Nissan To Improve 2012, 2013 LEAFs

July 14, 2011

Unless they are kept in warm climates, leaves tend to wither in the cold. Although this is a truism in nature, it took a cold season in America for Nissan to quietly show it has learned this lesson applies also to its electric car known as the LEAF.

Specifically, Nissan recently announced changes to its pending 2012 as well as 2013 LEAF models that will include more heat for the occupants, and perhaps more importantly, for the battery.

All 2012 LEAFs will come standard with a thermal management package to help warm the battery for cold weather driving.

Last winter reports were that ambient cold in snow belt states was ebbing the life from possible driving range for LEAFs by as much as 30 miles. Lithium-ion batteries do not like extreme temperatures, and prefer moderate climates.

For that matter, the same is true of people. As such, Nissan also announced it will equip every 2012 LEAF with heated front and rear seats, a heated steering wheel, and heated external rear-view mirrors.

The 2012s will also be equipped with a rear heating and air conditioning duct and all these changes are an effort to put an end to driver complaints about the car’s ability to function acceptably in cold weather (or warm weather in the case of the A/C duct).

The LEAF is the first-mass produced electric car from a major manufacturer, so these kinds of learning curve experiences are not unexpected.

And Nissan has otherwise been very positive about its all-electric future. Its CEO Carlos Ghosn has gone on record as the most bullish of major auto execs predicting the highest percentages of future EV proliferation, estimating they will comprise 10 percent of all vehicles on the road by 2020.

As such, the forward-thinking company has also confirmed 2013 LEAFs will get an upgrade to their on-board 240-volt chargers from 3.3 kW to 6.6 kW. This should help significantly with recharge times.

The charger upgrades may happen about the same time LEAFs are being produced in the U.S. at the company’s Smyrna, Tenn. assembly plant. Thus far, all LEAFs are imported from Japan.

Still details are trickling in, so while we are talking about future models, we can only report that pricing for the new LEAFs has not been announced.

The MSRP for 2012s is rumored to be close to announcement, perhaps within a week. Rumors also are 2013s may even see some form of a price cut, but this is pure speculation, not something we would bank on.

What is certain is Nissan will soon have competition to contend with. Mitsubishi is due to release its i all-electric model later this year, as is the case with Ford and its Focus EV.

We contacted Ford lately with a bunch of basic questions, and were told it was not ready to divulge certain answers, but we were told we are on the list to find out when Ford is ready.

Also, we reported the Mitsubishi i minicar is due in November, and at $27,990 before incentives, it will be the new price leader. It is a smaller, slower, more limited range car, however, better suited for around town driving even more so than the LEAF.

In the mean time the Nissan LEAF is the only car in its class, and kudos to it for being willing to improve its product as needed. Now let’s just hope that price can be further whittled away.

And this said, it is believed all of these cars are being internally subsidized to some extent by their major market manufacturers in an effort to make sticker shock as minimal as possible.

Source: GreenCarReports


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  • MrEnergyCzar

    So with the changes the range will drop from an EPA of 73 miles to what? 50 miles?

    MrEnergyCzar

  • James Davis

    If anyone could do it, I knew Nissan could. They are quickly climbing up the ladder to being the world’s greatest electric car manufacturer. I like that heated steering wheel idea. My hands get really cold while I’m scraping off the snow and ice on the windshield and it takes them forever to warm up.

    I wonder if Nissan is going to put those new solar panels on the Leaf, and have them come out of the trunk like the roofs use to decline into to to help charge the battery and help with the heating and cooling system while we sit out in those sun soaked parking lots. That would be really great to see a solar panel coming up out of the trunk to help keep us cool while we wait on the wife to do her shopping, or the kids to get out of school.

  • Anonymous

    The actual change we are waiting for is the shift to their NMC battery which will provide 186 mile range as compared with its current 100 mile range. So if you ratio the claims with the performance, the NMC will provide a real world range around 125 miles with the AC operating. Even more when heat is the order of the day.

    The question is will the NMC battery upgrade be introduced in late 2013 as the 2014 model. That is what we want to know.

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  • pickupdoctor

    NO, they will stay the same or they will actually go up.

    Did you read the article?

  • Scott Z

    Am I the only one hearing “Well DUH!” in my head? While I love the Leaf and I give big kudos to Nissan for make the biggest auto move since the industries birth I am perplex they did not know this going in. The people here in this forum have know the need for heating (or cooling) the battery in certain zones. Tesla knew. How did Nissan not. I guess Nissan just wanted to get it on the road then make improvements as new model years come down the line.

  • Blogger

    It seems Nissan deleted the thermal system so the car can be offered at a lower cost to help sales. But that will the early adopters do that don’t have better heating and live in cold climates? And what about the hot climates, heat has the same negative impact on the battery that cold does. So expect another price increase for 2013 when the heat issue is addressed and the 6.6 KW charger is added.

    Next when it’s sold in colder climates, there will be a heater that thaws the snow and ice from the giant upright front charging door, or risk scratching the paint trying to remove snow/ice to charge the car. Or something to melt the snow/ice that fell in over the 8 hours while charging overnight due to it’s upright position.

    Ford has already stated that the Focus EV has both integrated thermal heat/cold technology to keep the batteries at the right temperature for the best charging and longest range, along with the 6.6 KW charger.

    I think Ford has the better idea of making their own batteries, and hybrid/ev transmissions, and offering several vehicles using the same hybrid tech, using the same car platform to spread the development costs between 3 or 4 C-platform cars(Focus EV/C-Max Hybrid/Energi/ and hopefully the Focus 5-Door Plugin Hybrid.

    And then the Focus/Mondeo and MKZ sharing the same platform and hybrid tech, instead of trying to recoup the hybrid/ev development costs on the sale of one vehicle like the Leaf.

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  • dhybrids

    Way to go Nissan!!..Kudos to you guys for being willing to improve your product as needed. I love how Nissan will also be equipped their 2012 LEAF with a rear heating and air conditioning duct. I read on some 2012 car reviews, few drivers had complaints about the car’s ability to function acceptably in cold weather. Now I don’t have to be worried when driving my LEAF in cold weather. Let’s just hope that the 2013 LEAF’s price can be further higher away.

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    Heat and cold may have similar effects on range. Yet, in cold weather the range will improve once the Li Ion battery cells warm up. In conditions of significant heat however, the reverse is not true. Hot weather can permanently damage Li Ion cells, permanently lowering the battery packs potential range.

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