Nissan Sees Momentum Building for Leaf EV

NEW YORK – Nissan isn’t backing down from its aggressive outlook on electric-vehicle sales, a top U.S. executive says, pointing to the auto maker’s commitment to a plan announced earlier this year to have 600 fast chargers installed in the U.S. by the end of its current fiscal year, a threefold increase from 2012.

“We're very bullish on EVs,” Brendan Jones, director-EV infrastructure strategy and deployment, tells WardsAuto in an interview here.

So far this year, Leaf U.S. sales are nearly triple like-2012 volumes. Jones predicts Nissan will sell 2,100 Leafs this month, equaling May’s total and bringing year-to-date volume to more than 7,800 units.

Prices for the EV range from $28,800 to $35,000, but Nissan offers a $199-per-month lease on its entry-level S model, which accounts for 20% of total U.S. Leaf volume. The midlevel SV with a base price of $31,200 accounts for 55% of sales and the top-of-the-line SL models ($34,840) are responsible for the remaining 25%.

The West Coast remains a good market, Jones says, “but Atlanta is on fire now and sales momentum is building in Washington, D.C., and St. Louis,” he says. Now in its third model year, Leaf sales have surpassed the 65,000-unit mark worldwide.

The U.S. accounts for nearly half of global volume at more than 27,500 units, and all Leafs sold here now are built at the auto maker’s Smyrna, TN, plant. Japan is the second-biggest market and Europe, third. The Leaf is not yet available in China, the world's biggest automotive market.

Battery packs for the EV also are built at the Smyrna plant, with capacity in excess of 100,000 units. Jones says many cost improvements have been made in Leaf manufacturing since production started in Tennessee, allowing the price to be lowered $6,000.

Nissan is evaluating an electric version of its NV200 light-duty commercial van in Europe. The company also has an Infiniti EV model under development.

The auto maker has some competition in the non-luxury EV segment. The Honda Fit, Ford Focus and Mitsubishi i (with low volumes) compete in this category. The Chevrolet Spark and Fiat 500 EVs are available only in California, as is the EV version of Toyota’s RAV4.

Jones says most Leaf buyers cross-shop plug-in hybrids such as the Chevrolet Volt.

“There's not so much cross shopping against Tesla, because of the price point,” he says. “The No.1 trade-in model for the Leaf is the Toyota Prius.”

Nissan has a program that loans a conventional car free to Leaf owners for up to 10 days annually, should they need a vehicle with a longer range.

“We're in the process of making that program better as we speak,” Jones says. But he emphasizes the average Leaf household has 2.4 vehicles, so most owners have conventional gasoline-fueled vehicles available for longer trips. The average income of Leaf households is slightly above $100,000, he says.

Admitting some car buyers are put off by range anxiety, Jones says his goal is to build range confidence by improving availability of fast rechargers.

The Leaf has been on sale long enough to provide Nissan with an adequate sample to judge its warranty performance. “It's a warranty home run for us,” Jones says, adding the EV has lower warranty costs than Nissan’s conventional vehicles.

Jones says Nissan is intent on building EV volume, “but we have no intention of challenging Tesla (in the premium segment). “We're in this for the long haul and hope to make it successful in all 50 states.”

Last week, Nissan announced a $100-per-month battery-replacement plan for Leaf owners in the U.S. Participants will get a new or upgraded battery once their current battery capacity falls below 70% of initial output. A similar program is under way in Europe.

Leafs come with a 5-year, 60,000-mile (97,000-km) warranty protecting against battery-capacity degradation, so Nissan expects most owners will wait until their warranty expires before signing up for the replacement program.