An Open Letter to Mitsubishi or A Group Buy Offer for replacement packs

[jray3]

Mitsubishi has been as bad as all the OEMs that I'm aware of other than TESLA regarding replacement packs, as they're still quoting the $15k replacement cost that was listed when I bought the car in 2011, while cell and pack prices in the industry overall have fallen by close to 90%. According to this chart by USDOE (inflation-adjusted to 2023 dollars), pack costs were about $800/kWh in 2011 and are down to $175/kWH currently. For our 16 kWH packs, that would be $12,800 in 2011 and only $2800 today.
I'm a fan of aftermarket efforts like OZ DIY, but that will nEVer save as many cars as a Mitsubishi-warranted pack, and only a solution offered by Mitsubishi would stand any chance of improving the relationship between car dealers and EV drivers (who almost universally despise dealerships, giving them a longstanding reason to buy TESLAs).

So far, I'm not aware of any effort beyond individual owner inquiries to convince Mitsubishi to offer packs at a reasonable price. What do you say to a group effort here?
I'm imagining the following three needs.

1. Consensus on the list of demands/requests
2. Drafting the letter
3. Publicity Strategy- whether to quietly deliver the letter and wait for a response or go public with a pressure campaign ASAP.

-https://www.greencarreports.com/new...erage price of a,least 100,000 units per year.

 

[kiev]

Would have to convince Nissan now, as they own Mits? Nissan doesn't even take care of their own EV pack cell issues.

 

[jray3]

This is true and LEAF owners have been noisier, but did they actually make such an attempt? Nissan’s been near failure, but their merger with Honda may actually make Mitsubishi more independent rather than less: https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a...ht-not-join-in-honda-nissan-merger-after-all/

 

[Lithim]

What is the potential volume for new battery packs?
Do we know how many of the IMIEV's were sold in the USA?
2012 owner

 

[JoeS]

So far, I'm not aware of any effort beyond individual owner inquiries to convince Mitsubishi to offer packs at a reasonable price. What do you say to a group effort here?
I'm imagining the following three needs.

1. Consensus on the list of demands/requests
2. Drafting the letter
3. Publicity Strategy- whether to quietly deliver the letter and wait for a response or go public with a pressure campaign ASAP.

Jay, appreciate your getting the ball rolling. My initial thoughts:

1) Perhaps we can start with the request for simply a dealer-installed replacement pack with the dealer keeping the old pack, at a reasonable price (as you and I had talked, certainly under $5K installed). Of course, need to use the latest and greatest battery chemistry for long life. Alternatives might be an increased-capacity pack and a battery which we could order and install ourselves but I suspect Mitsu would not want to upset their dealer network.

2) We can collaborate on the letter if you'd like.

3) Regarding publicity: before that we need to establish a dialog with the powers-that-be - is it Mitsubishi (or now Nissan or Honda?) or Peugeot or Citroën within a country and where within the organization, or is it possible to communicate with Mitsubishi HQ in Japan?

Perhaps we need a show of hands as to how many people might be interested in a replacement pack and at what price to keep our triplets on the road? I have no idea how to conduct a poll on this website.

Edit and update 27January 2025:
Poll creation in progress, details being worked out with @jray3. Stay tuned.
Further update: poll created
https://myimiev.com/threads/poll-16kwh-battery-purchase.5795/