Bumpyroad wrote:
for those of you who claim little/no maintenance cost, have you priced battery replacement yet?
bumpy
Good morning Bumpy.
Nope. For two reasons.
1. We never keep our vehicles for more than 6 or 7 years. The battery warranty is good for 8.
2. The batteries are “supposed to be” good for the life of the car or 13 to 14 years. We’ll have to see how that plays out. The first modern mass produced EV was the 2011 Nissan Leaf. The 2011 and 2012 Leafs had horrible degradation problems in constant high heat situations like Phoenix etc. They changed the chemistry in 2013 to improve that. However in less extreme situations the original leafs did ok. The majority of the Leaf taxi fleet in Madrid is still on the road. Tesla’s suffer little degradation even in high heat because of liquid cooling.
Just conjecture but my guess few people will spend the money on replacing batteries. They’ll probably just trade it in and someone with less range requirements will buy it.
Personal experience. We have a first generation Leaf. We haven’t noticed any significant amount of battery degradation. But, other than middle of the summer it doesn’t get that hot here. We’ll be trading it in for something new in the next year or two. Not sure what yet. Probably another hatchback. Maybe the model Y Tesla. Wouldn’t hesitate to get another Leaf though. Rock solid. Never had a bit of maintenance other than washer fluid. Tough little car. Kinda goofy lookin. I’ll miss that in the next one :). Whoever gets this one will get a great little commuter.
Cheers.
