This is excellent news. It shows Nissan's commitment. Improvements such as these only occur through continued R&D investment in the success of the vehicle.

An active battery cooling system would have likely destroyed the cost savings and range improvements, which I think are priorities right now. Battery temp management is really nice but is clearly not necessary for all but an unfortunate few so far, so that's the compromise that was made. There's always 2014 I guess :)

Smidge204:
Yeah, price, plus the press about the heat issue
didn't happen until 2012. That didn't leave much time for a solution in 2013. I'm betting there will be cooling in 2014. On the other hand, for someone in a moderate to cool climate year round, it looks like a great deal. I'm sure more than 42,000 people fit in that category. hehe

It's unlikely the dedicated Japanese 2013 Leafs will receive a 6.6kWh charger, brg2290. But I'm sure you'll see it on the North American one. The reason that the current Leaf has the 3.3kWh unit is because that's the fastest that Japanese home wiring could handle. Nissan thought the standard was the same for North America and admitted rather early on that it was a mistake.

I, too, would have liked to see the battery heat depletion issue more comprehensively addressed. Apparently, Hitachi cells will be used in Smyrna-assembled packs for 2013 and the promise there is that they will be more durable. We still don't know if a North American 2013 Leaf will have an improved pack for hot climates, maybe as an option . . . and if not liquid thermal management, at least an improved air cooling scenario.

Man that was worth Waiting For!!!!

1). Smaller Charging Cable Nozzle!!!
2). Relocated charger for different trunk shape/space!!!

3). I've also heard rumors that they are going to a heat-pump style heater, which would be OK for Tucson, but I imagine here in Buffalo its Coefficient-Of-Performance (thats EER/3.413) at 25 deg F would be under 1.

I believe it was ex-EV1 driver who suggested that another needed improvement is an up-sized electric motor. Using curb weights (if I did it right?), the Volt has a horse power to weight ratio of 25.3758. The ratio for the LEAF is 30.49. If I understood his argument, a more powerful electric motor would have (counter-intuitively to some of us) reduced the demand on the battery, at least in normal driving situations.

P.S. I have all kinds of good ideas for how Zach or someone at Plug In Cars could spend their time – like an article describing the physical characteristics, i.e. things like motor size, of the ‘perfect’ BEV. It could serve as a kind of buyer’s guide for those thinking about taking the plunge. The rule would be to only call out things that can be or have been done now, not stuff like a 500 mile battery.

"How can you expect to pay $199/month for a leaf that was just a gimmick to get them of the lots. The car does have to be paid for after all. Or is the balloon payment after 3 years about 30k."

Uhm, yes?

Thats exactly how a lease works. Nissan iwould be giving a lease with very very low payment which means you may not even cover depreciation. If you don't want to secure the big loan to buy the car when the lease expires - just hand the keys back to Nissan.