Fully Charged: Nissan Leaf 30Kwh

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reecho
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Post by reecho »

Looking good for an incremental upgrade.... Image

225km real world range???........SOLD..!!....Sign me up....

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4Springs
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Post by 4Springs »

Overall Judgement:
I want one!

Do we know if this version will be brought to Aus?
reecho
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Post by reecho »

Nothing firm....

But i have heard some rumblings from "over the dutch"...

If they get them....it could almost be a sure thing...
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Post by T1 Terry »

If the battery pack is the same size then is it just an improved chemistry battery or better designed or what? They are saying it is a bigger storage capacity battery in the same size format so how are they doing that? If it is the same size format and the rest of the system is the same as the earlier models, would an upgrade be feasible?

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4Springs
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Post by 4Springs »

Apparently you can't upgrade, according to this source:
https://transportevolved.com/2015/09/11 ... san-leafs/
Transport Evolved wrote: But while the physical exterior pack dimensions of the new 30 kWh LEAF battery packs are identical to the battery packs found in every LEAF that has rolled off the production line since late 2010, internal differences in the way the packs are wired and connected to the car means that a 30 kWh upgrade path for existing cars isn’t possible.
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Post by jonescg »

That's pretty disappointing, however not unexpected. They want to make money from new car sales, not upgrades. I'm sure it can't be that hard to re-jig the BMS and comms cables to make it work.
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Post by Jasmin »

Nissan really should introduce it in the Aussie market as soon as practical (maybe discount the old stock to help clear it?), as the extra range really makes the car far more viable in the spread out nature of the suburbs with little public charging infrastructure. Maybe even, when Nissan finally do bring in new stock, only bring 30kw/h models of the Acenta and Tekna, and not bother with the 24s, except the for Visia.

Also I'd really like to see Nissan partner with other organisations (RAC, local/state/commonwealth government, anyone!) to get public charging up to speed. In the UK, Nissan invested early on in partnering with a green energy company (Ecotricity) to roll-out electric highways, and it was pretty successful. With QLD, VIC and SA all in Labor hands, there is the potential for willing partners...


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Post by C'Maine03 »

That's great
30kWh sounds good
How do I get an upgrade from 24 kWh?
reecho
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Post by reecho »

No official upgrade path for 24Kwh cars.

I suspect the aftermarket will have something to say about that though in due course.

Physically it does bolt in the same spot.
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Post by KiegKhan »

I predict Nissan Australia has been burned bad by the Leaf's poor performance (caused by themselves importing too many and underestimating the market) and will not import another model anytime soon. Nissan Support told me their CEO plans to import the 2018 Leaf when it is available, which would be make it the 200+ mile car all manufacturers are working on at the moment.
The dealers I talked to indicated Niszan would import new ones but at a lower spec because the spec was too high and too costly. Personally, I think the spec is spot on, only the price was the problem, and as has been seen the battery price has come down dramatically, so price would also drop naturally as a result.
The other factor is the lack of any incentives. Look at every other equivalent country and there are government incentives, infrastructure push and real concern over the impact of ICE on the environment.
I understand companies want everyone to upgrade, and these cars are highly recyclable, but in reality not everyone can/will change their car, so offering upgrades is a smart move. It would also give real eco credentials to any manufacturer taking this approach.
With millions of vehicles on the road there will be no lack of converts to the EV fold as it matures and reduces in cost.
The other thing that would be good is a strategy of modular design. In this case the battery electronics would fit right into the same space and have the same connectors. The rest of the systems would then talk to this module, establish the capabilities and take advantage of the increased capacity. Think of how CHAdeMo talks to the car to figure out what voltage to provide, same idea.
The trend/goal in battery development is to pack more power into a smaller or same size package. That is what you are seeing with the 30Kw battery pack, same size and shape but more power.
The other trend/goal is to make it lighter, so in this case the battery not only fits in the same space but it is lighter as well. No good if the ~250kg 24Kw battery goes to ~300kg for the 30Kw.
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C'Maine03
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Post by C'Maine03 »

If there are still plenty of the 24 kWh Leafs in the Australian store then I am surprised that Nissan Australia is not arranging a re-work package that would bring all of those cars up to a better range.

