This is FAR cheaper than EV nay sayers originally predicted. Nissan may also create a financing option for approx. $100/month.

For us DIY EVers, that potentially is a 24kWh pack for a measly $6500.

CALB cells are approx. $437/kWh.
This works out to $271/kWh, if this pricing is accurate.

All I have to say is

[P-hack]

They are a different chemistry though, with far fewer cycles than lifepo4, so that is a consideration.

[vskid3]

That's a great price, a Prius battery from Toyota costs around half as much and is only 1.3kwh. Super plug-in Prius, anyone?

Originally Posted by P-hack

They are a different chemistry though, with far fewer cycles than lifepo4, so that is a consideration.

They still do quite well for what they are, they're warrantied for 5 years/60k miles to still have 70% capacity. That works out to about 750 80 mile charges. Not too bad. I bet short trips and a moderate climate would allow it to last at least 100k miles.

[NeilBlanchard]

I just had a thought - I could fit two of these in CarBEN EV5.

[thingstodo]

Originally Posted by mechman600

CALB cells are approx. $437/kWh.

I get close to the same cost for the CA cells, in US dollars before shipping and taxes. The formula I'm using

$/kwh = $/cell * 1000 w-h / (Volts per cell * a-h) using 3.2V as an average discharge voltage

At $143 for a 72 a-h CALB CAM cell, I get $620.66
EVTV Motor Verks Store: 1 CALB CAM72FI LiFePo4 Cell, Lithium Battery Cells, CAM72FI

At $249 for a 180 a-h CALB CA cell, I get 432.29
EVTV Motor Verks Store: CALB CA180FI 180Ah LiFePo4 Cell, Lithium Battery Cells, CA180

At $95 for a 100 a-h CALB SE cell, I get 296.87
EVTV Motor Verks Store: CALB SE100AHA 100Ah LiFePo4 Cell, Lithium Battery Cells, SE100AHA

The SE cells are on clearance, so there is no warranty. But the price is comparable. Although I'd be tempted to stick with the CALBS, I appreciate the OPTION to go with a Leaf pack!

[oil pan 4]

So much for "batteries will get cheaper over time".

Only thing I am not loving is say you buy a leaf, pay it off, kill the battery as expected. Now you are back on the hook for $100 a month.
Does this mean you have a vehicle payment again and are required to carry full coverage again?

[oil pan 4]

"new batteries will cost tens of thousands of dollars."

I don't know who said that unless they were talking about a volt or tesla.
Obviously the leafs battery pack isn't 2/3 the cost of the vehicle.

"Old batteries turned in during the replacement process will be recycled, Nissan said, or possibly retained for secondary usage--perhaps for building energy storage--by the company's separate 4R Energy business unit".

Might as well since recycling LiFePO4 batteries isn't economical.
Just letting them pile up like nuclear waste in temporary storage. Seems kind of ironic.

[mechman600]

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

So much for "batteries will get cheaper over time".

Only thing I am not loving is say you buy a leaf, pay it off, kill the battery as expected. Now you are back on the hook for $100 a month.
Does this mean you have a vehicle payment again and are required to carry full coverage again?

You are required to pay full coverage? I assume you mean insurance. Not where I'm from. Here you don't need any coverage besides liability, even on a brand new vehicle. That being said, $5500/10 years is hardly a car payment. That's basically normal maintenance costs for many cars. And considering that the brakes on a Leaf will last the life of the car thanks to regenerative braking, there are no real maintenance costs, besides tires.

All Leaf battery packs (including these replacements) are warrantied for 5 years/60K miles for degradation and 8 years/100K miles for defects/failure. Most packs, at least those being used under "normal" temperatures/conditions, are on their way to last at least 10 years.

$5500 is nothing in the big picture, especially when fuel savings are factored in.

[Xist]

You SAVE $9,000 in fuel costs over 5 years compared to the average new vehicle

Fueleconomy.gov

I guess that $5,500 for ten years is okay when you are saving $18,000 over the same period. 30.56%

[Cobb]

I thought the same was true of gasoline? Manufactures are wiser to economics and know how to regulate supply to raise price. Kind of makes you wonder how successful Teslas giga battery factory will do.

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

So much for "batteries will get cheaper over time".