The Date of 60kWh Nissan Leaf's Debut Is Known, but Without Liquid-Cooling

Work for Torque News, follow on Twitter, Youtube and Facebook.

Some German automotive reporters have gathered information about the date when the new 60kWh Nissan Leaf will debut and we already know why the 2019 Leaf didn't debut at the LA Auto Show. However, there seems to be a little disappointment that it will be without liquid-cooling. Many EV drivers were waiting for this feature that the Bolt has.

After the delay of revealing the new 2019 Nissan Leaf with increased DC charging capacity at the Los Angeles Auto Show, we learned that the new 2019 Nissan Leaf will debut on January 8, 2019 at the CES in Las Vegas.

According to Electrive, its colleagues in Germany gathered this information in dealer circles at a Nissan event few days ago. At that event, according tot his report, "the Japanese carmaker informed its partners that the Leaf will debut at the CES in Las Vegas on January, 8."

Many EV enthusiasts and Nissan Leaf owners were hoping that finally Nissan will introduce a Leaf in which its battery is cooled by a liquid cooling system. However, this is not the case with this new Leaf, which is going to be revealed in January at CES in Las Vegas. The battery of the 2019 Nissan Leaf is indeed going to be bigger (60kWh) and will have an increased DC charging capacity, but the cooling is not going to be liquid.

The new Nissan Leaf uses passive cooling for their batteries. Here is how the liquid cooled battery of Chevy Volt/Bolt and air cooled battery of Nissan Leaf are compared. How your electric car's battery is cooled is one of the major advantages Chevy Bolt and Volt have over Nissan Leaf.

"When this information was conveyed at an event for Nissan dealers yesterday, a whisper could be heard across the rows as it became clear that the 60 kWh battery will have to go along without liquid cooling," reports Elective in the above-mentioned reference.

The lack of liquid cooling battery has already led to an angry discussion in social media such as Reddit.

"Good grief. Kia e-Niro it is then," writes one Nissan Leaf enthusiast.

Others are asking why is Nissan still dragging its feet on this? Every other EV has liquid cooling, and none of them have the 40kwh Leaf's fast-charging problems. "I love my Leaf, but Nissan needs to get with it and catch up with the rest of the industry on battery cooling. I don't see a good reason to choose a non-liquid-cooled 60kwh Leaf over a liquid-cooled 60kwh Kona, Niro or Soul with the same range for the same price. The more I learn about the Kona especially, the more I love it. Nissan is gonna have to do more than this to compete with it," writes another Leaf owner.

Nissan has postponed the debut of a new modification of its electric car Leaf because of the arrest of the head of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance Carlos Ghosn, reports The Wall Street Journal.

According to the publication, at the last auto show in Los Angeles, the Japanese automaker planned to show the Nissan Leaf hatchback with an increased power reserve. The plans were changed due to the scandal around the top manager, so Nissan presented only slightly updated models of Murano and Maxima. Representatives of Nissan confirmed to The Wall Street Journal that the premiere of the electric vehicle was postponed to a later date, but no information was provided about the date of the premiere of the novelty.

Mr. Gon was arrested and dismissed from several posts after conducting an internal investigation, which revealed that the top manager had abused his position by appropriating the company's funds and hiding his true tax revenues.

Submitted by Barry (not verified) on December 11, 2018 - 11:01AM

Permalink

Active air cooling would be nice. It seems to work fine on my Harley. Just saying. The idea is to keep the weight down.

Submitted by Yves (not verified) on December 11, 2018 - 1:16PM

Permalink

The Bolt also has its problem: 30 minutes waiting before battery become hot enough to accept 50kw charge in winter! Bolt would need battery heating before rapid charge... I own a 2015 Leaf and 2019 Bolt

Submitted by John (not verified) on December 11, 2018 - 1:16PM

Permalink

Many currently (Ioniq, Soul) don't have liquid cooling and work great, so if the air cooling is implemented well it won't be an issue

Submitted by DeanMcManis (not verified) on December 11, 2018 - 2:01PM

Permalink

It is disappointing news, but not surprising. I would have been surprised if they HAD added a liquid cooled battery for the 60kWh battery, as the 40kWh version is otherwise identical. Competition from the liquid cooled Bolt and Hyundai/Kia models will be tougher without having a price advantage of the 40kWh model.

Submitted by David Radzieta (not verified) on December 12, 2018 - 12:16PM

Permalink

The important news is that regardless of which brand of EV you get, try to get one that goes twice your daily commuting distance. You need extra battery for heat, AC and extra errands. Also, if you can use your EV in the 20-80% charge range it will last 2x to 4x the battery warranty period.