@DogInATent Yes, it's an article from yesterday's Irish Times. I'll copy and paste it below as it is behind a paywall.
What happens when your EV battery finally runs out of power?
In the middle of last month an Irish Times reader called John Russell wrote a letter to the Editor which sparked something that veered between mild concern and outright consternation among many owners, would-be owners and never-will-be owners of electric vehicles.
“We have been driving a Nissan Leaf for the past seven years and have travelled a total distance of 155,000km,” he wrote. “Over those years, myself and my wife have become EV champions. Nissan just quoted me for a replacement battery: €19,000, plus VAT, excluding labour! We are now reconsidering our position as EV champions!”
The idea that someone might buy a new car only to be hit with such a shocking cost seven years down the road left some people flabbergasted and others unsurprised.
“It has been obvious for some time that EVs ought to be regarded as more like domestic appliances than traditional cars – that is, used until they are defunct and then replaced, as with a fridge or cooker,” wrote one reader who said the idea of a replacement battery made no economic sense.
Others suggested that only the dead battery cells in the Leaf needed replacing which would cut the cost.
“Factoring in a five-figure sum for replacement batteries after the warranty expires [usually after seven or eight years], radically alters the economics of purchasing a used EV for many motorists,” wrote another correspondent.
Pricewatch took an interest in the debate – not least because the writer is a proud owner of a relatively new EV – so decided to make contact with the man who started the debate to find out more.
“Until the Nissan Leaf I had never bought a new car, my life,” he says.
He was prompted to buy it for environmental reasons and to save money on fuel and maintenance costs. Russell is also an engineer and the make-up of such vehicles appeals to him. “The average diesel car has something like 30,000 moving parts and an electric car has about 3,000 moving parts. That’s huge, from an engineering point of view. You have less metal rubbing up against metal, something which is never very good.”
He says that when he took the plunge, there was some chatter about the cost of replacement batteries with the figure being bandied about coming in at about €10,000. “I had done the sums and was thinking the cost of batteries would probably come down in price so if the battery wore out eventually it would be no problem.”
That made the news from his garage more difficult to take.
He says the range of his EV has fallen to about 75 per cent of what it once was which means he and his wife can get little more than 100km out of a full charge. They live in Kildare so can usually get to and from Dublin city without difficulty. “But driving to and from the airport, you have to take it easy and range anxiety kicks in.”
The idea of driving to Kerry in the car, meanwhile, is pretty much off the table.
Russell has long been driven by environmentalism and eked 400,000km out of his previous car. “What’s the most environmentally friendly car you can have?” he asks. “The one in your driveway.”
He is still unsure what to do next. Apart from the battery issues, “the thing is perfect. It’s an electric motor so it’s basically a forklift truck. I have the same brake pads as when I bought it and all it has cost is the €120 we pay for a service each year.”
He might be able to get a battery extender which will swallow up his boot but getting a second-hand battery is proving tricky because the supply isn’t there.
He says if he doesn’t have to fork out 19 grand he will be “quids in” on his purchase. “But if I end up paying €19,000 plus VAT, there is no way I will be quids in but in terms of how I feel, I feel better, I’ve done something for the environment and that is good but this charge is just a sting in the tail.”