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The false assertion that EV batteries put on out rapidly, and may’t get replaced or recycled, is a favourite of the anti-EV crowd, so it was fascinating to listen to an exec from Nissan (one of many few automakers that has truly bought giant numbers of EVs) clearly and unequivocally rebut the thought.
“Nearly the entire [EV] batteries we’ve ever made are nonetheless in automobiles, and we’ve been promoting electrical automobiles for 12 years,” Nissan’s UK Advertising Director Nic Thomas just lately informed Forbes.
Charged handed the information on down the road, and it appears to have struck a nerve—our publish discovered a whole lot of readers, and was reposted in a number of different EV business publications.
EV advocates are at all times blissful to have a horse’s-mouth quote with which to rebut the naysayers, however a few readers identified that Mr. Thomas might have overstated his case when he mentioned that “taking the battery out [of an electric car] and placing a brand new battery in will not be a viable proposition.”
Many EV homeowners, together with your favourite journalist (who has had three Prius batteries changed) know that this isn’t strictly true. Batteries do fail, whether or not as a result of manufacturing defects or abuse, and so they do lose capability over time. Substitute is a serious expense (akin to changing a transmission in an ICE car, maybe), nevertheless it isn’t a purpose to ship the automotive to the junkyard, regardless of the oil-drinking crowd might declare.
Mr. Sal Cameli had the battery in his 2013 LEAF changed after it misplaced a considerable quantity of vary, and the expertise impressed him to create a database of corporations that provide LEAF battery replacements (InsideEVs reported on his quest).
Cameli’s Nissan LEAF Battery Substitute web site at present lists 42 corporations all over the world that provide the service. “They’re largely taking salvaged packs from wrecked LEAFs and putting in them in older LEAFs [pre-2018] for LEAF homeowners all over the world,” he informed us.
Cameli is lower than happy with Nissan, which he says refuses to promote new battery packs to impartial restore retailers. “All of those corporations have tried to buy new packs from Nissan and so they simply don’t need the enterprise. They don’t need us to extend the lifetime of the previous LEAFs—they’d slightly clients purchase a brand new LEAF as a substitute. How is that being inexperienced?”
Todd Thompson of Tampa Hybrids reminded us that battery failure and battery degradation are two various things. Most of Nissan’s batteries should still be practical, however the older ones have misplaced substantial quantities of vary—typically as a lot as 50%.
“There’s an enormous marketplace for alternative LEAF batteries,” Thompson informed Charged. “There’s extra demand than there are wrecked batteries on the market.” He says Nissan is charging round $8,000 plus set up for an OEM alternative battery. At that worth, restoring an older LEAF most likely isn’t viable.
Unbiased retailers can do the job for much less, however the provide of salvaged batteries is proscribed. “If a producer made a battery for this automotive that was reasonably priced, and will restore a 100-mile vary, I feel it might be a viable enterprise mannequin,” says Thompson. “We may maintain these automobiles on the street for 20 extra years.”
Sources: Forbes, InsideEVs, Nissan LEAF Battery Substitute, Tampa Hybrids
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