According to several news agencies, Nissan has decided to offer an extended warranty on the lithium-ion batteries that are used in the company’s Leaf EV model.

Since a report stating that Leaf owners were concerned that the fact they were driving their vehicles across the Southwest may have been affecting the batteries in their vehicles and making them less durable than batteries in vehicles being driven in cooler states, Nissan decided to address the problem and contact owners to state that batteries that lose more than 30 percent of its total capacity by the time the vehicle hits the 60,000 miles mark or is 5-years-old, the warranty will be extended.

The company has stated that specifications regarding this extended warranty provision will be communicated directly to potentially affected consumers.

According to the reports, Nissan has stated that consumers who have purchased the Leaf EV may notice there’s an issue with the battery and pursue as evidence that the battery capacity has been reduced if they realize that the mileage capacity has declined. Consumers may also notice an issue if the batteries are not fully charging as they are designed to do.

The company has warned consumers to watch out for the twelve-bar scale of the vehicle’s charge-capacity gauge. If it only achieves eight bars or less, it may be a sign that the battery has lost some of its total capacity.

Although this may be great news for most, Nissan is clear when it comes to ensuring battery life. The company has stated that any kind of repair or replacement won’t make batteries like new by restoring its 12 capacity bars. The company guarantees providing the vehicle with a battery that achieve nine capacity bars once it has been repaired.

Since Hyundai announced earlier this year that it would be announcing a lifetime warranty to all battery packs in the company’s hybrid packs against any type of failure, pressure has built up. Nissan claims that its extended warranty is the only in the auto industry that covers battery-capacity loss.
Pricing on replacement batteries for all Leak EV car owners in the country and abroad will be made public in spring of 2013.

Hopefully, any issues regarding electric cars and hybrid vehicles will be addressed by the car manufacturers in order to keep consumers safe from potential design flaws in the future.

For the entire article and more details on what Nissan hopes to achieve with this extended warranty, click here.