I would like to start a second thread on competition which is specific to battery-only electric vehicles and does not discuss fuel cells.
I'm not sure if this was discussed at length or if I lost it in the other thread but Nissan sent out a fairly interesting survey back in January. I agree the Leaf is not competition but I think it is highly likely Nissan will be the first established automaker to seriously compete with Tesla.
The article and most interesting bit:
Nissan Asks: Do You Want a 150-mile Nissan LEAF? How Much Would You Pay? - Transport Evolved Electric Car News
"Perhaps the most interesting part of this hypothetical 150-mile car however, is that Nissan asked the owners it invited to take part in the survey to choose how much more they’d be willing to pay for the extra range. The most expensive choice was $5,000 more than the current model, indicating that Nissan may have dramatically reduced its battery manufacturing costs in recent months."
Also, in this article a "battery guru" says the small-format cell's cost advantage has "eroded."
Battery guru: Future of 18650 cells unclear beyond Tesla S - SAE International
The most expensive choice in the survey was $5,000 and the current model has a range of 84 miles. Perhaps 150 miles would be a 42 kwh pack which would be 18 kwh larger than the current 24 kwh pack. That would indicate a battery cost of less than (and maybe much less than) $280/kwh for Nissan. That may not be very far from Tesla's cost (less than $160/kwh according to the SAE article but Tesla would have higher pack costs). The Nissan battery won't last as long and will degrade faster than Tesla but still at these prices they can compete especially since the Leaf hits a different demographic.
For me this is very exciting. I'm very glad that Nissan is taking EVs seriously. I would like to see others start.
I'm not sure if this was discussed at length or if I lost it in the other thread but Nissan sent out a fairly interesting survey back in January. I agree the Leaf is not competition but I think it is highly likely Nissan will be the first established automaker to seriously compete with Tesla.
The article and most interesting bit:
Nissan Asks: Do You Want a 150-mile Nissan LEAF? How Much Would You Pay? - Transport Evolved Electric Car News
"Perhaps the most interesting part of this hypothetical 150-mile car however, is that Nissan asked the owners it invited to take part in the survey to choose how much more they’d be willing to pay for the extra range. The most expensive choice was $5,000 more than the current model, indicating that Nissan may have dramatically reduced its battery manufacturing costs in recent months."
Also, in this article a "battery guru" says the small-format cell's cost advantage has "eroded."
Battery guru: Future of 18650 cells unclear beyond Tesla S - SAE International
The most expensive choice in the survey was $5,000 and the current model has a range of 84 miles. Perhaps 150 miles would be a 42 kwh pack which would be 18 kwh larger than the current 24 kwh pack. That would indicate a battery cost of less than (and maybe much less than) $280/kwh for Nissan. That may not be very far from Tesla's cost (less than $160/kwh according to the SAE article but Tesla would have higher pack costs). The Nissan battery won't last as long and will degrade faster than Tesla but still at these prices they can compete especially since the Leaf hits a different demographic.
For me this is very exciting. I'm very glad that Nissan is taking EVs seriously. I would like to see others start.