Nissan technicians create Leaf with double the battery power

[smyvy]

So just seen this:
http://www.evperformance.co.uk/nissan-technicians-...

My thinking is if a small team can break away and double the battery power and we see the likes of Tesla more than doubling the Leaf's range and performance why aren't Nissan doing it!?!?!?!

[Stig]

Cost.

[HappyMidget]

By the looks of it they just added more batteries, nothing revolutionary really.

[LordFlathead]

It just proves it can be done. Just like PC upgrades go in small steps to create a constant market place, we all know they could create a car with 200 mile range today. However building it would reduce their future update market so they will eek it out.

[rxe]

Not really clever. They've removed the back seats and filled the car with expensive batteries. So it is now a two seater van that can do 200 miles and costs a load more.

[s1962a]

Here's a thought. A special connector available in EV cars where you can buy/rent a spare battery and plug in there - probably taking up most of your boot space. That would be useful where you need to get somewhere and are willing to sacrifice weight/handling of the car. Probably similar to loading up your car with luggage.

[el_ringo]

Two motors would be much better use of the time. 220bhp leaf would be a tad more lively!

[TooMany2cvs]

LordFlathead said:

It just proves it can be done.

Of course it can "be done". Start with a Nissan e-NV200, and you could potentially have a range in the thousands of miles. You won't have any space left for any kind of load in the back at all - or, more likely, there won't be any payload left - but...

[anonymous-user]

Friend of mine has just bought a new Leaf. In all the handbooks and as per the salesman, the range is 130 miles. No matter how he charges it, the maximum range it shows is 100 miles. Good to see its not only VW telling fibs

[anonymous-user]

Grahamdub said:

Friend of mine has just bought a new Leaf. In all the handbooks and as per the salesman, the range is 130 miles. No matter how he charges it, the maximum range it shows is 100 miles. Good to see its not only VW telling fibs

er, you do realise that the range quoted HAS, BY LAW, to be the range the vehicle achieves over the mandated drive cycle (EUDC test at 25degc) Real world range is of course lower in the uk, because it's very rarely 25dgeC here and we drive a lot faster!

The manufacturer will give estimates for real world range, but it MUST rely on the official figure for all paperwork and when giving customers information etc.

[anonymous-user]

I think he is just surprised at the difference (another 1/3 ish) between what is claimed and what is displayed in the car after a full charge - especially as it is a brand new car.

[TooMany2cvs]

Grahamdub said:

I think he is just surprised at the difference (another 1/3 ish) between what is claimed and what is displayed in the car after a full charge - especially as it is a brand new car.

Because the quoted range has to conform to the test cycle - while the displayed range is probably calculated based on his driving.

[anonymous-user]

TooMany2cvs said:

Because the quoted range has to conform to the test cycle - while the displayed range is probably calculated based on his driving.

It has displayed that after the first 2 charges, so hopefully it will increase when it calculates he drives like Miss Daisy

[essayer]

Grahamdub said:

I think he is just surprised at the difference (another 1/3 ish) between what is claimed and what is displayed in the car after a full charge - especially as it is a brand new car.

He'd be more surprised when he ran out of juice after 100 miles of his 130 mile journey !

Although they are based on best-case testing, I guess EV range estimations are a bit of a lottery, but then again so were the range estimates on my last petrol car.
Percentage charge would probably be better, he'll get a good feel of it once he's used the car for a while.

[pherlopolus]

essayer said:

He'd be more surprised when he ran out of juice after 100 miles of his 130 mile journey !

Although they are based on best-case testing, I guess EV range estimations are a bit of a lottery, but then again so were the range estimates on my last petrol car.
Percentage charge would probably be better, he'll get a good feel of it once he's used the car for a while.

1 year in my wife talks in terms of percentage rather than range, when I borrow it I regularly return it with more miles range showing than when I started...