A letter to Nissan

To the Nissan Leaf designers.

 

We purchased a second hand Nissan Leaf a few months ago and it is a beauty.  It has all the features we could ask for and more.  You have a touch screen but have also made pretty well all the controls tactile.  I don't have to take my eyes off the road to operate them.  This is a great plus.  Touch screens in cars are more dangerous than cell phones.  As for the phone app, it is great to be able to do it all verbally and the quality of the sound is really great.  So what else have you done that I really  like.

The battery in the leaf we bought was a 24kWh with 60% left in it.  In other words, we had a 14.4kWh battery.  We got it changed for a 30kWh, 90% battery from a wrecked Leaf resulting in an effective 27kWh battery. This is the first thing that I really like about the Leaf.  The initial model has stayed the same for the first 10 years meaning that I could have even swapped out the old battery for a 40kWh battery.  The whole exchange takes a mechanic one hour.  Keeping the model the same and eliminating this built in obsolescence that is so common in other equipment these days is a really strong selling point. 

 

You have no self driving and this is very much a plus in my opinion.  I don't want it and won't have it.  I like driving and would rather drive myself.  Besides it increased the price of the car and one of your most important selling points is the price range of Leafs

 

You also don't have any connection with the internet.  I really don't want someone hacking my car some time in the future and interfering with my driving.  If you do have to upgrade some soft ware, let me download it from my computer onto a flash drive, insert it into the car and presto, upgrade sorted.

 

But where do you fall short.

You are operating on an old business model that quite frankly has no place and no sympathy with modern customers.  You should be providing new replacement batteries at a reasonable mark up so that Leaf owners can extend the life of their Leaf with a simple battery exchange.  Instead you are making it almost impossible to buy a replacement and it costs far far more than it should (if you can even buy one).  The car is great.  It should go through at least 5 battery changes before the car is worn out.  And, each battery change will give the car greater range and slower battery fade as battery technology advances.  At present you are trying to force the customer to buy a new Leaf.  

While you are at it, you could supply a conversion kit that would allow the customer to use the old battery to power his home.  That would be a great service.  We could effectively deduct the price of a Tesla Power Wall from the cost of the battery exchange (and probably have even more storage capacity than the Power Wall).  This would make the purchase of a new battery for my Leaf very attractive financially.

The Leaf fills a market/price position that Tesla has not yet arrived at but they are approaching it rapidly.  You have a solid base of satisfied customers and a great car.  Think of your customers and your bottom line will take care of itself.  Publicize the fact that you will keep the new model the same for at least a decade as you did with the first model and that you will provide new batteries with the latest technology and that they will fit into previous leafs with a minimum of labor.

One other thing to consider.  Your battery management is not up to scratch.  As I understand the situation, it is detrimental to battery life to allow the battery to go above or below a certain temperature range.  Tesla manages this with a liquid cooled manifold that touches each battery and the liquid is fed to a radiator.  You really must upgrade your cooling system.  Is this also done to force people to buy a new Leaf as the battery degrades faster than it should?  Again, think of your customers.  A long lasting battery is a great selling point.

The Leaf could be well on the way to becoming the peoples iconic car of the electric era.  The first such car was the Model T Ford.  Later came the Volkswagen Beatle and the Deaux Cheveaux (2CV).  The leaf could be the iconic peoples car on into the future.  But the main feature for the modern buyer and especially the younger generation that will be buying your car is for you to abandon built in obsolescence.

 By the Way, your Auria looks amazing but the Leaf is all the car that I need or want.  Don't abandon it, now that you are making this new car.

I love my Leaf.  Let me keep it running long into the future and to tell everyone I meet how great it is in all respects.