Survey: 89% of Leaf Owners Desire EV Range of Over 100 Miles

This is great news for the auto industry to continue development of efficient vehicle components. What will the next generation of vehicles be capable of? How can we make current models more efficient? If the cost of a Leaf could be brought down through discounts at the time of purchase then I would consider one.
The 2015 Prius is stiff competition to any vehicle that I might buy.

 

EV range anxiety is alive and well

 

I'm hoping the next generation Leaf has an option to choose battery capacity like how Tesla does it now. Nissan already found a way to sell the car under $30k after only 2 years on the market. I'd gladly pay a $10k option for a 40 kWh - 50 kWh battery even if it takes up all the trunk space.

 

We have almost 30,000 miles on ours. Battery degradation isn't linear. So when the first 10% of capacity loss shows up on the gauge - the theory is that there's supposed to be some kind of consolation just knowing that continued loss of range - due to inevitable battery capacity degradation will decrease substantially. But nissan doesn't seem to grasp reality perceptions of most owners .... esspecially Arizona and Texas owners. That perception goes like this:
1st - Capacity loss is on its way
2nd - you don't have 100 miles range @ freeway speed, to start with
3rd - range uncomfortablenes begins below 20 miles remaining
4th - the above 3 scenarios will leave you with only 50 miles within the initial first few years.
We knew that up front - but many folks apparently just blew it off. 90% of our EV commutes are under 40 miles round trip anyways - so it doesn't really matter right now ... But that's because we took a long hard look at those realities.
Fortunately for Nissan they've seen the writing on the wall. Yep - they are finally installing lots of quick Chargers at their dealerships (most being near freeways ) - so even when range shortens up due to battery capacity loss - it will be just 10 or 15 minutes to recharge enough to complete those trips that one would have otherwise not been able to complete.

 

99% of people surveyed say they would like to win the lottery...

The real question is "how much would they be willing to pay for each extra mile of range?"

 

There's a very simple way to find out.

 

There is? Market research of that sort is notoriously tricky, but I'm all ears.

 

Sorry, I guess I was too subtle. The simple answer is to offer it, like Tesla did. Few chose the 40 kWh version of the Model S so they axed it. I'm willing to bet few will choose the 24 kWh version of the Leaf. We won't know definitely until it is offered.

 

I could live with a solid, reliable, 50 mile EV range, but it would have to be hybrid/electric. I don't mind charging over night. Not interested in a EV only vehicle at this time, even with a 100 mile or less range.

 

Well, you could, I suppose, make a Leaf with every possible mileage range, and slowly lower the prices of each until they sell at a desired volume. But, that is a ton of work, and it is tough to do that in isolation. A couple of models at set prices won't answer my question at all. Did the Telsa 40 not sell because its range was too small, or because it was overpriced for that range?

 

yes this was too subtle for me as well. See ... The simple way that I thought you meant we'd find out- is when gas gets so expensive - more folks would necessarily migrate to cheaper running electricity fueled cars.

Sent ? thingie

 

First I appreciate pioneers. Let me make sure I understand:

So you start with a nominal 80 mile range that now is running about 50 miles after 30,000 miles?

Have you tried any longer distance trips with intermediate charging? How did that work out?

Bob Wilson

 

Just how dense are Nissan dealers near you? The nearest one to me is 28 miles, and there are 4 within the range of a Leaf.

 

Nissan QC density here in South OC California;

To the North maybe 9 miles - Tustin Nissan has one.
To the West maybe 12 miles - Coasta Mesa Nissan has one.
To the Northwest appx 38 miles - Ceritos Nissan has one. (that puts us up in L.A. county)
To the West maybe 45 miles - Carson Nissan has one.
To the North west appx 50 miles - L.A. Nissan has one.
To the North west appx 65 miles - Glendale Nissan has one.

To the south - (San diego county) 45 miles across the no-mans land of Camp Pendleton Marine base, QC's are still all operated by non Nissan companies. Even so, Nissan is working on it down there. To the north of OC and LA counties, there's one Nissan Dealer in Ventura county doing an install. This effectively increases the practicality of 100 mile one way trips in the Leaf, even when owners have lost their 1st bit of capacity. So that's not too shabby!

It's 50 miles "for certain" once your first capacity bar is lost off the gauge. If you're freezing, you eat up your kWh's running the electric heater ... if you're pulling a long grade, you eat up kWh's. So, why count on it. With brand new traction packs, you start with 12 capacity bars on the gauge. Once you've lost that 1st percentage of capacity - your gauge will only show 11 bars. Then, maybe after another 25K-35K miles or so, you come out to the garage to find another capacity bar gone. Now you only have 10 bars showing available. It's the nature of all batteries. That said, there are several 1990's versions of the RAV4-ev's still running around the landscape, with over 100k miles ... original traction packs. evnut here on PC is approaching 100k. Longevity turns on how well or how poorly one treats the pack. Hey! just like an ICE!
Flat land and Longer distance (above 70 miles) trips, we'd just take the hybrid ... because who wants to have to count on the one and only QC being available ... either ICED ... or in use ... or inop. That's the joy of Nissan's redundant QC's FINALLY coming on line. It's a safety net, when you really really need to get there ... and you're too cheep to take the gas burner - there'll be a couple more QC - just down the road. I believe Nissan dealerships are putting in over 500 QC's around the nation. That will take a lot of the hand wringing out of the equation - for those who aren't sure whether an EV will work as a 2nd car - where they're not needing to travel 150 mile trips but once in a blue moon.

.

 

deleted (rolling eyes ... ok ... might as well make use of the deleted post space)

Yes, that's just wrong. Hopefully they'll come to their senses prior to production. On a more positive note - I just went to an EVent yesterday where I got to talk to 2 persons who are part of a group working on a range extender pack for the Leaf. A safe tie-in point has been determined ... a most excellent lithium chemistry has been chosen ... and now they simply have to assure the add on pack's passive temp management capabilities will be sufficient. It reminded me very much of Dr. Andy Frank - years ago, when he first began tinkering with plug-in vehicles. Baby steps!

 

Not sure why you would make it so complicated. You offer 2 battery capacities. Whichever one sells more is the winner. 3 if you like but even 3 will pushing too many choices on the customer.

Why would you offer a bunch, vary the prices, and do it in isolation? What does that even mean? I just know the public has spoken. There's only one way to find out if the public wants to buy a mini iPad. There's only one way to find out if the public wants to buy a Prius one trim.

Again you make it complicated. The Tesla 40 kWh didn't sell well. That's it, stop selling it. Not sure why I am still explaining myself after that first line. Perhaps, I'm the one not getting "it." I don't know anything about economics apart from high school.

 

I asked what I thought was an interesting and complicated question. You said that there was a simple answer. But your answer does not answer my question. I started complicated, if you want to know where the sweet spot in range is, two models only tell you which one is closer to it. And that is assuming you get the price right for each model. Go look up multivariate linear equations, and some marketing research, and you will get an idea about how complicated it is.

By isolation, I mean that dropping the price of a car every week is going to affect the price at which people buy, as they will notice that waiting gets one a cheaper car. Hence each experiment biases the others.

 

I think I answered your question. Apparently I haven't. And now I have no idea where your thinking has gone.

Selling different capacity batteries is not a simple way to find out what people are willing to pay per mile of range. I think it is but I don't know anything.