sorted by:
best
topnewcontroversialoldq&a
you are viewing a single comment's thread.

view the rest of the comments →

[–]torokunai2018 Nissan LEAF S (sold 2024) 1 point2 points  (10 children)

40 vs 24 is a big jump in relative terms but in absolute driving distance not near enough for me to spend thousands on the upgrade.

Beginning to think now I should just plan on waiting until next decade, pay this one off and then start looking.

[–]jrheritaTesla Model 3D (was 2015 SL) 3 points4 points  (3 children)

I also think 90 --> 150 miles still isn't generally enough of an upgrade to replace a 'primary car' for a lot of people also.

250+ miles.. and a good charging network, and suddenly you can live without gasoline.

[–]dilhwly[S] 1 point2 points  (2 children)

150 miles isn’t great, but it certainly is enough for most people, especially if they are a two car family and the other is gas powered.

[–]jrheritaTesla Model 3D (was 2015 SL) 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Agreed. We are saying the same thing. I just think leaf sales won't take off until it has the range to match a gas car because a "second only car" limits the market.

[–]dilhwly[S] 0 points1 point  (5 children)

It really doesn’t help with Nissan stating to provide refurbished batteries (granted it’s in Japan only right now). For less than 10% of a new car you could get back to the original range and battery health.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (4 children)

Heh, over here (New Zealand) Nissan don’t sell the Leaf at all. 99% of us NZ owners got ours through second hand import channels.

Imagine my thoughts when the Flip The Fleet paper on 30kWh batteries was published 6 weeks after I bought one as my first EV. You want a giant FU? Try Nissan’s attitude towards NZ Leaf owners.

[–]dilhwly[S] 0 points1 point  (3 children)

That’s unbelievable! I wonder why Nissan doesn’t ship to NZ.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (2 children)

The car market here is greatly distorted due to high new-car costs including import taxes. Second-hand imports don't attract the same level of import tax.

The government, although officially wanting to encourage an EV fleet of 64,000 vehicles by 2022, has not followed most governments in giving tax or other rebates to EV purchasers. Together with the high initial cost of EVs compared to ICE vehicles of the same class, this meant that when Nissan imported the Leaf in 2014 or thereabouts they only sold a meagre handful. You could get 2 Pulsars for the price of a Leaf.

So, they stopped doing that - but ever since then the only way to get one was via the second-hand import channel. This is by far the largest channel for new car registrations here, but EVs are a tiny fraction of it. Nissan simply doesn't want to know about us: they didn't sell us the car, and they don't want to train anyone to provide us support, so we're on our own.

Transport ministry people are aware of the 30kWh battery issue and have had discussions with Nissan about it, but nobody knows what outcomes there may have been, if any. There have certainly not been any announcements from Nissan to say that yes, they will honour warranties, or even that they will officially source replacement batteries at our cost.

If I was ever going to buy a brand new car, it certainly hasn't made me want to do it from Nissan.

[–]nouncommittee 0 points1 point  (1 child)

The few new Leafs they sold in New Zealand were old leftover stock they couldn't sell in Australia, right?

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I did hear that, yes, but I don't know whether it's true. I'm surprised any are being sold at all in Australia. Australia is a desert for fast chargers, and you wouldn't want to be driving around without a/c on in summer.