But just what range might that be? For the 24 kWh battery that I bought, my Guess-o-meter shows around 100km (+10 -5 km) for what I take to be the flat earth case. I mean no elevation change, no aircon. Sometimes I get an initial estimate around 120km but that rapidly deflates in the first one km.

This gives me an 80km max useful range. Who knows what it keeps in store, in reserve ? Maybe 2 or 4 kWh? So I reckon that it's 20 or 22 kWh for 80km. This means that the real consumption is north of 0.2 kWh/ km. The energy efficiency voice and the energy information display say that the car is achieving 0.15 to 0.22 kWh/km varying each day.

So now I am confused. Everyone is talking about 100 mile range, increasing to 200 miles with the 30 kWh battery. I reckon that I'm getting much less than that. I would be very pleased to get 100 km from my Leaf.
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Post by KiegKhan »

Think the numbers are wrong. 24Kw Leaf is rated for 84Miles and 30Kw Leaf is rated for 110Miles, not 100 and 200 miles. The 200 mile range is expected with Leaf 2.0, Chevy Bolt (note not Volt which is hybrid) and Tesla Model 3, possibly others over the next year or two.
One week of ownership and I got about 100km on my first trip to get home, but around town it is more like 80km with 80% charge, basically working on 1km per 1% charge (using LeafSpy Lite).
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Post by C'Maine03 »

KK thanks for the info

Do I see 100km obtained on returning to Ballarat? Thats impressive.
As I understand the elevation there is 450 metres above Melbourne

I have only once had my Leaf make the trip from Melb to Castlemaine. The elevation there is 300m above Melb, and I could make the trip only at 70km/hr and with a re-charge stop in the middle.

Maybe your return was not uphill?

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Post by KiegKhan »

According to Nissan Leaf Range Estimator app I should have been able to get 110km (nice app, it uses Google Maps to work out elevations and then estimates the energy usage), and I needed to go 95-98km. This was my first drive and I got just about 1/2 way and had 37% SOC left. When I left it was 93.4% SOC (my Leaf does not appear to get to 100% SOC according to LeafSpy).
I had arranged with a Caravan Park to top up if I needed to, so rather than experience my first range anxiety I spent 2.5hrs getting to about 67% SOC.
When I got home I had a bout 35% SOC, so I think I probably would have made it. Given the SOC at the start was not 100%, the Nissan Leaf Range Estimator app gave a pretty accurate result.
By the way, I planned this trip travelling at 90km/hr. Using some of the advice on forums I let the car coast down the hills (building up speed to 110km/hr) rather than use regen. I also sat behind some slow moving trucks going up the hills, rather than pass them and then have them pass me when I returned to 90km/hr on the flats.
It was a long day, but a good trip. This first week has been a lot of learning about the Leaf range capabilities.
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Johny
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Post by Johny »

KiegKhan wrote: ...
Using some of the advice on forums I let the car coast down the hills (building up speed to 110km/hr) rather than use regen.
I find better energy economy by holding the speed down with regen. At 110km/h you would be losing a lot of energy pushing wind. Maybe this applies more to mine (DIY) than it would a Leaf but the strategy would be the same.
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Chuq
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Post by Chuq »

Those interested in this topic may like this video:


Bjorn Nyland (aka Teslabjorn) who owned a Model S and now owns a Model X, tries out a 30 kWh Leaf on a long distance trip!
Last edited by Chuq on Fri, 23 Sep 2016, 19:09, edited 1 time in total.
KiegKhan
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Post by KiegKhan »

