Nissan is working overtime to improve the LEAF’s battery.
A new and improved battery could allow for lower prices and boost the car’s flagging sales, Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn said.
“There is a second generation of battery coming which is less costly than the previous one,” Mr. Ghosn said in an interview Friday. “We are in a race in which you reduce the costs and adapt the price.”
In 2009 Nissan announced they were working on a long range lithium-ion battery using a lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide (LiNiMnCo) cathode. The new battery will be able to power an electric vehicle for 300 kilometers (186 miles) on a single charge, about twice the distance currently possible.
Although Ghosen provided no details about the new lower cost battery, the long range battery that can store electricity at double the current capacity wasn't expected to reach production until 2015.
Since its debut in December 2010, Nissan has sold more than 35,000 units of the all-electric LEAF vehicle. Unfortunately, the pace of sales has slowed recently. Nissan sold 9,674 LEAFs in the U.S. in calendar year 2011.
Source: Wall Street Journal
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