Off-the-rack battery range extender?

[Wavebender]

I’ve read through the DIY/electrical engineer threads and they are beyond me. Is there an off-the-rack battery range extender? Wifey’s 2016 Leaf is dramatically shorter ranged in these single-digit days here in Boise. She’s gone from 90+ to around 66 when it’s this cold, and there are no outside AC outlets at her workplace. Another 20 miles would give her peace of mind.

 

[LeftieBiker]

AFAIK no one is currently selling Plug & Play pack extenders. Since your wife's car is obviously a 30kwh Leaf, how many capacity bars (the little bars alongside the much wider charge bars) are still showing? Assuming that severe capacity loss isn't the problem, I'll attach a link to our Tips & Tricks guide shortly.

https://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=23297&p=482154

 

[Wavebender]

Sadly, it’s a very early 2016 and has a 24kwh pack, but she still has 12 bars.

We’re going to try a hack: We have a car battery-sized home emergency battery pack that can output 120v through a standard AC wall jack using the stock Nissan Level I EVSE that came with the car. We will snake the cable around her tires back to the trunk and trickle charge the Leaf pack. Crazy?

PS: Of course she would be parked for this.

 

[knightmb]

Sadly, it’s a very early 2016 and has a 24kwh pack, but she still has 12 bars.

We’re going to try a hack: We have a car battery-sized home emergency battery pack that can output 120v through a standard AC wall jack using the stock Nissan Level I EVSE that came with the car. We will snake the cable around her tires back to the trunk and trickle charge the Leaf pack. Crazy?

PS: Of course she would be parked for this.

Unless the battery is big, and I mean, big (like 200AH big), you might be able to squeeze an extra 1 or 2 kWh into the battery, which might only equal out to about 6 to 8 more miles of range.

A better use might be to use it to power a heater inside the Leaf instead.

 

[LeftieBiker]

Yes, indeed on using the battery for heat. I made a 12 volt cabin heater a few years ago, using a 12 volt battery, a 1kw inverter, and two 200 watt "personal" ceramic heaters. I mounted the heaters so that they blew into the driver's side foot well. They would, with both running and temps in the teens, keep the front of the cabin at about 45F, with the footwell in the fifties.

You must be using the range estimator - aka "Guess O Meter" when you give a Summer range of 90 miles. A 24kwh pack that has a little over 11 bars has a range of maybe 65-70 miles with no heater usage. I suggest that you check out the range-extending tips in the link I posted, especially the Winter tips.