Leaf springs are the only springs I see custom made. The UK is full of leaf spring specialists. Finding custom antiroll bars on the other hand has been impossible the last 5 years of searching.
Love the video. I see you put the extended battery in parallel with the original 24kw one. It would be great if you could compile a diy kit with instructions, some wiring diagrams, pre programed can bridge, second bms, cell balancers and the way you set up to trigger the second battery contactor, you mentioned in the video, but didn’t show the hv contactor for the e-nv200. People around in Australia could buy the kit without batteries and then could byo Lifepo4 batteries boxes etc. I would do a 112s 3.2v 105ah pack. 37kwh extra. What I’m saying I would buy a kit from you and get a van from Japan Auctions.
yerah but it would have been a 80k van........Nissan did the right thing.....that's why there are hundreds of them all over London.....great van ,love mine
I wish these things were available in the United States. It would revolutionize vanlife. But America is so anti green right now. Hopefully when we get a new President who actually believes in global warming, science & that windmills Do NOT cause cancer more electric vehicles will be sold here.
Wow. Leaf springs in this day and age! My 21-yr old Peugeot Expert at least has proper rear suspension. It also has drums though. Still pretty normal for vans I think. As you say, great pity not to put some battery in all that space underneath. And I am jealous of your shiny workshop! Subscribed.
Would 't be an idea to build make a box or two "euro-pallets" with cabinets, a kitchen and a bed that would turn a standard e-NV200 into a campervan with extended range and a house battery. Just make it so a forklift can move it in and out in a few minutes ;-) Would be a great rental....
i think it's still pretty normal for load carrying vehicles like vans and pickup trucks to have leaf springs. they perform well, are simple and reduce sway compared to coils. I would prefer coils on a passenger car though
Interesting to see what those sneaky engineers left as growth options. Would be better if I could actually buy the van here, can only get a leaf or a ice van. With that range and recharge rate it could make a fantastic day trip vehicle. Lots of room and range.
"They could have put in a twice as large battery... but they didn't" That's the thing about gas car makers when they make electric models. They tell their designers to "Make it good, but not TOO good."
How is there Henk Westbroek on the radio?! 🤣🤣 Are you in the Netherlands? I saw a 2017 model with the old 24kwh battery. What would you say it's the actual value (if all works fine still)? They sell around 10.000 euro ex. Vat but i feel the actual value is more or less 5 or 6ish ( ah i looked it up, indeed Dutch :) )
so they dropped a leaf unit into a van , bloody good job Nissan ........got it to market at a decent price..........love these vans, yes more range would be good but I go all over the UK with no problem...
I'll do my best to make more videos - we now have a new video of our own van which we range-extended even more. And yes, we'll be expanding this year still.
What a great build, thanks for sharing! I wondered how many extra cells you would need to add to a 40kwh model to achieve the same result? Also, could any of the extra batteries be housed beneath the front seats?
I'd guess you can get very close by putting modules in the spot where the spare tire sits now. I measured it, you can probably fit two 8-module packs underneath. The downside is that it's exposed to the elements, so it needs a pretty sturdy enclosure. The 40kWh would technically need an extra 24 modules (instead of 40 - makes sense right) to get to the same '69kWh'.
Where can I find the info and gain the knowledge of batteries. Iv heard a couple of times about discharge in batteries or equalising them. How will I learn the basics of why I can’t just have interchangeable packs at different charge rates etc, or a trailer with its own pack and an umbilical cord to somehow put the power to the prime mover etc. Thanks in advance
it Good job man, goed gedaan. i just wonder about the cost N2 then cooling the new battery set? N2. then the overall programimg, how did you do that ? I would like to study these stuff so i may upgrade my car as well. Please reach out. cheers
Hi there. Now I've known how to plug an additional battery,but ive got the Main question. Does your battery need to be balanced as a leaf, env batterys? I've not seen it in your videos. What kind of battery do you use in all your projects?
That's a very cool upgrade, especially the part where you edit the BMS to handle an extended pack. Could you reveal some details as to how that is done?
