It seems that there is a manufacturer that has decided to pull the plug on its first electric cars. This is Nissan, which will no longer offer access to the mobile application that allowed you to use some of the functions of these vehicles, such as remote air conditioning or scheduling charging times.
If you are one of those who prefers to extend the useful life of your mobile phone as much as possible, you will know that there is a limit that goes beyond what the device itself can withstand and that is imposed by the manufacturer or provider of its operating system. Basically, when updates stop arriving, a smartphone becomes obsolete and it is very difficult to continue living with it.
Something similar seems to be happening with the first electric cars marketed by Nissan. The United Kingdom division of the Japanese company warned earlier this month via email to the owners of these first electric vehicles that they would lose one of the functions that best allows them to take advantage of the full potential of an electric vehicle.
Nissan will stop offering NissanConnect EV app services
Nissan is deactivating all functions of the Nissan Leaf and Nissan e-NV200 models produced before 2016. The features that, starting April 1, 2024, will no longer be available are those that have to do with the NissanConnect application EV and that allows owners to use the heating remotely or program battery charging times.
Specifically, users of these two models of the Japanese brand will no longer be able to preheat the vehicle remotely in the winter months or pre-cool them during the summer using the application that Nissan had developed specifically for this function.
They will also not be able to set charging schedules for the battery through their smartphones, a fundamental feature that allows electric car users to take advantage of off-peak charging rates to save on each recharge.
“The NissanConnect EV application currently linked to Nissan Leaf and e-NV200 vehicles produced until 2016 will be closed from April 1, 2024 in preparation for the end of 2G technology,” the brand stated on the BBC.
The affected vehicles communicate via the app with a 2G network connection. Although UK telecommunications companies plan to decommission 2G networks, they will not do so until the end of this decade, i.e. almost 6 years, so this raises questions about Nissan's decision to terminate the app prematurely.
Although owners of these electric cars will continue to be able to configure the climate control and charging times through the vehicle's infotainment system, the truth is that it does not make much sense for Nissan to stop offering these functions through a mobile application, much simpler and more comfortable.
For this reason, the owners of the aforementioned Nissan electric cars have complained to the brand, in addition to denouncing that they were notified just 30 days in advance of the decision that the manufacturer had taken. It seems that Nissan also has no option to update the cars' hardware.