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Idea for Tesla: Nissan now warranties against battery degradation

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Trnsl8r

S85 2012-2018, X90 since 2016, 3 since 2018
Aug 20, 2011
1,757
145
San Jose, CA
Hopefully I'm not going too off-topic, but I heard through the grapevine that Leaf owners got this tidbit from Nissan:
Screen Shot 2013-03-26 at 8.58.15 PM.png


Hat's off on a ballsy move. Tesla...?
 
This was discussed starting here:

Nissan Leaf - Page 170

The cynic in me says that this was an easy move to make for Nissan - never make the vehicle management system show less than 9 bars, but make the customers feel happy. Then deal with exceptions (those who complain anyway) the same way some other companies do: put a "number of times complained" field in their customer entry and wait until it hits 10 before they take action.
 
Also, another problem with the warranty provided by Nissan is that it only covers capacity loss below nine bars. The capacity loss in this situation will have to be quite significant. Just to give you an idea:

12 total capacity bars, the first represents 15%, the subsequent bars represent 6%. Hence, at nine bars this would represent 27% degradation. However, the warranty states "below 9 bars" so actually you would have to be down at 33% degradation.

Only before 60,000 miles and 2/3 of the battery's original capacity will Nissan replace the pack. Not a reasonable warranty IMO.
 
As I used to tell people when measuring their mobile phone signal: "'Bars' are not an official measure unit for signal strength." Similarly, they aren't to be trusted to measure battery degradation or capacity. So, I'd hope that if Nissan (or anyone) would offer this, that the fine print will have a much more scientific number to benchmark against and an easy way to measure it on a regular basis.

I'm not holding my breath.
 
The funny thing is that the image on the promo sent out by Nissan shows the wrong image.. Its the temp gauge in the picture... Of course, Nissans lack of a temperature management system for the battery is why their batteries are dying
 
Well, all the more reason Tesla should look into it. I'm at 2.5 years and 27k miles on my Roadster and am down 5%. So this could be a feel-good thing for customers and Tesla would almost never have to pay out.
Maybe it might help with the Roadster (which had a relatively short 3 year / 36k mile warranty), but for the Model S people might react the opposite way (as in expecting 5 years / 60k miles to be the typical life).

With the Roadster though, adding such a warranty doesn't generate any revenue for Tesla. Something like pack upgrade/replacement or extended warranty/service probably is more likely.
 
No reason for Tesla to offer such a warranty.. They have a good reputation for battery longevity - we'll see if it's deserved in due time. As for Nissan, they have received a lot of press for their dying batteries, so they offered this half baked warranty.
 
It's part of the reason I don't believe this. I think someone made it up as part of wishful thinking.
It is not. See My Nissan Leaf Forum View topic - Nissan LEAF Update from Andy Palmer. It was also discussed at a Phoenix town hall meeting posted at My Nissan Leaf Forum View topic - Meeting with Nissan, Phoenix, Jan 8, 2013, 6pm, drinks prior.

Folks received an email about it, w/the wrong image... :rolleyes:My Nissan Leaf Forum View topic - Nissan uses wrong photo for the new battery warranty intro.
 
I really hope Tesla comes up with a degradation warranty! Their current warranty is too vague and IMO just about worthless. What if I have only 60% after 5 years/60,000 miles? Is that covered? What about 30% after 7-8 years? Worthless warranty without limits to degradation! Consumer laws protects us Norwegians from complete battery failure the first 5 years anyways.....

Nothing I`ve seen so far indicates that the battery will loose 5-10% anually, but as long as Tesla gives no real battery warranty who`s to say 5-10% annual degradation is`nt to be expected?