We have a little box that sits in between the car's main computer (VCM) and both the original BMS and that of the extender battery. The box essentially combines the information of the two BMSes into one number that the VCM uses to generate the expected range, etc.
Great...so from 22 kWh to 66 kWh...more than the premium leaf e+ How heavy is it...and what is left for cargo? the evalia would need a diffrent solution... 4 more chargers and it could charge like a zoe at AC chargers....
It's about 390kg, there is about 400kg left for cargo. Evalia needs a taller, shorter battery box - we'll be looking at that one too if the e-nv200 van doesn't end up having any software issues.
I wonder if you are able to do this for a bmw i3. Adding more battery in the useless rear trunk or. Chevy bolt. Splice a cable to connect to a gas generator to trickle charge the bolt battery while driving
We're not looking at the i3, Volt PHEV or Bolt anytime soon. In general, VW and BMW tend to be a lot trickier to reverse engineer and to get good schematics for, so these are longer-term projects to consider.
@@jarrodheley7879 Thanks for reply. Is the AC 7kW charger simply supplying the power to the car or you need some king of module between the wall and the car?
That part of the garage technically isn't ours - that's EV Europe. They convert oldtimers (that's most of the cars you see in the main area) to electric. This is a VW New Beetle converted to electric that's being driven by celebrity Dutch people on 1vandaag.
@@PowerElectronicsBlog - Oh, like that. I was thinking you bought it from them; just had to ask. Now i also get, why on 1vandaag, the car was só quiet. Hadn't thought it was an electric car at all (silly me) :P Sharing a place, is easier on the wallet i suppose :) Thanks for your reaction!
Almost certainly not, it's a pack with such low losses that even the much smaller extender int he Leaf doesn't heat up significantly under repeated fast charging and driving. But we'll be testing that.
you want a truck to be built like a car, and the car like a truck? not many trucks have disc brakes and they are heavier, same for leaf springs the other way, not many trucks have coil springs etc.
@@mattwoodproperty some do, yes, but not many, all the trucks I have worked on and owned have drum brakes and leaf springs. apparently discs cost twice the price.
Great work! I have a 40kWh ENV200 and have been looking at ways of increasing range too, however the loss of load area wouldn't work for me as I put seats in the back. Have you considered making an underslung pack that fits in the void where the spare wheel sits?
The downside of that space is that it's very inefficiently packed; the spring range prevents putting a pack over the entire length of the empty air under the loading bay. You can only safely install ~17kWh there. Might still be an interesting option, especially for the 40kWh
Sorry, hadn't seen your reply. 17kWh would suit me fine. I can get a suitable box made from 6mm seam welded aluminium which will hang from the chassis just behind the rear axle. Can you email me directly please so that we can discuss further, my address is hello@eco-couriers.com
Like it, that you think the price of to change my 24kw battery to a 40kw can be? my car nissan e-nv200 evalia 24kw from year 2014 have now 110000km and 85% soh on the battery but gues it be about 150000km and 75% to 80% soh before i can drive to you and change
That's going to exceed the weight allowance of your van. The maximum we can add is approx. 62kWh, and even that is pushing it (that weighs about 600kg, leaving barely anything for cargo).
may you look at the RV parts I remember to place a "Air Balg" between the Stopper and leaf spring suspension, get a higher load and much more comfortable ride. you need a small pressure pump and level valve all in one system .
Ah, like replaceable air suspension. That's really interesting, I didn't know this was something you can add aftermarket, but it makes a ton of sense. Should help with damping as well. I'll look around if there's something that fits the e-nv200!
Definitely a possibility, and the cheapest option. But we have relatively bad experiences with helper springs, they tend to buckle easily. We might try though.
4:30 You really don't have a clue what you're talking about. LOL :-) The wheel wells are covered (plastic) in the front. Precisely to silent the ride. On the back there's nothing which produce a quite noisy experience. If in doubt go for a ride without the covers. The difference is staggering. ;-) Or even better if you can get some for the back the ride "quality" will benefit a lot. BTW the lack of them is the first indication of a cheap option by the manufacturer. Same applies for the suspension, brakes...etc. All clear indicators of cost cutting. Anyway nice video and presentation. Cheers