Yes. If you completely discharge your laptop and then stick it in a closet for a couple of months without charging it, the battery will likely be completely unrecoverable. The exact amount of time it takes will depend on the battery of course (and the ambient temperature).

Yes, and I've done that. Took longer than a couple of weeks though. Brand new battery in a MacBook that discharged then went in storage for a while (a half-year I think). The next time I opened it the battery was completely dead and wouldn't hold a charge.

Yes, I've bricked my old Macbook by doing that (for several months).

I bought a new laptop, so closed down my old Macbook, and stuck it away.

A few months later, I found I wanted to grab file from the old macbook, and noticed it wouldn't run from battery. It'll work fine plugged in, but the battery is registered as full discharged, and the Apple page says "Buy a new battery".

Which is what the Nissan Leaf does(pretty nifty idea, I'd say). But its not really a solution in the sense that it wouldn't work for cars parked inside.