The Leaf as an RV Tow Vehicle?

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LeafPowerIsIxE

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 3, 2011
Messages
85
Location
San Diego, CA
Has anyone tried to use the Leaf as an RV tow vehicle? I know it would require a dolly trailer and a 30a/50a charge cable for RV Park charging, but what other considerations? Would it be practical to run the 120v charge cable off the generator while the RV is in motion? Can the Leaf even tow with the rear wheels on the ground?
 
Yah. There are a few pictures of leafs being towed on dollies. If you have a 240 volt EVSE it will work fine on a 50 amp RV site. Otherwise just use 120 volt on the leafs EVSE. Yes it will work off the genny.

We tow an electric vehicle on a trailer (not a dolly). Works well. Been doing it for a few years.

Cheers.
 
AFA charging at the campground, you could either make a 14-50 y-cable(a male 14-50 plug wired to 2 female 14-50 plugs) I made one and it works fine, cost about <$50 to make, not sure you'd be able to find one pre-made. Note some Leafs can draw up to 27.5a so unless you can dial down your EVSE, you'd have <15a available to your RV, not very ideal. If you get something like a Juicebox EVSE you could dial it down to say 20a which would safely give you ~20a for your RV.
Another option might be to use the 14-50 for your RV and use the generally available TT-30 to charge your Leaf. It will only be 120v but with the right Leaf and EVSE you should be able to safely charge at ~20a, max 24a for the TT-30 outlet/circuit.
Of course you could also just use the OEM 120v Leaf EVSE(and yes you could charge it while towing the Leaf) or plug in into a regular 120v outlet at a campground, you'll only get 12a that way and can take 20 or more hours to fully charge a depleted Leaf battery, but it's an option.
 
I've towed my Leaf on a dolly, no problem. Just make sure the parking brake is off.

It's not recommended to tow it in neutral with all four wheels on the ground, but I think it can be done without damage to the car with an apropiate tow bar setup. But that's just a thought, because Nissan does not recommend this for some reason. So I guess there's a possibility that it could mess up something. But if you did tow with all fours, there is the potential of shifting into D and using the engine of the RV to tow the Leaf an charge the Leaf at the same time via regenerative braking. I've always dreamed of making some sort of device that could control the Leaf's accelerator, shifter and brakes from the cab of the towing vehicle or have it automated along with the towing vehicle's controls. It would basically cause your Leaf to turn your RV into a hybrid. But maybe that's a far fetched idea.

Anyhow, back to reality, as far as charging I suggest the Zencar EVSE. It can be ordered with the apropiate amp levels for any outlet. 12A for a 15A outlet, 16A for a 20A outlet, 24A for a 30A outlet and 32A for a 40A outlet and will work on either 120V or 240V. All you'd need is to make some adapters. Of course that's assuming you have a 6.6kW Leaf and not a 3.3kW Leaf, in which case you won't be able to pull that many amps.

The generator has to be wired in a special way for most EVSE's to work. Basically combining hot and neutral to ground via a couple of resistors. A lot of people have also had problems charging with some cheap generators. But not that it can't be done with a good generator.

Another alternative is to plaster the whole top of your RV in solar panels and use and inverter to charge the Leaf. You might get enough to at least do some level 1 charging for four or more hours. (Even with cheaper solar cells you could do an 8' x 20' 2,000W solar array for around $600 for just the cells, solder, flux and ribbon wire, the frames and glass would be extra). That's not a lot of power, but if you could make those panels hinge and you keep pointing them towards the sun all day you could get 12 or more hours, enough for some 50% of charging. Make them double or triple up and hinge out to a 24' x 20' square and you'd get your full 6kW. A lot of work, but hey! it might be worth it to some people. Plus it would work as an awning on your RV. You just wouldn't have space for an A/C unit on top.
 
IssacZachary said:
I've towed my Leaf on a dolly, no problem. Just make sure the parking brake is off.

It's not recommended to tow it in neutral with all four wheels on the ground, but I think it can be done without damage to the car with an apropiate tow bar setup. But that's just a thought, because Nissan does not recommend this for some reason. So I guess there's a possibility that it could mess up something. But if you did tow with all fours, there is the potential of shifting into D and using the engine of the RV to tow the Leaf an charge the Leaf at the same time via regenerative braking. I've always dreamed of making some sort of device that could control the Leaf's accelerator, shifter and brakes from the cab of the towing vehicle or have it automated along with the towing vehicle's controls. It would basically cause your Leaf to turn your RV into a hybrid. But maybe that's a far fetched idea.

Anyhow, back to reality, as far as charging I suggest the Zencar EVSE. It can be ordered with the apropiate amp levels for any outlet. 12A for a 15A outlet, 16A for a 20A outlet, 24A for a 30A outlet and 32A for a 40A outlet and will work on either 120V or 240V. All you'd need is to make some adapters. Of course that's assuming you have a 6.6kW Leaf and not a 3.3kW Leaf, in which case you won't be able to pull that many amps.

The generator has to be wired in a special way for most EVSE's to work. Basically combining hot and neutral to ground via a couple of resistors. A lot of people have also had problems charging with some cheap generators. But not that it can't be done with a good generator.

