Nissan to Extend Electric Car Leadership With 135-Mile LEAF

While this piece seems speculative, it's spot on.

Nissan has been working on a battery chemistry known as Lithium NMC (LiNiMnCo) since 2009. The survey which went out to LEAF owners this year didn't pick a random range number. The survey used the theoretical maximum range of a vehicle with a Lithium NMC battery at the same weight as the current LEAF battery, but 75% more density. They also showed a less than $5,000 additional retail price which is very achievable with NMC.

Nissan's CEO Carlos Ghosn publicly claimed to have the NMC batteries entering production two years ago. It makes perfect sense that it took Nissan this long to test their new NMC chemistry since they got burned in Arizona by their original LEAF battery chemistry overheating under extreme conditions.