Thermal Management 121 Figure 4 2012 Nissan LEAF Owner’s Manual battery warning (page EV-2). © 2012-2013 Nissan North America, Inc. Nissan, Nissan model names and the Nissan logo are registered trademarks of Nissan. So even while the batteries were performing to their design specifications, the continuous high temperatures and more extreme usage drove a reduction in battery capacity and therefore reduced range. And even though Nissan’s owner’s manual (Nissan, 2011) tried to clearly identify the major areas that will reduce battery life, they suffered much undeserved negative attention ( Figure 4 ).
In the end, Nissan ended up changing their warranty between the 2012 and the 2013 model- year vehicles in order to account for these types of occurrences. Prior to the 2013 model-year vehicles, the warranty specifically excluded gradual loss of charge/capacity. To their original 8-year/100,000-mile warranty that covers defects and flaws, they added a 5-year/60,000-mile warranty that covers capacity. If the Leaf loses more than 30% of its original capacity in the first 5 years or 60,000 miles, Nissan will repair or replace it. In addition, Nissan began working on the release of a new battery pack design that was intended to resolve these issues.
To resolve these issues, Nissan began looking at alternative battery chemistries that would perform better in the high temperature regions of the world (Gordon- Bloomfield, 2013). Additionally, in mid-2014, Nissan announced that they would be offering replacement battery packs for earlier models at a price of $ 5499 USD (O’Dell, 2014). This is most interesting as this calculates out to a price of about $ 229 per kWh ($ 229/kWh), which is much below the current market pricing. Nissan is very likely taking a loss on these replacement packs in order to help inspire current and future customers, but it will be at a cost.
To tie this back in with the thermal management system of the battery, the reader should recognize that the Nissan Leaf battery pack (as will be discussed in more detail in a following chapter) actually has no active thermal management system at all. Instead, the Leaf battery