Another alternative is to plaster the whole top of your RV in solar panels and use and inverter to charge the Leaf. You might get enough to at least do some level 1 charging for four or more hours. (Even with cheaper solar cells you could do an 8' x 20' 2,000W solar array for around $600 for just the cells, solder, flux and ribbon wire, the frames and glass would be extra). That's not a lot of power, but if you could make those panels hinge and you keep pointing them towards the sun all day you could get 12 or more hours, enough for some 50% of charging. Make them double or triple up and hinge out to a 24' x 20' square and you'd get your full 6kW. A lot of work, but hey! it might be worth it to some people. Plus it would work as an awning on your RV. You just wouldn't have space for an A/C unit on top.

So towing, in drive, with the cabin power on, would technically simulate rolling down a big hill. I remember a guy a few years ago claim he rolled his Leaf down Mt Washington and it charged the battery. Interesting ... What else could go wrong ?
 
jjeff said:
AFA charging at the campground, you could either make a 14-50 y-cable(a male 14-50 plug wired to 2 female 14-50 plugs) I made one and it works fine, cost about <$50 to make, not sure you'd be able to find one pre-made. Note some Leafs can draw up to 27.5a so unless you can dial down your EVSE, you'd have <15a available to your RV, not very ideal. If you get something like a Juicebox EVSE you could dial it down to say 20a which would safely give you ~20a for your RV.
Another option might be to use the 14-50 for your RV and use the generally available TT-30 to charge your Leaf. It will only be 120v but with the right Leaf and EVSE you should be able to safely charge at ~20a, max 24a for the TT-30 outlet/circuit.
Of course you could also just use the OEM 120v Leaf EVSE(and yes you could charge it while towing the Leaf) or plug in into a regular 120v outlet at a campground, you'll only get 12a that way and can take 20 or more hours to fully charge a depleted Leaf battery, but it's an option.

Thanks for your thoughts ... Most of the RV sites I've used have a 30a and a 50a. In addition to a standard 120vac. My rig uses the 30a - leaving the 50a available for charging.
 
LeafPowerIsIxE said:
So towing, in drive, with the cabin power on, would technically simulate rolling down a big hill. I remember a guy a few years ago claim he rolled his Leaf down Mt Washington and it charged the battery. Interesting ... What else could go wrong ?
Basically yes.

Speaking of which I just did over 10,000ft up and 10,000ft down in my Leaf today. You just got to love regenerative braking!

I also forgot to mention that when I did my 700 mile trip here through the Colorado Rockies I stopped twice at two different campgrounds and charged all night with just the regular outlet.
 
LeafPowerIsIxE said:
jjeff said:
AFA charging at the campground, you could either make a 14-50 y-cable(a male 14-50 plug wired to 2 female 14-50 plugs) I made one and it works fine, cost about <$50 to make, not sure you'd be able to find one pre-made. Note some Leafs can draw up to 27.5a so unless you can dial down your EVSE, you'd have <15a available to your RV, not very ideal. If you get something like a Juicebox EVSE you could dial it down to say 20a which would safely give you ~20a for your RV.
Another option might be to use the 14-50 for your RV and use the generally available TT-30 to charge your Leaf. It will only be 120v but with the right Leaf and EVSE you should be able to safely charge at ~20a, max 24a for the TT-30 outlet/circuit.
Of course you could also just use the OEM 120v Leaf EVSE(and yes you could charge it while towing the Leaf) or plug in into a regular 120v outlet at a campground, you'll only get 12a that way and can take 20 or more hours to fully charge a depleted Leaf battery, but it's an option.

Thanks for your thoughts ... Most of the RV sites I've used have a 30a and a 50a. In addition to a standard 120vac. My rig uses the 30a - leaving the 50a available for charging.
All the better, a 240v 30a outlet will charge your Leaf in a matter of hours, 1/2 the speed if you have a 3.6kwh Leaf charger, still better than 120v!
 
I believe he was talking about he usual setup: one 120 volt GFCI outlet, one TT-30 120 volt 30A outlet, and one 240 volt 50A outlet. That would let him plug the trailer into the TT-30 and charge using the 50A 240 volt outlet.
 
jjeff said:
LeafPowerIsIxE said:
All the better, a 240v 30a outlet will charge your Leaf in a matter of hours, 1/2 the speed if you have a 3.6kwh Leaf charger, still better than 120v!
LeftieBiker said:
I believe he was talking about he usual setup: one 120 volt GFCI outlet, one TT-30 120 volt 30A outlet, and one 240 volt 50A outlet. That would let him plug the trailer into the TT-30 and charge using the 50A 240 volt outlet.

LeftieBiker is correct. Here in the US you will either find a 120V 30A outlet or a 240V 50A outlet at camping grounds, but not a 240V 30A outlet. Still, with the right EVSE you could charge at twice the rate with a 120V 30A outlet than with a regular 120V 15A outlet.
 
webeleafowners said:
We have done that. We have a 50 amp 240 volt coach but it runs quite well on 30 amp 120 as it has load shedding capability. We hook the evse up to the 50 amp 14-50 receptacle.

Thanks! Can you pls tell me about the EVSE that you use? The additional mods to allow to plug into the 50a receptacle. Also - are you on a dolly, trailer, or 4 on the ground? Any considerations on these options?
 
On a trailer. For the EVSE we have two. A Juicebox 40 or a Duosida 16. No modifications for either as we ordered them with 14-50 plugs.

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