Extra battery packs to extend the range,

[powercat]

Hi all,
looking to buy a secondhand Leaf next year, and I was wondering if anyone had found a company providing extra battery packs to extend the range, have seen this done on the Toyota prius.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74Q3qivunE4[/youtube]

I just feel if I could double the range of the car and without having to stop, life with a Leaf would be much better

 

[epirali]

Hi all,
looking to buy a secondhand Leaf next year, and I was wondering if anyone had found a company providing extra battery packs to extend the range, have seen this done on the Toyota prius.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmZWO5kPQ8c[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74Q3qivunE4[/youtube]

I just feel if I could double the range of the car and without having to stop, life with a Leaf would be much better

There was one, but may be gone now. I posted a thread asking same in range forum. Will check with company tomorrow.

http://enginer.us/wiki/tiki-index.php?page=Leaf+Installation+Manual" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[powercat]

There was one, but may be gone now. I posted a thread asking same in range forum. Will check with company tomorrow.

http://enginer.us/wiki/tiki-index.php?page=Leaf+Installation+Manual" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks for the reply, it's good to hear you can get an extended battery pack.

 

[epirali]

There was one, but may be gone now. I posted a thread asking same in range forum. Will check with company tomorrow.

http://enginer.us/wiki/tiki-index.php?page=Leaf+Installation+Manual" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks for the reply, it's good to hear you can get an extended battery pack.

Look here

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=14652" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[epirali]

There was one, but may be gone now. I posted a thread asking same in range forum. Will check with company tomorrow.

http://enginer.us/wiki/tiki-index.php?page=Leaf+Installation+Manual" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks for the reply, it's good to hear you can get an extended battery pack.

Look here

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=14652" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And here:

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1078684_leafhacking-battery-mod-gives-extra-range-but-at-what-cost" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[adric22]

I would hope that they are more reliable now than they used to be. I installed several of these in Prii back in 2009 and they were constantly breaking. You'd get about 3 weeks use out of it and it would break. They'd send you a new part under warranty and after a few weeks it would arrive and you could repair it. Then it would work for 3 weeks, rinse, repeat.

For a Prius, the worst that happened when it broke was that you'd be burning more gas. But in a Leaf I could see somebody depending on this thing and then becoming stranded.

 

[powercat]

Thanks for all the information, it looks like this is not a good option if the car is still under warranty, though I did read a thread on this forum about using a generator to recharge in an emergency or when you're too far away from a charging point, I wonder if it's possible to use this method on the move, this would seem a better system to extend the range as you don't need to interfere with the on board electorates and compromise your warranty

 

[epirali]

Thanks for all the information, it looks like this is not a good option if the car is still under warranty, though I did read a thread on this forum about using a generator to recharge in an emergency or when you're too far away from a charging point, I wonder if it's possible to use this method on the move, this would seem a better system to extend the range as you don't need to interfere with the on board electorates and compromise your warranty

I don't think the car electronics are designed for that, and it wouldn't allow you to do that. I am not an expert but I think you'd need a lot more cooling for battery and charging system to do both at the same time.

 

[TomT]

No, the car will not allow this. You can't put it in Ready if it is charging.

I wonder if it's possible to use this method on the move, this would seem a better system to extend the range as you don't need to interfere with the on board electorates and compromise your warranty

 

[JeremyW]

I just feel if I could double the range of the car and without having to stop, life with a Leaf would be much better

I have found through real world experience that increasing the charging speed is much more cost effective and improves usability remarkably.

 

[epirali]

I would hope that they are more reliable now than they used to be. I installed several of these in Prii back in 2009 and they were constantly breaking. You'd get about 3 weeks use out of it and it would break. They'd send you a new part under warranty and after a few weeks it would arrive and you could repair it. Then it would work for 3 weeks, rinse, repeat.

For a Prius, the worst that happened when it broke was that you'd be burning more gas. But in a Leaf I could see somebody depending on this thing and then becoming stranded.

Well I just got a reply, and they still have and quote the system for a Leaf. It is expensive, seems like around $8K before tax credit for 8KWH one.

But if they are unreliable then it seems like it wouldn't be worth it.

 

[powercat]

I have found through real world experience that increasing the charging speed is much more cost effective and improves usability remarkably.

Thanks for the reply, could you please tell me some more ?