Did anyone get an email from Nissan asking to take a survey? The email was from [email protected] and was sent July 16. Clicking on the link revealed it was about how I would feel if Nissan offered a battery warranty of 5 years/60K miles, 8 years/10K miles, or 10 years/100K miles. There were various questions along the lines of how each type of warranty would affect my purchase decision of the Leaf, my feelings about the reputation of Nissan, etc. This was kind of worrying to me if they are thinking of offering only a 5 year warranty on the battery.
Well the motors themselves should last longer than you. So consider the batteries like a transmission in a normal vehicle. Expensive to replace and required to operate it. Almost everyone including Toyota offers 5yrs/60k on parts like that. So that would be adequate for most people. Considering your maintenance cost will be windshield wiper fluid and headlight bulbs for the Leaf, just put some extra money aside for replacement batteries in a decade. Again like the prius, it doesnt work the night before and then magically not work the next day. It gets lower and lower range until it can be charged in 5 minutes and depletes the full pack getting out of your driveway maybe 10 years or 15 years later. Who knows, maybe 20 years later, we wont know until it happens. But as long as you can still go to your destination, you will just have to be aware of the potential replacement cost when the range starts going down a bit.
LONG thread on the subject over at mynissanleaf.com My Nissan Leaf Forum • View topic - July 16 Survey Email
Some feel the Leaf battery survey was generated due to GM's news that they had finally proclaimed what the Volt battery warranty would be. See here: http://priuschat.com/forums/chevrol...t-bad-news-couched-good-news.html#post1153312 IMO, the survey companies (as horrible as they are) work on these lame questions for a good amount of time, before they ever post 'em. With that in mind, the timelines would be all wrong.
I got the email and took the survey. Basically, I told them that I'd seriously consider buying the Leaf regardless of the warranty period. I could not honestly tell them that I'd definitely buy the Leaf because I'm still pondering the implications of owning three EVs (Leaf, Xebra, and Porsche) if the electric Porsche ever actually gets fixed.
