Better, Diesel-Fired Liquid Heater for 2011-2012 Leaf

[Nubo]

In practice very little heat ever made it to the windscreen, especially if you drove in a salt-loving area that ate holes in the shrouds around the heat exchangers.

Amen to that. I remember wiping the windshield with my hands to get a 'port hole' open to look out of. Those were the days....

Funny how the graphic shows the pipes at the front of the car as red - eg hot - while the rear is blue.

Well that last bit is actually accurate. The outside air passes through the heat exchangers where it picks up heat from the exhaust pipes and then is distributed in the cabin. I've ridden in bugs that were in better shape than mine and the heating was actually functional. Mine were more like an old lady breathing on your feet.

[PaulSp]

Keep us posted man! And show us some pics

I have my 8.8kwh extender battery now so my diesel air heater is removed.
Still wanting to mount in under the hood somehwere though.

How much did that cost and did you post pictures?

I cost me €3000, except EV prices in europe are sky high.
Its cost about 30% of my cars value.

100 charge gives me 23.2kwh according lesfspy. 80% charge gives me 20.5 kwh

[coleafrado]

Well I broke down and got the Eberspacher Hydronic S3 diesel heater kit.
It burns 0.5L per hour on high and 0.2L per hour on low.

It was on sale for 614 fiat dollars with shipping and tax.

Probably be good for 10 miles on a cool wet day and up to 20 miles on a single digit night.

Definitely cheaper than trying to get a 12 soh bar heatpump leaf.

Oilpan4, did you ever end up installing the inline water cooler? How has it worked out?

[Oilpan4]

I'm still working on it, got it hooked up to coolant lines but every time I have time to work more on it it's raining or really cold out.
Need to run electrical and install the fuel system.

[arnis]

Leaf 2014 owner for 5½ years. It has air PTC and no coolant loop.
It is possible to use air heater but heatpump is good enough. Range reduction usually around 10%.
Though I also bought Mitsubishi iMiEV for fun and it has coolant based cabin heating,
same as older Leafs. Range reduction is massive, 30% below freezing.
So I got used Webasto heater (there are two quality companies AFAIK, Webasto and Ebersprächer).
Took it off an old BMW for 100€.
5kW heating power. Or 2.5kW at half power.
Can't do less heat unfortunately.
Will reduce power at 70*C and switch off around 75*C.
So if you switch it on you have to take the heat

PS.
I have access to HVO (renewable "diesel", not the same as biodiesel, but on legal documents it is biodiesel).
It is 100% non-fossil, burns absolutely cleanly and I've used it on my backup ICE car (BMW ).
It is ultra clean, no smell when starting cold. Excellent startup etc etc.
So I will use that as a fuel for EV fuel based heater. It has infinite shelf life and no smell (it looks and tastes like water/cooking oil).
This fuel is expensive (almost 2€/liter) but as consumption is laughable, I don't care

Exactly 10$ per US gallon. But deem it cleaned my old ICE.
Maybe it is available elsewhere in the world - I would definitely recommend.
PS2: Keep away from FAME (real biodiesel).

[Oilpan4]

As long as it cold starts good.
In the USA our bio diesel turns into paste by -20C.

[arnis]

Then it's FAME. Avoid that in cold weather.

[Oilpan4]

I'm loving the diesel fired heater.
My leaf would have been unusable when it was around 0F a few days ago.
In the last 3 years the coldest I have driven my leaf was only about +14F and that was 3 years ago. The battery SOH was higher then, my leaf just barely made it to work and back and i was freezing the whole time.
With the diesel fired heater I stayed nice and warm like driving a regular vehicle and my leaf didn't even really struggle to make it to work and back.
My winter time miles per kwh are up 0.2 to 0.4 and this cold spell it's probably running 1 mile per kwh higher or more.