In case anyone is watching these posts, I redrove the trip from Ballarat to Melbourne, with the same recharge stop half way (mitigating range anxiety still). This time it is a warmer time of the year, so I think that definitely makes a difference, although I think it is slight. Going to Melbourne I drove at 90km/h and used Cruise Control (used cruise for the whole trip). Used about 40% SoC for this half. The next half I drove 100km/h and it was mostly downhill, so I only used 30% SoC (actually went more distance 40km vs 50km).
On the way back same speeds, same charge half way. First leg up all the hills at 100km/h used 42% SoC, which is really impressive. 2nd half at 90km/h and used 32% SoC, so actually less than the opposite direction (would not think it is the case, but this indicates it is more downhill, which is counter-intuitive).
So I think going to Melbourne is no problem, don't need to charge half way, but I would still charge on the way home to mitigate range anxiety.
Also note, the first time I did this trip I charged half way for 2 hours. This time I only charged 1 hour, which was much easier timewise and also based on the first trip.
I have also been using Leaf Spy to get stats every day. My dashboard indicates that I average 0.16kw/h. The real value from the power point is 0.20kw/h (5km/kw) so the car cannot really account for the real power that has been used. The average cost is $0.03/km. Based on what I have read about the US Leaf experience, this seems a lot less than 4mi/kw they seem to be getting. I really drive very conservatively so I don't think this could get any better for me.
One thing I would like is a setting to limit the motor output. If I could program it to only use 20kw, and maybe have a boost when the pedal is pushed all the way to the floor, I think that would work really well. I mostly drive with the energy screen displayed and moderate the pedal to stay below 20kw/h, the car performs pretty well (obviously it is not breaking any performance records doing this).
When I take people for a drive they are very impressed by the acceleration, it is a nice car to drive and 0-100 in <7 seconds is really overrated IMO. This feels like it does it in <7 seconds and for most 0-60km/h traffic it is plenty fast enough.
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Post by Johny »

Thanks for the report Jason. ECO mode is intended to de-power the accelerator pedal somewhat (as well as air-con) but really only has any great effect in stop/go traffic - for most drivers.
You are absolutely correct in trying to keep power low. In my DIY I try to stay below 18kW (just because 18kw is 30A so it's easy to see). Once you go into higher current/power, the battery, cable and motor losses start to become significant so your range drops.
I also agree that temperature plays a big part (I graph this stuff on my blog).
I think you are right in that your driving style is returning about the best range you can reasonably expect.

It's funny isn't it that in an ICE powered vehicle you are so far removed from this stuff that it just gets ignored - and there are no-where near the returns for changes in driving style.
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Post by KiegKhan »

You might have noticed already, Daylesford now has an EVSE out the front of their town hall. I'm going to take a drive over and check it out at some stage. Not sure where in Melbourne you are, but if you wanted to go to Daylesford for a trip (about 110km from CBD), you could contact Pheonix Park in Ballan and see if they would let you charge for an hour, then drive to Daylesford and charge there while you look around the township.
The biggest problem I can see, without going there yet, is they placed the EVSE right in the main street and I expect it will be blocked by ICE all the time, evidence suggests that ICE do not care if they park in EV spaces. I would have much preferred they placed the EVSE in a less used side street and at least you would have some confidence that it would not be blocked.
On the plus side, it is free (as far as Hepburn Shire tells me) and it is on PlugShare (if people update their connection via PlugShare).
So from Melbourne you could get to Daylesford, Creswick (Forest Resort has an EVSE, and a golf course if you like that sort of thing) and Sovereign Hill (in Ballarat, they have an EVSE). I would recommend a quick top up charge at Pheonix Park in Ballan to mitigate range anxiety if your SoH is lower than 90%.
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Post by KiegKhan »

Hey, that's great. Maybe you should think about mixed graph style. Your projected range would be the line graph, and then do a stacked bar graph for to/from work, then it is easy to see the total range you drove plus the difference to the projected range. If charge is a different value, plot that on a second axis. If you are using Excel, then this is pretty easy to do, something like this:
Image
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Post by nuggetgalore »

Hi all,
I posted a query in a neighboring thread but nobody reacted to it.It concerned a near new LEAF where I am unsure if the bat is ok or not.
The dealer has now sent me a battery report.Unfortunately I cannot copy or attach the report here (how can I attach a PDF?).
The report to me is not really telling how good the battery is ,but some of you experienced LEAFERS may be able to explain.
Is there a way that I could email the PDF to somewhere/one who could then show it here.
Thanks
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