Tow a Leaf Behind an RV~Charge Battery?

A customer brought this point up. A coasting Leaf regenerates. So would towing behind an RV, On and in Drive charge the battery? If so at what rate? How far would you go before it would be fully charged, and would you have to stop once your reached 100% I know some folks here will run with this, and I want to know.

mossyleaf said:

A customer brought this point up. A coasting Leaf regenerates. So would towing behind an RV, On and in Drive charge the battery? If so at what rate? How far would you go before it would be fully charged, and would you have to stop once your reached 100% I know some folks here will run with this, and I want to know.

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Unsafe idea all around. See owners manual, short answer isdon't do it. There is an entire thread on towing the LEAF.

Old thread on this : http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=869

Nissan says don't tow with the front wheels on the ground. So, no go.

You would do better to plug in at the destination. Or charge by using the RV generator while in motion.
And as said... four wheel down towing is not recommended.

mossyleaf said:

A customer brought this point up. A coasting Leaf regenerates. So would towing behind an RV, On and in Drive charge the battery? If so at what rate? How far would you go before it would be fully charged, and would you have to stop once your reached 100% I know some folks here will run with this, and I want to know.

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Aside from all the technical issues, an RV already gets really terrible mileage, and charging a LEAF would be sort of like dragging a boat anchor behind it. What you would be doing is using the RV's gas or diesel engine as a very inefficient generator engine. It's a crazy idea. Wait until you get to an RV park and plug the LEAF in there - it's a rare RV park that has individual site meters, so you won't be charged a penny extra for all the charge the LEAF can suck up.

That's only one of the reasons a LEAF would make an ideal RV dinghy. You've got the RV for all your long distance travel; the dinghy is typically used for relatively short excursions, and often leaves the mother ship for only a few hours a day. 120v outlets are plentiful, and all you really need in that environment. Of course if you're dry camping that's quite another matter. I would not recommend a LEAF in that case.

Now if they could only make RVs that use less than 50 cents a mile for fuel ...
[Yeah, I know, there are some, but fewer every day the way the pump prices are going.]

Ray

P.S. Due to fuel costs our RV has been in "dry dock" for the past three years, but it still makes a great emergency shelter in case the "big one" hits, and even a nice guest bedroom suite.