For the past few months, Nissan-Renault has been tiptoeing around the idea of leasing the battery packs that power its upcoming electric cars. The goal is to assuage consumer worries about getting stung with the high cost of replacing an electric car battery if it fails or loses too much capability over the course of years.
Nissan has not confirmed details, but Carlos Ghosn, chief executive for Nissan and Renualt, in an interview earlier this month with Le Journal du Dimanche, mentioned a cost of “just under 100 euros per month” (about US $150) for battery leasing.
Ghosn's passing comment, not applied to any specific vehicle, does not provide enough data to begin punching numbers into a calculator—but reveals how tricky the economics of pure electric cars might become for consumers.
Nissan is targeting about $30,000 as a purchase price for the Nissan Leaf, its electric car rolling out in limited production in late 2010, and widespread release in 2012. That figure is well below the competition. Mitsubishi's i-MiEV is selling for about $47,000 in Japan, and the Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid—with its 16 kilowatt-hour battery versus the Leaf's 24 kilowatt-hour battery—is expected to sell for about $40,000. Separating the monthly price for a battery lease from the original purchase price would explain how Nissan could offer the Leaf at such a competitive price.
Ghosn's increasingly frequent comments about battery leasing could reflect a change of direction for Nissan, or could mean that battery leasing will only be offered for Renault-brand electric cars. Larry Dominique, vice president of product planning for Nissan North America, speaking at an industry conference last month, said, "We want our customers to have just one payment.”
Full story
