Replacement battery

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sonja
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Replacement battery

Post by sonja »

Hi everyone,

I unfortunately had my nissan leaf (2011) stolen a few weeks ago and the battery was damaged. My insurance company are planning to write it off as the battery replacement cost is so high. Has anyone had their battery replaced? Could you share the price and where you had this done? Is it possible to import that battery from Japan? Thanks so much, Sonja
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Re: Replacement battery

Post by antiscab »

Hi Sonja,

where are you located?

do you know in what way the battery was damaged?
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Re: Replacement battery

Post by sonja »

Hi. I'm in Perth. Apparently the car was driven until flat and then left on and the battery capacity has dropped from 11 bars to 9 bars (max range 77km).
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Re: Replacement battery

Post by jonescg »

That wasn't the red Leaf was it? I think we shared images of it here.
Would be good to know if the battery is recoverable. I'm looking into doing battery upgrades, but they aren't any cheaper than a replacement. At least you'd theoretically get more range.
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Re: Replacement battery

Post by sonja »

No it wasn't the red leaf :). According to Northside Nissan, the battery is still working, just the capacity and range have dropped significantly.
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Re: Replacement battery

Post by sonja »

Chris, could you explain more about the battery upgrades? What does that involve?
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Re: Replacement battery

Post by jonescg »

Hi Sonja,
The plan is to replace the cells in a Nissan Leaf 24 kWh pack with more energy dense ones, so its more like 35 kWh. However there are two issues - one, it will cost about $15k but you get to keep the old cells for a DIY home storage battery or whatever. And two, the battery management system onboard the car might take issue with the higher capacity cells and lower impedance. So the range may be artificially limited depending on what Nissan's software wants to do. Some guys in NZ have cracked the CAN Bus on the Leaf to correct this apparently, but I'm still trying to get some jobs off my desk before committing to a swap. I have an iMiEV battery ready to do the swap on too, but I suspect it will be even more problematic.
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Re: Replacement battery

Post by Dan007a »

Might be interested in some cells to build a 144v pack. If you get to sell them can i put my name into the" Ring"
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Re: Replacement battery

Post by nuggetgalore »

I have an iMiEV battery ready to do the swap on too, but I suspect it will be even more problematic
Are you referring to the 60 Ah limit if the replacement cells are 80Ah?
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Re: Replacement battery

Post by antiscab »

The 60Ah limit is just for the fuel gauge. Charger keeps going until cells get to 4.1v. Mc keeps going till first cells hits low voltage.
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Re: Replacement battery

Post by jonescg »

Hi Toby, unfortunately I can't easily fit the 84 Ah or 100 Ah cell options in the iMiEV case without a major re-work of the enclosure. The 60 Ah cells are still a lot of work, but they would actually fit and with minor hassle from the BMS. I will be placing an order for these NMC cells (60 Ah and 135 Ah cells) before June 30th, but they will be delivered to the west coast. Shipping them East is no big deal, just a storage hassle at my end.
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Re: Replacement battery

Post by nuggetgalore »

jonescg wrote: Tue, 21 May 2019, 08:26 Hi Toby, unfortunately I can't easily fit the 84 Ah or 100 Ah cell options in the iMiEV case without a major re-work of the enclosure. The 60 Ah cells are still a lot of work, but they would actually fit and with minor hassle from the BMS. I will be placing an order for these NMC cells (60 Ah and 135 Ah cells) before June 30th, but they will be delivered to the west coast. Shipping them East is no big deal, just a storage hassle at my end.
Hi Chris, I guess with Toby you are addressing me, lol. Actually, my late brother who migrated to the USA was known by the nickname Toby, first time I ever been called that.
So to get back on topic, do you say that the two 42Ah cells do not readily fit the slots occupied by the LEV50(N)?
What is the main lot of work to fit the 60Ah cells ,is it to drill and tap the terminals?
What is the landed cost of these 60Ah cells?
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Re: Replacement battery

Post by jonescg »

nuggetgalore wrote: Tue, 21 May 2019, 18:17
jonescg wrote: Tue, 21 May 2019, 08:26 Hi Toby, unfortunately I can't easily fit the 84 Ah or 100 Ah cell options in the iMiEV case without a major re-work of the enclosure. The 60 Ah cells are still a lot of work, but they would actually fit and with minor hassle from the BMS. I will be placing an order for these NMC cells (60 Ah and 135 Ah cells) before June 30th, but they will be delivered to the west coast. Shipping them East is no big deal, just a storage hassle at my end.
Hi Chris, I guess with Toby you are addressing me, lol. Actually, my late brother who migrated to the USA was known by the nickname Toby, first time I ever been called that.
So to get back on topic, do you say that the two 42Ah cells do not readily fit the slots occupied by the LEV50(N)?
What is the main lot of work to fit the 60Ah cells ,is it to drill and tap the terminals?
What is the landed cost of these 60Ah cells?
Far out - I must have seen Andreas Tobler and spoonerized it. Sorry about that :D

Yes the 42 Ah cells won't fit in a 2p arrangement. They are actually taller and thicker than the LEV50N cells.
The 60 Ah cells will fit standing upright (as opposed to on their sides). The work will be in clamping these securely to the enclosure and running balance flywires to each BMS module.
Landed cost of the modules will be about $88 each to Fremantle.
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Re: Replacement battery

Post by nuggetgalore »

jonescg wrote: "The 60 Ah cells will fit standing upright (as opposed to on their sides)"
Interesting ,can you explain that some more. I understand the LEV50s stand in the frame with the terminals on top, where are the terminals going to be?
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Re: Replacement battery

Post by jonescg »

iMiEV battery.jpg
iMiEV battery.jpg (332.59 KiB) Viewed 3859 times
You can see that the stacks of 8 cells per module have the LEV50 cells standing on their side, terminals pointing away from the viewer.
8 of the 60 Ah cells would occupy the same space as the 8 LEV50 cells, but as a 4 x 2 block with terminals pointing upwards.
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Re: Replacement battery

Post by coulomb »

And the two blocks of 4 50 Ah cells pointing upwards can be replaced by a 2x2 block of 60 Ah cells on their sides? It looks like there is plenty of room.
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Re: Replacement battery

Post by jonescg »

Yeah I haven't had the time to take a real good look at those 4s module spaces, but I see no reason they can't also sit upright, but perpendicular to the current LEV50s.
3.6V60Ah-NMC.pdf
(187.46 KiB) Downloaded 90 times
Edit - given the length of these cells it might be just as easy to lay them on their side.
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Re: Replacement battery

Post by nuggetgalore »

nuggetgalore wrote: Wed, 22 May 2019, 07:18 jonescg wrote: "The 60 Ah cells will fit standing upright (as opposed to on their sides)"
Interesting ,can you explain that some more. I understand the LEV50s stand in the frame with the terminals on top, where are the terminals going to be?
I was obviously terribly wrong. I think I got the false idea watching some videos but not quite seeing the details of how the cells were disconnected.
Thanks for clearing this up.
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Re: Replacement battery

Post by jonescg »

Hi all, I'll be placing an order for these NMC cells. I don't have a Leaf upgrade planned just yet, but if anyone wants to buy some cells to add to the order let me know. I believe only the 100 Ah cells would be a convenient fit for the Leaf.
They have a selection of NMC cells - 42 Ah, 60 Ah, 100 Ah and 135 Ah.
Cheers,
Chris
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