Nissan Leaf could get 200km range boost with New Zealand battery pack
A prototype battery module packing 38kWh and up to 200km range aiming to keep early model all-electric Nissan Leafs on the road is being developed by New Zealand electric vehicle dealer and rental company Blue Cars.
The new prototype builds on a previous battery pack that was developed by the company with funding from NZ’s Low Emission Vehicles Contestable Fund (LEVCF).
“At the moment we are targeting the Generation 1 Leafs which are less efficient but will need batteries first … as they are coming to an age where the batteries will need replacing,” director and operations manager of Blue Cars Bill Alexander tells The Driven.
While the original 30kWh prototype – which was a proof-of-concept and not commercially available – boosted the range of an older Nissan Leaf 24kWh battery by 45 per cent, the latest version of the battery pack goes even further.
The newest 38kWh improved battery pack prototype, which has now been successfully tested using third party cells, could boost the range of 2011-2012 models to up to 200km range, a 70 per cent increase on the first generation Leaf’s original 117km range.
However, newer model Leafs could benefit from an even longer range, says Alexander.
“In the newer cars the technology will work the same but they may get better range due to features such as improved efficiency due to regenerative braking,” he says.
With an improved design focused on a simpler assembly process, Blue Cars is now undertaking further testing with a view to commercialising the modules with the next 12-24 months should an application to a second round of funding from the LEVCF be successful.
If the funding application is approved, the company may find itself inundated with orders for the replacement battery packs.
In April, Blue Cars also opened up pre-orders for the battery pack on the condition of the second round of LEVCF being successful.
Within days over $NZ20,000 worth of deposits were received and over 50 customers expressed interest in buying the packs once they become commercially available.
Additionally, thanks to a previous report by The Driven in early June 2019 on the original battery proof-of-concept pack, Blue Cars has now fielded considerable interest from potential partners from all around the globe including Australia.
But first, securing the second round of funding is crucial, says Alexander.
“We will hear about in next two months and are very much hoping that will give us the money we need to complete the next stage of testing and put us into commercial production.
“It’s an important step that we do get batteries for older Nissan Leafs available in the next year or so because we are working on these things, and we are beginning to see the range of batteries is down and they’re not resellable for customers,” he says.
While a price has not yet been set, Alexander impresses that customers need to be realistic about what the end price of the batteries may be – but it will be worth it.
“If you look to upgrade an older leaf to a newer leaf with a similar range, the price will stack up – there will be value there,” he says.
The question of what to do with the old batteries is also a topic the company has been considering.
“Currently we are disposing of old batteries into solar storage market,” says Alexander.
New Zealand battery module adds 45% range to Nissan Leaf
A New Zealand-based electric vehicle dealer and rental company has developed a new battery module for the Nissan Leaf that it says can extend the range of the popular electric car by up to 45 per cent.
Blue Cars, which has offices in Auckland and Waiheke Island, developed the battery module with funding from New Zealand’s “Low Emission Vehicles Contestable Fund,” which was set up to encourage innovation in low and zero emissions vehicle technology.
The latest 2019 Leaf has a 40kWh battery with an EPA-rated range of 240km, more than twice as much as early model Leafs, but still considerably less than other modern EVs.
But in New Zealand, second-hand Nissan Leafs make up a very significant proportion of the country’s electric vehicle fleet, as shown in this graph from the NZ Department of Transport website.
The Nissan Leaf has been around now for nearly a decade, with the first 2011/2012 Leafs sporting a modest 117km driving range (based on the relatively accurate US EPA rating) and 24kWh battery.
Subsequent Leafs received boosted range with technical improvements and from 2016 onwards, an increased 30kWh battery increased the EPA-rated range to 172km.
As Blue Cars describe on the NZ government’s Energy and Efficiency Conservation Authority (EECA) website, “EV battery packs are made up of modules, each containing cells. The 30kWh Nissan Leaf battery pack, for example, has 24 modules, each with eight cells. Sometimes it’s possible to extend EV battery life by replacing the dead cells.”
With $NZ23,100 ($A21,769) in co-funding, Blue Cars developed and then tested new battery modules that could replace dead or dying modules in a Nissan Leaf over a two month period.
Proving the new battery modules are compatible with the Nissan Leaf, Blue Cars determined that they have the potential to not only extend the life of an aging Leaf, but also significantly increase the range.
“Two months of testing demonstrated that the Leaf was compatible with the newly developed battery module. This project holds the potential to extend the life of New Zealand’s existing EV fleet beyond their first battery packs,” the company says.
“In addition, it takes a first step towards offering a battery upgrade solution for EV owners in New Zealand. They found that their battery modules, if deployed throughout the rest of the battery, could have a 45% greater capacity than the original Leaf battery.”
Applied to a 2016 Nissan Leaf (for example) with 30kWh battery and 172km range, the new modules developed by Blue Cars could increase the range to 250km, bringing the range of older Leafs in line with the new 2019 Nissan Leaf.
“At the moment we are targeting the Generation 1 Leafs which are less efficient but will need batteries first … as they are coming to an age where the batteries will need replacing,” director and operations manager of Blue Cars Bill Alexander tells The Driven.
I think this is a Very important point that i have highlighted here again,
Re: Replacing of Batteries on the Demand side of things going forward atm !
Not to mention the Added increase in the Number / Size / Power / Range etc
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