Battery Upgrades are very possible

[mux]

Currently working on three-phase charging so the car is pretty empty, but I shot a pic of the fully charged range here: https://youtu.be/9iEJBpOfoI4?t=753

[DonLeaf]

400km in my Leaf would be a dream come true. But this is with your range extender probably? How much it would be without it?

[Marktm]

We're first of all planning to do this upgrade with 2 more customers; one relatively close by and one from the UK who's coming over about halfway through October. They'll be reporting back any bugs and will get instructions on how to on-the-fly troubleshoot any issues as well as do firmware upgrades of our electronics.

When we're confident about the product, we'll pretty much be doing 40kWh conversions as fast as we can get batteries. Sounds like great news, but we've only seen about one battery per month so far on the auction sites, so it's slim pickings. We are now buying all 40kWh batteries we can find. We keep a list of people interested in the 40kWh battery upgrade and work that list in order, so if you're really interested in this and you live at least somewhat nearby, e-mail us and hopefully we'll be able to help you somewhere in 2020...

Over the next weeks we will be working on the website and adding as much info as we can on all the stuff we do. But it's likely going to take until october when we have detailed info on the 40kWh upgrade.

We are working with local Universities on EV proliferation. The 40 kWh upgrades in "old but goodies" Leafs would make great student projects - something useful for a change . Do you believe you could market a step by step instruction manual with all the electronics/minor parts either specified and/or sold by you to do the conversions. Still a few 2011- 2013 Leafs available in our area with little to no range left.

[mux]

400km in my Leaf would be a dream come true. But this is with your range extender probably? How much it would be without it?

40kWh at typical ~15kWh/100km would net you about 250km. We only recommend doing that if you REALLY need to luggage space, because the 40kWh battery is not very good. It heats up a lot under any use or charging scenario and degrades kind of quickly. You can get the same range with an extender battery and have none of those issues. Of course, that's me talking from the perspective of our company trying to sell something, so keep that in mind.

@Marktm: we are definitely looking into making DIY kits, but this is still quite far off.

[Oilpan4]

What causes the 40kwh batt to heat up so much?
We talking chademo use or does that also include the extended charging time on 6.6kw?

[SageBrush]

because the 40kWh battery is not very good.

.
Would a 30 kWh battery be a better choice for a swap ? I think there were more produced for the USA market than 40 kWh

[mux]

What causes the 40kwh batt to heat up so much?
We talking chademo use or does that also include the extended charging time on 6.6kw?

On *just* the 40kWh battery: anything seems to heat up the battery. Looking at it wrong is potentially bad. But all jokes aside - the Leaf 40kWh will heat up under any scenario - both driving and charging - but it'll heat up by far most during QC sessions. Using the 6.6kW charger shouldn't really heat it up much, maybe a degree here and there over many hours of charging.

because the 40kWh battery is not very good.

.
Would a 30 kWh battery be a better choice for a swap ? I think there were more produced for the USA market than 40 kWh

Oh yes! Absolutely, the 30kWh battery is the best battery Nissan ever made. Doesn't rapidgate, QCs up to 80%+, reasonable rate of degradation if you charge to 80% and reasonable range for everyday use. That and the air-cooled 24kWh battery in the e-nv200, that one's surprisingly excellent as well. I've seen 100 000km+ e-nv200s with 90% SoH batteries. Same chemistry, but even the slightest hint of thermal management saves that battery long-term. Unfortunately that's not an option for the Leaf, it's a completely different form factor.

-------------

Today I had my first big drive with the ultra-Leaf (40kWh+extender battery). It very slightly disappointed in that it will eventually still rapidgate - I had a 20C temp rise after 55kWh charged over 2 QC sessions and 350km of driving. But: contrary to the bare 40kWh battery, it does cool down during driving and it will probably resist overheating until the 4th QC session in fair weather. As far as the charging and driving experience goes, this is a better car than the 40kWh and 62kWh Leafs, except it doesn't have ProPilot.

[Oilpan4]

How much above ambient temperature are the 40kwh batteries getting during normal use?

[AdventureMuffin]

Nissan just sent me a recall for changing out the lithium ion battery bonding plates. Toying with the idea of seeing if they cant replace the battery while they are in that deep.

On other subjects, hearing some talk of a 40 kw battery replacement for the miserable 24kw i have now (at 70% degraded). Lucky if I can get 50 miles per charge.

Any details on a 40 kw battery that can be either purchased and installed here in the USA?

cheers
David

[LeftieBiker]

Nissan just sent me a recall for changing out the lithium ion battery bonding plates. Toying with the idea of seeing if they cant replace the battery while they are in that deep.

On other subjects, hearing some talk of a 40 kw battery replacement for the miserable 24kw i have now (at 70% degraded). Lucky if I can get 50 miles per charge.

Any details on a 40 kw battery that can be either purchased and installed here in the USA?

cheers
David

The labor involved in replacing the bonding plate is very small compered to the labor of replacing the traction battery. There are no 40kwh batteries for sale new in the US, other than those in new Leafs.