IssacZachary said:
mux said:
IssacZachary said:
I know this has been measured, estimated and posted on MNL but keep searching and searching, even at google.com with "site:mynissanleaf.com" and I'm still not finding this.
Does anyone know how many 18650's would fit in an emptied Leaf Battery case?
On a pure volume of the original cells-basis: The modules are 303x223x35mm, and there are 48 of these, so that's a total volume of 0.114m3 which would fit about 6000 18650s in a staggered pattern. Most likely you'd arrange them 60P, so it'd be 5760 cells for a maximum nominal capacity with modern cells of approx. 72kWh, but more likely around 55 if you include cell spacers, bus bars and all that jazz.
So it looks like your have to get some sort of 3500mah cells to do that. Looks like about €20,000 or $24,000. But I can get nearly that many 2600mah 18650's for around $8,500 with shipping and all. Of course that wouldn't be 72kWh but, it would be around 49kWh, double the original. But either way then one could sell the original Leaf cells. I see them going for $80-$125 on eBay. That's around $4,000 if you could sell them all. I'm not sure what all the rest would cost but say for $5,000 or so you could have a 50kWh traction battery all contained in the original case with optional battery thermal management.
Assuming you are still talking about the alarmhookup cells for ~$170/kWH, I would say thermal battery management would be more necessary; the 2600mAH cells you would be getting are more likely LCO cells, which are more dangerous to let overheat than the chemistry Nissan uses (NMO I think). They are also not optimized for high power delivery, so 1-2C discharge is the maximum that would be normally used. For the 2 cells currently for sale, here's the specs:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/173233268660 - LGDBB31865 https://sep.yimg.com/ty/cdn/theshorelinemarket/LG-18650-2600.pdf
Max charge current: 2500mA
Max discharge current: 3750mA
Multiplied out by 60P - 150A charge (no problem, 125A max for Leaf DCQC), 225A discharge (should be ok, but the Leaf can do ~280A max under hard acceleration)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/202272174364 - ICR18650-26F https://www.batteryspace.com/prod-specs/ICR18650-26F.pdf
Max charge current: 2600mA
Max discharge current: 5200mA
Multiplied out by 60P - 156A charge (no problem, 125A max for Leaf DCQC), 312A discharge (above 280A max, no problem)
Of course, you also need a very robust holder system that can live up to the stresses of automotive standards; think of driving over bumps/potholes; all wiring and cell holders, etc. need to be able to deal with that day in and day out.