- Despite being early to the electric car market, Nissan has struggled to maintain relevance in the EV era.
- One key advantage is that their best-seller, the Leaf, is a proven and reliable option.
- If a Leaf does have issues, though, Out Of Spec says that Nissan doesn't have an acceptable EV service experience.
Nissan has blown its early EV lead. The company was the first to offer a mass-market EV in the United States. It introduced the Leaf in 2010, years before the Tesla Model S hit the street. Yet 14 years later, the company has not capitalized on its early mover advantage. It still sells the Leaf with the ancient CHAdeMO charging plug that's rapidly being phased out here, and its only other option is the Ariya, an acceptable if not particularly notable EV crossover. And as Kyle Conner explains in the latest Out Of Spec video, the company still hasn't learned how to properly service EVs.
He knows this because Out Of Spec leased a brand new, standard-range Nissan Leaf back when Colorado dealers were running fire sales on them. Conner and many others were able to lease Leafs for $19 a month with $500 down. That's less than $1,000 total over the life of the two-year lease, an incredible deal. The deal benefitted from Nissan's national incentivized lease program, the $7,500 federal clean vehicle tax credit, a $5,000 Colorado state credit and Colorado's auto lease tax exemption. It sounded perfect. Until the car bricked itself less.
That happened immediately after he leased the car, with less than 500 miles on its odometer. Over two months later, the car still isn't fixed.
According to Conner, the Leaf needs a replacement of at least part of its battery pack. The part it needs has not arrived, and neither the dealership nor Nissan can say when it will come. The dealer has provided Out Of Spec with a loaner car, but they have no other ideas for speeding the process. Comments on the YouTube video suggest he isn't the only one who has faced a crazy delay in getting a new battery pack or module.
The failure itself, while unfortunate, is understandable. The Leaf is widely regarded as among the most reliable electric vehicles, even if it tends to lose a lot of range as its air-cooled battery ages. But actual pack failures are very rare. Still, they happen, just as engine replacements happen on relatively new vehicles. What's inexcusable, Conner argues, is Nissan's inability to give the customer a reasonable short-term solution.
He notes that Tesla and Rivian have been known to swap in loaner or remanufactured battery packs while they wait for the full repair of the pack to be complete. It's not a perfect solution, but it means customers can continue to drive their cars. Nissan dealers, though, still seem ill-equipped to deal with EV issues. There's no alternative to waiting for a module to arrive and no timeline for when that will happen. If the fix doesn't work, the cycle will repeat.
Obviously, Tesla, Rivian and other companies that take EV service seriously also have delays. But given that this is a relatively ancient, mass-produced vehicle with a long-standing supply chain, it's hard to justify having such a core component unavailable for two months, with no end in sight and no alternative to keep the vehicle on the road. Sure, an obscure door part for a Cybertruck may take some time to arrive, but batteries aren't exactly niche components. And since many Nissan technicians are still not EV certified, there's a labor constraint, too.
It's a good reminder that companies cannot succeed by treating the EV experience as an afterthought. People like driving and owning EVs if you provide them a fleshed-out experience. But if your strategy is "here's a car with a battery, good luck," you're going to get creamed. Take it from Nissan, the brand that pioneered the mass-market electric car, only to have the whole market slip through its fingers.
Contact the author: Mack.hogan@insideevs.com.
