# Leaf Battery Modules



## timk225 (Sep 19, 2014)

Well, that sounds pretty interesting, and it sure would be easier to build a battery pack out of those than to take apart and test and get 4000 reasonably good laptop batteries, but a 30 KW pack of those cells would cost around $7500.

As opposed to my idea of a laptop battery pack being 40 in series, 100 parallel for 150 volts @ 200 amps for 30 Kilowatts. 4000 cells..... Damn.


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## onegreenev (May 18, 2012)

I have two packs worth. Looks like my source dried up and is no longer available. I have 5 bad modules which I will need to replace but the rest are great. I will be using them in my next conversion.


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## Sunking (Aug 10, 2009)

timk225 said:


> Well, that sounds pretty interesting, and it sure would be easier to build a battery pack out of those than to take apart and test and get 4000 reasonably good laptop batteries, but a 30 KW pack of those cells would cost around $7500.
> 
> As opposed to my idea of a laptop battery pack being 40 in series, 100 parallel for 150 volts @ 200 amps for 30 Kilowatts. 4000 cells..... Damn.


OK then just buy to whole Leaf replacement battery for $5500 for 24 Kwh works out to 23-cents per watt hour. There are some high end FLA like Rolls that cost that much. No Laptop battery is that cheap. The closest LFP I can find that cheap is around 29 to 30-cents per wh. 23 is pretty significant difference.


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## ga2500ev (Apr 20, 2008)

Sunking said:


> Anyone using them?
> 
> Right now a Leaf Module is selling for around $118. A module is 2S 7.2 V @ 66 AH. That is dirt cheap at $0.2484/wh. Cheapest Calb 60 AH cell you can buy is $60 per unit which comes to $0.3125/wh or a 17% difference. A Calb 100 AH cost $0.3437/wh at $110 a pop or 25% difference in price.
> 
> Any of you jumping all over that?


Shipping changes that a bit. For a single module, the shipping is $55 USD. The 4 module battery subpack ships for $75. 

Also note that the nominal Ahr capacity is 60 Ahr, not 66.

In the end you can get 1824 Whr for $555 for a total cost of a shade over $0.30 a Whr.

The huge win over the Calb is both the pulse and continuous current draw from the Leaf modules. 9C pulse is no problem and 3C continuous is doable.

ga2500ev


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## rochesterricer (Jan 5, 2011)

Sunking said:


> OK then just buy to whole Leaf replacement battery for $5500 for 24 Kwh works out to 23-cents per watt hour.


That price from Nissan requires trade in of your current Leaf battery. Although the prices from Hybrid Auto Center don't appear to be too far off from that anyway.


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## rmay635703 (Oct 23, 2008)

rochesterricer said:


> That price from Nissan requires trade in of your current Leaf battery. Although the prices from Hybrid Auto Center don't appear to be too far off from that anyway.


Their cost per pack has gone up significantly since the last batch (supply/demand I suppose) 

Right out of the salvage yard (where these come from) the whole pack can be had for $2000 to $3000 with a handfull of outliers in the sub $1000 area for one reason or another, sadly they move quickly enough that they usually don't make it to car-part or similar.

Ah well.

Cheers
Ryan


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## pgt400 (Jul 12, 2008)

Wow...where can you buy 60AH Calbs for $60 ? Lowest Ive been quoted is $75-78 each.



Sunking said:


> Anyone using them?
> 
> Right now a Leaf Module is selling for around $118. A module is 2S 7.2 V @ 66 AH. That is dirt cheap at $0.2484/wh. Cheapest Calb 60 AH cell you can buy is $60 per unit which comes to $0.3125/wh or a 17% difference. A Calb 100 AH cost $0.3437/wh at $110 a pop or 25% difference in price.
> 
> Any of you jumping all over that?


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## dcb (Dec 5, 2009)

well the best part about the leaf modules is the voltage, i.e. if your current demands aren't too high (i.e. motorcycle) you can get 15 volts nominal out of 1 module @ 33ah. The "cheapest" cell at evtv is 59.00, 40ah, which is $276 for 15 volts worth, and almost twice the weight. Though number of cycles is probably better. 

I just got all my leaf cells on order for the bike.


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## Hollie Maea (Dec 9, 2009)

dcb said:


> Though number of cycles is probably better.



You won't ever match LiFePO4 cycle life with these batteries, but I'll bet you could do much better by liquid cooling them. These cells are unusually sensitive to heat induced side reactions. Nissan's decision to use these cells without temperature management was a big mistake.

Interestingly enough, if you can keep the heat down, it's actually better for cycle life to charge (and discharge) at faster rates. That's why Tesla doesn't limit or penalize supercharger usage.


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## dcb (Dec 5, 2009)

thx for the tip, I will definitely sprinkle the stack with thermistors for starters, and see if I can come up with some cooling as needed.


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## Boulder Hybrids (Jan 30, 2013)

Hollie Maea said:


> You won't ever match LiFePO4 cycle life with these batteries, but I'll bet you could do much better by liquid cooling them. These cells are unusually sensitive to heat induced side reactions. Nissan's decision to use these cells without temperature management was a big mistake.


The Nissan batteries are much better than any Chinese LiFEPO4 that I've seen. While most LiFEPO4 vendors claim 1500+ cycles, it's hard to get most of these cells to match "their vendors spec sheet". I just disposed of/recycled hundreds of worn out GBS, Thundersky, Mottcell, and RealForce cells and even a few CALBs (although CALBs seem to be the best of the Chinese cells). None were more than 3 years old.

Nissan warranties their cells for 8 years when used in a Leaf. That's pretty impressive.


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