I’ve been spoiled by ICE to expect a car to have 20 years of life if maintained well. The industry needs to not only standardize and increase the charging network but also build standard battery packs that can be easily replaced well after the warranty expires.
100%, I literally came here to post the same sentiments! I cant see myself buying an EV with all the current limitations and pitfalls, but I want to.
There’s absolutely no reason an EV won’t do the same or better when the pack is temperature controlled. Problem was…Leafs weren’t.
Is that even possible at this stage? Car battery technology is still very much in its infancy and alternative forms of storage are an intense point of investment.
I certainly agree that that should happen, but I feel like we’re still in the Wild West era of electric cars.
Standardizing in a battery also means you’re limiting size and placement of battery packs.
Ideally they should make batteries with the intention of being serviced at the end of their life. Why toss an entire pack when 20 individual cells could be replaced for 10% more battery capacity?
Do you expect every ICE car to last 20 years? Like I have no reason to believe my Camry won’t last 20+ years, but what about a Nissan Altima or Chrysler 200? These things weren’t even built to last 100k miles.
If you maintain them properly with fresh oil and seals you would be amazed just how far an ICE car can go.
We have Ford Falcon ex-taxis here that can easily push 500,000km out of an original motor and body.
My 2010 dodge avenger is pushing 14 years and 150k! I’m hoping it lasts another couple years so there’s more/better bev available.
Yes, survivor bias, but other than a new throttle when under warranty it hasn’t needed much. Heck, the factory battery lasted 11 years!
Owner of a 2002 Honda CR-V with 189,000 miles on it. It’s been a reliable horse. I hope to be buying a reliable EV in 2026 when more options hit the market. If I don’t like the options, I may hold onto the CR-V a little while longer.
That’s going to require regulators to force standards on automakers. So I’m it gonna hold my breath until something fundamentally changes
I have never had an ice vehicle make 20 years and have not known anyone else who has but I have heard stories of folks that have. Its pretty rare. I think its telling that the battery seems to be the only thing seeming to be blocking longevity with a 14 year old ev.
Every single one of our ICE cars (3 toyotas 3 Hondas) have lasted 20+ years. I sold 3 to neighbours. They are still going.
I’ve been warning everybody on reddit that ev batteries will fail long before their projected lifespans, and the cost of replacement makes ice cars a cheaper alternative. The mods keep banning me. But the maths and science is clear.
This just highlights that different brands have different lifespans. There’s no reason why this can’t apply to EVs as well.
both legendary brands for longevity. One reason I don’t personally know anyone with cars this long is because I don’t know many folks with toyotas or hondas. The article does not talk about failure before expected lifespan but rather that the replacements are not being made. Which is actually more disturbing.
Owner of a 2002 Honda CR-V with 189,000 miles on it. It’s been a reliable horse. I hope to be buying a reliable EV in 2026 when more options hit the market. If I don’t like the options, I may hold onto the CR-V a little while longer.
The crazy thing about Nissan, to me anyway, is that they’ve been doing this about as long as Tesla now and their EVs are barely competitive with new comers like Hyundai/Kia. How are they so bad at making EVs?!
I get the feeling they put lots of money into R&D initially and created the Leaf, then just…stopped innovating on it. The Leaf looks very similar in tech from its release date in 2010.
- no liquid cooled battery
- small onboard AC charger (6.6kw)
- limited to 50kw DC fast Charging via Chademo
This is what they’ve done with most of their vehicles. The Frontier was unchanged for 16 years. They’re essentially the Chrysler/Dodge of Japanese manufacturers.
Nissan has been making gas cars for even longer and they suck too. It’s mostly just a Nissan problem.
Thanks Carlos.
Wow, that’s a wild story.
Unless something changes in this industry, the only reasonable used cars to purchase will be ICE cars because of this battery issue. Even if the batteries were available, who wants to spend $10k to buy a new battery for their $10k used car?
Depends what the cost is. If you bought a 20k car for 10k and changed the battery, then it’s fine. People do buy cars with engines on their way out to swap them to better ones.
People do buy cars with engines on their way out to swap them to better ones.
This is a suckers bet. Every time I have bought a car that “only needs” something, it turns out that it needs a fuckton of other things. I’m just amazed how some people can wear a car down to a nub before something major goes bad.
The only time I came out ahead doing this was a car I bought strictly to part out.
Maybe the leaf isn’t a good candidate for this, but the aftermarket industry will quickly catch up and surpass the OEM like they have been doing for many decades. There’s so many aftermarket companies that specialize in selling improved parts where manufacturers have long since abandoned their customers.
I don’t know why people are surprised. Expecting Nissan to make any good car anytime in the last like 20 years is a lot of them.
The Frontier and Titan are solid, but those are trucks
