Nissan didn’t restore a brand-new Leaf with a failed 40-kilowatt-hour battery.
The automotive sat on the supplier for months.
Ultimately, Nissan purchased again the automotive from the proprietor and supplied one other, brand-new Leaf.
A failing high-voltage battery on an electrical automobile is often related to excessive restore prices. That’s why some individuals are terrified that their beloved EV would possibly conk out, leaving them stranded. Though statistics present that the potential for an EV battery failing is tiny (as in, lower than 3%), the excessive prices that generally go over $10,000 after the guarantee ends are a respectable fear.
However what do you do when a brand-new battery-powered automotive will get a foul battery? That’s precisely what occurred to the bottom Nissan Leaf owned by our pals at Out of Spec Critiques. They leased a poverty-spec Leaf powered by a 40-kilowatt-hour battery for an incredibly low payment, which was an excellent content material supply for brand new views, however the actuality is that the automotive solely coated 430 miles earlier than turning into an enormous brick on wheels.
We wrote about this explicit Leaf earlier than, however to maintain issues quick, the high-voltage battery had a foul cell group, which made the automotive undriveable. Seeing how this was a brand-new EV, it went again to the Nissan supplier for repairs, however right here’s the place issues get attention-grabbing.
The supplier did the most effective it might, so far as I can inform from the video embedded beneath. The mandatory components had been ordered in due time, however each time the shopper checked in on the progress, the reply was that the components had been on backorder. A number of months handed with the automotive simply sitting within the supplier’s parking zone, which isn’t precisely reassuring. Granted, the proprietor obtained a loaner automobile, however judging from the feedback on the YouTube video, not all people obtained the identical remedy–the truth that Out of Spec Critiques has almost 1 / 4 of one million subscribers probably helped expedite issues.
Nissan has finally stepped up and determined to purchase again the damaged Leaf and supply a brand-new mannequin. That, nevertheless, hasn’t occurred to different Leaf homeowners who skilled the identical concern with their EVs, however perhaps this video will assist them type issues out ultimately. They’ve been ready for months to get a substitute half nevertheless it’s seemingly on backorder indefinitely.
For what it’s value, the lease settlement remained the identical, solely with a brand new VIN hooked up. That’s good as a result of the lease value is insanely low: underneath $20 per thirty days with a $500 down cost. It’s additionally not so good as a result of the lease settlement continues to be the unique two years, however as a result of the preliminary automotive was unusable for a few months, the efficient utilization interval of the brand new EV is barely shorter.
