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> I never found out if the new leafs actually use proper thermal management with a coolant loop on the pack. It does not. It's just a 25% larger version of las

> I never found out if the new leafs actually use proper thermal management with a coolant loop on the pack. It does not. It's just a 25% larger version of last year's battery. A 60 kWh battery pack manufactured by LG Chem is slated for later in 2018. LG Chem's battery packs for other EVs are liquid cooled. My uninformed theory is that Nissan contracted to buy far more batteries from AESC than they ended up needing for the Leaf's sales volume, and is still getting rid of them.

vvanders 9y ago
Damn, that's unfortunate. It has a bad side-effect of giving EVs a worse name then the deserve.
- lafar6502 9y ago
  ? man what are you talking about? Its normal battery degradation and the car doesnt need any special thermal management or whatever you call it. Besides, if anyone believes in the leaps in battery capacity and charging speeds, you should throw away your old battery every 2 years because it's already old, too heavy and not environmentally friendly enough.
  - dangrossman 9y ago
    > Its normal battery degradation and the car doesnt need any special thermal management or whatever you call it. Sorry but you're wrong on this. The Nissan Leaf's battery degradation is not normal; it's so abnormal that Nissan was forced to retroactively add a warranty for it, and redesign the battery pack twice within the first generation to try to slow it down. Cars driven in hot climates lost upwards of 30% of their battery capacity in 1-2 years because the battery has no real thermal management, which virtually every other EV on the road has. Tesla's vehicles, for example, have been on the road as long as the Leaf. They lose about 5% battery capacity in the first 50,000 miles and less than 10% after 100,000 miles on average. Chevrolet has had zero warranty claims in the entire life of the Volt vehicle program for battery degradation. Meanwhile, my Nissan Leaf has 23,000 miles on the odometer and has lost over 25% of its original battery capacity. > Besides, if anyone believes in the leaps in battery capacity and charging speeds, you should throw away your old battery every 2 years because it's already old, too heavy and not environmentally friendly enough. You're being disingenuous, right? The batteries don't change that much that quickly, and there's no environmental case for throwing away $5000+ in working batteries every other year. There's nobody selling upgraded replacement batteries for EVs anyway.

vvanders 9y ago

Damn, that's unfortunate. It has a bad side-effect of giving EVs a worse name then the deserve.

lafar6502 9y ago
? man what are you talking about? Its normal battery degradation and the car doesnt need any special thermal management or whatever you call it. Besides, if anyone believes in the leaps in battery capacity and charging speeds, you should throw away your old battery every 2 years because it's already old, too heavy and not environmentally friendly enough.
- dangrossman 9y ago
  > Its normal battery degradation and the car doesnt need any special thermal management or whatever you call it. Sorry but you're wrong on this. The Nissan Leaf's battery degradation is not normal; it's so abnormal that Nissan was forced to retroactively add a warranty for it, and redesign the battery pack twice within the first generation to try to slow it down. Cars driven in hot climates lost upwards of 30% of their battery capacity in 1-2 years because the battery has no real thermal management, which virtually every other EV on the road has. Tesla's vehicles, for example, have been on the road as long as the Leaf. They lose about 5% battery capacity in the first 50,000 miles and less than 10% after 100,000 miles on average. Chevrolet has had zero warranty claims in the entire life of the Volt vehicle program for battery degradation. Meanwhile, my Nissan Leaf has 23,000 miles on the odometer and has lost over 25% of its original battery capacity. > Besides, if anyone believes in the leaps in battery capacity and charging speeds, you should throw away your old battery every 2 years because it's already old, too heavy and not environmentally friendly enough. You're being disingenuous, right? The batteries don't change that much that quickly, and there's no environmental case for throwing away $5000+ in working batteries every other year. There's nobody selling upgraded replacement batteries for EVs anyway.