DC-area taxi company wants to go all-electric with Leaf

[TurboFroggy]

is it safe to supercharge (lev3) several times a day?

With the Leaf's chemistry I'd say the answer is no, not on a regular basis without TMS. It would be interesting see how long the Leaf's battery lasts in a hot D.C. summer if it's getting QC'd every day, maybe more than once. And the same goes for the e-NV200 - The Ford Transit Connect EV might have been a better choice assuming it had a TMS, if Azure Dynamics hadn't declared bankruptcy.

You have no experience with EVs, fast charging or running a taxi service, you have no business commenting on this thread.

I have fast charged 5 times in one day and didn't get above 7 temp bars and that was an entire day of highway driving. 550 miles in a weekend using fast charging in our Leaf. Most taxi duty is stop and go traffic. Our company has two Leaf shuttles that do an all day route with usage of only L2. This company will know the limitations of their cars and their DC Fast Charging infrastructure and absolutely crush the competition on operational costs.

 

[Herm]

I have fast charged 5 times in one day and didn't get above 7 temp bars and that was an entire day of highway driving. 550 miles in a weekend using fast charging in our Leaf. Most taxi duty is stop and go traffic. Our company has two Leaf shuttles that do an all day route with usage of only L2. This company will know the limitations of their cars and their DC Fast Charging infrastructure and absolutely crush the competition on operational costs.

I say you have no place commenting on this thread until you design your own batteries.. see what I did there?

Imagine if the taxi company had to replace their batteries in 2 years?.. can you even do that?.. forget about leasing or getting a warranty from Nissan on a commercially used vehicle.

Regarding your fast charge experience.. how long did the car remain at 7 bars temp?

 

[mkjayakumar]

Remember, an all weather useable max range of a Leaf is no more than 50 miles when new.. So a trip should typically be around 40 miles and a QC within a 10 mile radius of the destination.

DC is warmer than the PNW. With its limited range, and the well known and well advertized issues around rising battery temps during QC, I doubt a taxi service makes sense either in DC or even in colder climates..

 

[TonyWilliams]

I have fast charged 5 times in one day and didn't get above 7 temp bars and that was an entire day of highway driving. 550 miles in a weekend using fast charging in our Leaf.

Regarding your fast charge experience.. how long did the car remain at 7 bars temp?

Certainly not my experience, so you can hopefully recognize that your 7 bar experience may not be typical.

This company will know the limitations of their cars and their DC Fast Charging infrastructure and absolutely crush the competition on operational costs.

Not if they factor in the cost of battery replacements after the high annual mileage and quick charging, some of that at least, done in hot ambient conditions. These non-TMS batteries are absolutely not ideal with this duty.

 

[GRA]

is it safe to supercharge (lev3) several times a day?

With the Leaf's chemistry I'd say the answer is no, not on a regular basis without TMS. It would be interesting see how long the Leaf's battery lasts in a hot D.C. summer if it's getting QC'd every day, maybe more than once. And the same goes for the e-NV200 - The Ford Transit Connect EV might have been a better choice assuming it had a TMS, if Azure Dynamics hadn't declared bankruptcy.

You have no experience with EVs, fast charging or running a taxi service, you have no business commenting on this thread. I have fast charged 5 times in one day and didn't get above 7 temp bars and that was an entire day of highway driving. 550 miles in a weekend using fast charging in our Leaf. Most taxi duty is stop and go traffic. Our company has two Leaf shuttles that do an all day route with usage of only L2. This company will know the limitations of their cars and their DC Fast Charging infrastructure and absolutely crush the competition on operational costs.

If you read my sig, you'll see that I do have experience, albeit limited, with EVs, and lots of experience with batteries (not Li-ion, to be sure, but heat is bad for any battery). As for not having experience with taxi service, well, you've got me there. OTOH, I have been reading this forum for over a year, which included all the reports of accelerated degradation of Leaf batteries in high temps, and Tony's experiences with high battery temps after multiple QCs in a day (and subsequent capacity loss in his almost new Leaf). In addition, I've also read (here and elsewhere) numerous scientific studies showing the effect of temperature and charge rates on cycle life on Li-ion chemistries, all of which confirm that heat is bad for Li-ion batteries as it is for every other battery, and the higher the charge rate, the greater the heat generated. As the Leaf lacks a TMS to counteract the heat generated by fast charging, it is clearly more susceptible to early degradation than an EV equipped with TMS, especially in an area that experiences hot summers, and that will seriously affect TCO.

 

[cwerdna]

Resurrection of a very old thread...

D.C.'s ballyhooed green cabs are a driver's 'nightmare'
https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060110833

 

[SalisburySam]

Resurrection of a very old thread...

...and interesting to note that the Amsterdam taxi operation uses both LEAFs and Model S’s, not just the LEAF.

 

[coach81]

wow.. this is old... LOL

 

[BillHolz]

The program that the article mentions was started in 2016 and my Leaf came from a DC area cab company that tried to use it for a few weeks in April 2016. My car looks much like one in the picture minus the green accents (Red on silver is the same as mine). With no QC, they figured out in a hurry that my car was not going to work as a cab.

 

[VirginiaBurbs]

I live in the Virginia suburbs of DC .. the Nissan and other dealerships all over our area have 2014 and 2015 used Leafs that were cabs in DC prior. Mine, a 2015 SL, had 40K miles, but 12 bars of battery. Was repainted, with a clean CarFAX, and is working great. Some on dealer lots aren't even repainted, and look really weird in a flashy red with green accents. It's pretty common here.