Now that you can buy Leaf Battery packs from a 3rd party....

Now that there are at least 3 3rd party sources of Nissan Leaf & Chevy volt batteries

Just curious how long it will take before someone tries to repurpose one?

Sadly they are all used (no matter what the source says) but its a real start.

The volt battery ala cart can be had for around $2000 and the Leaf battery (cut in half) for $2500 or around $5k for the whole enchalada. I also see several places sellling leaf battery cells and volt cells.

I have been thinking of just winning a copart auction so I hopefully would get the harness and charger. (price isn't much different than just the battery)

But I still wonder, does the nissan leaf battery allow you to bench charge, or put another way, how much of the car has to be left to make the charger and BMS function?

I am thinking either of my EVs would love a nissan leaf battery in tow but I figure that I would just light the pack aflame if I don't have the proprietary BMS and charger in tow.

Any of the wreckers here try bench charging a leaf battery? I am very temped to buy one but I don't want a big boat anchor.

I also thought maybe another way about this would be to get a leaf and develop some method of integrating the pack so you can flip between packs to charge and keep the car unaware of the addition 22kw's in the hidden trunk area. That way the stock BMS, charger, etc could be used and 120+ miles would be possible.

These would also be amazing for home power applications, lets hope they continue to ramp up and sell more and more leafs so bottom feeders like me can pick off used batteries

Ah well. Anyone want to pick up a spare battery and runs some tests for me? You need around $5k to get a whole one, whether the car comes with it or not

I'd love to have a single Leaf module just as a showpiece if it wasn't too expensive.

Can you share these battery sources with us? Have you dealt with any of them?

adric22 said:

I'd love to have a single Leaf module just as a showpiece if it wasn't too expensive.

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Last week someone else said there were some modules listed on ebay. I have no idea if these are legit or not. Buyer beware.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Prismatic-PHEV-EV-HV-Battery-LiMn2O4-LiFePO4-20-30-60-AH-A123-7-6V-NEW/261335659757?_trksid=p2045573.m2042&_trkparms=aid%3D111000%26algo%3DREC.CURRENT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D27%26meid%3D3928095080853641788%26pid%3D100033%26prg%3D1011%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D1%26sd%3D261335659757%26" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Stanton said:

Can you share these battery sources with us? Have you dealt with any of them?

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+1. OP seems to be ahead of the pack (pardon the pun). I didn't know there were any aftermarket suppliers, much less 3. Or are we talking about salvage?

I just found this on ebay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Prismatic-PHEV-EV-HV-Battery-LiMn2O4-LiFePO4-20-30-60-AH-A123-7-6V-NEW-/261335659757?pt=US_Rechargeable_Batteries&hash=item3cd8d1b4ed" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It is supposedly a brand-new Nissan Leaf module, for $125. This seller claims to have a bunch of them. Here's an interesting observation. If the Leaf uses 48 such cells then the price of a new battery pack would be $125*48 = $6,000. So anyone just dying to buy a new Leaf battery, there you go.

Maybe they fell off a truck? :lol:

adric22 said:

I just found this on ebay:

http://www.mamamia.com.au/social/vaccination-growing-up-unvaccinated/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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You may want to fix this adric22. I don't know what vaccinations (or lack therof) have to do with LEAF battery modules

z0ner said:

You may want to fix this adric22. I don't know what vaccinations (or lack therof) have to do with LEAF battery modules

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Sorry. Not sure how that happened. Turns out my ebay link was the same as KJD posted right around the same time.

All details are from here where I first posted in the other thread related to "aftermarket" batteries 3 weeks ago:

drees said:

Looks like you can buy used modules (58 Ah measured on 4.2V-2.8V discharge at 20A) for $109/ea or new modules for $125/ea. Half a pack available for $2,160 / $2,450 respectively, or $4,320 / $4,900 for a full pack respectively.

On eBay from seller hybrid.parts:
http://r.ebay.com/ZLyOFx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - The new modules
http://r.ebay.com/11mgc7" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - The used modules

Their web site:
http://hybridautocenter.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Looks like they're in Vegas. Hope they're storing those cells in an air conditioned space and at nominal voltage!

It appears that they are pulling the used modules from salvaged cars. I'm _very_ curious as to where they are getting the new modules from. They claim to be able to get both MY'11-12 and MY'13 style modules.

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Let's hope it's not midnight auto supply... :?

Sorta curious as to the LiPo cells used in the Hyundai Hybrid. Those individual cells could be VERY interesting.

I'm sure as soon as you replace one module Nissan will void the warranty on the rest. Although after 100K miles I'd look into using them as well!

I said it before, I'm sure that in 7 to 10 years you'll be able to pull into a PepBoys and for $1295.00 they'll replace the entire battery pack. Labor included.

So you can buy battery modules/packs from a third party, but these were still produced by AESC/Nissan? (ie all the modules come from the same factories)

The interesting question (to me anyway) is at what point is the population of modules large enough that someone else would crank up a production line to manufacture clones, and is there a meal to be had there?

What is there now, 100k LEAFs on the road worldwide? That's about 5 million modules that someday will need replacing, and the number is growing.

I am not sure of the OP's intentions but I would assume a homebrew project of some kind. We are now reaching the point where some Leafs are certainly going to be modified and put into the anything goes category. IMHO this is a VERY good thing and I hope they come up with some very cool stuff. Hobbyist have been burning down their houses for years playing with LiPo, but I have heard of nothing from Sonata Hybrids.

Hyundai believes that all Li-Ion tech will eventually evolve into it's Li-Po subgroup in the end. The 2013 Sonata specs are sorta interesting. 75mph in EV mode, 35 kW electric motor, 47 kW lithium polymer battery pack. There might be a homebrew configuration using a couple totaled Sonatas for one very quick Leaf.

Read more: http://blogs.automotive.com/2013-hyundai-sonata-hybrid-has-larger-battery-200-cheaper-128699.html#ixzz2peSnmwmU" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

LTLFTcomposite said:

The interesting question (to me anyway) is at what point is the population of modules large enough that someone else would crank up a production line to manufacture clones

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^This as well!

I'm sure somewhere in China this is already in the works.

TRONZ said:

LTLFTcomposite said:

The interesting question (to me anyway) is at what point is the population of modules large enough that someone else would crank up a production line to manufacture clones

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^This as well!

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LTLFTcomposite said:

The interesting question (to me anyway) is at what point is the population of modules large enough that someone else would crank up a production line to manufacture clones

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My guess is never. Look at Toyota. You still cannot get aftermarket prismatic modules for a Prius from anyone but Toyota. Granted, patent issues may be a problem there that might not exist in the Li-Ion space. But I suspect there is simply not enough market demand and even if there were, Toyota can produce them more cheaply than any competitor simply due to the volume that they are making.

adric22 said:

My guess is never. Look at Toyota. You still cannot get aftermarket prismatic modules for a Prius from anyone but Toyota. Granted, patent issues may be a problem there that might not exist in the Li-Ion space. But I suspect there is simply not enough market demand and even if there were, Toyota can produce them more cheaply than any competitor simply due to the volume that they are making.

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You may be right, for all the grousing about not knowing the price of a replacement LEAF pack, you can probably count on one hand the number of people who would have actually bought one had they been available. Although people may be less inclined to replace a Prius battery, as long as the car is running people will just keep driving as the car ages, more of an all-or-nothing thing, where the LEAF on the other hand is impaired by its capacity loss.

Forget batteries. Where are the cheap EVSEs ?