# Nissan Leaf Drivetrain 2nd Gen



## jackbauer (Jan 12, 2008)

Very interesting. Is this an open source project?


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## puttegrafisk (Sep 30, 2018)

I must say that i'm also quite interested in weather this is open source or not. Having a list of the Can-messages would be extremly helpful for my upcoming first-time conversion project.


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## CanadaLT28 (Oct 15, 2011)

I too am very interested.


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## keep (Nov 16, 2016)

Hi guys,

sorry for the late reply but the project was part of my master thesis and it took some time so finish everything. 
But nevertheless I build a prototype ECU to control the Nissan Leaf inverter and motor via CAN-BUS. In addition, the inverter had to be customized so that it is closed and has appropriate HV-connectors. At the moment the whole unit is installed into my Classic MINI electric car for real world testing debugging and it performs really well. 
At the moment I’m not sure if I will make it open source. The inverter needs some serious machining to make it usable in another car, so its not a plug-and-play thing.
Unfortunately, I didn’t take pictures of the Drivetrain outside of the car but here are some pictures of the drivetrain installed in my Classic MINI (the drivetrain is under the charger but I will take more next week if you are interested):






































And two short videos of the drivetrain on the testbench and working in the MINI (sorry for bad quality again but I will do better quality nexttime):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8UVol4CxRw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2Tz6eZ74PU


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## CanadaLT28 (Oct 15, 2011)

Looks nice. Given the tight physical size of the mini, I can see why you ditched the Nissan charger. I was going to go the Chevy Volt batteries route and may still make a secondary pack but now have a Leaf pack. What batteries are you using? 



Other than physical size, what at the advantages of doing the custom inverter over the old one?



More importantly, what did you use to mate to the motor spline?


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## Tony Bogs (Apr 12, 2014)

Definitely interesting. Thesis online? 



If you decide to go open source, you may lose control of the project with your name at the bottom of the list of contributors.


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## brian_ (Feb 7, 2017)

keep said:


> In addition, the inverter had to be customized so that it is closed and has appropriate HV-connectors.
> ...
> The inverter needs some serious machining to make it usable in another car, so its not a plug-and-play thing.


I can see some work on the housing being required to operate without the charger mounted on top, but in other cars the charger could be retained. If the charger is kept, there would be no customization of the inverter, right?


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## brian_ (Feb 7, 2017)

You're using the Leaf inverter and motor, but are you also using the Leaf transaxle (reduction gearing and differential)?


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## boznz (Aug 22, 2018)

I too would be keen on more information on this project

The workshop you have looks pretty amazing, I cannot wait to break my BMW and leaf apart and do some serious work like this, its taking all my will power not to start ripping it apart in the driveway.


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## keep (Nov 16, 2016)

Nice to hear that there is so much interest in my project. 
To answer a few questions first:

1. my thesis is not public and also written in german 

2. The inverter would not have to be modified, if the charger would be used further. But I have not reverse-enginnered it, because for many vehicles the height would not be enough. That's why I didn't see any sense in it at first. But I will soon build a second powertrain with a Nissan Leaf powertrain for a second project, then I can make some more pictures for the modifications. 

3. I use the engine with the original gearbox and I have custom made drive shafts. 

4. As traction battery I use Nissan leaf modules. 

Here are some photos from below and from the batteries in the trunk:


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## Duncan (Dec 8, 2008)

Superb!
A beautiful job


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## Tony Bogs (Apr 12, 2014)

Looks very good. Great conversion.
German is OK. I can read it. Und schreiben auch, aber nicht alle Woerte kommen gleich wenn ich sie brauche. Limited vocabulary. Can we at least know the title and subject of the thesis?


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## keep (Nov 16, 2016)

Thanks!Some more interesting features are coming soon.

The english title of the thesis is: 

Investigation of a commercial drive train for
electric vehicles and implementation of control algorithms
unsing universally applicable hardware and software


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## CanadaLT28 (Oct 15, 2011)

That is a nice tight conversion. I like trying to translate German too and luckily have German speakers around as well so if you have a link in German it would be better. I'm not finding it with the English translation.


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## jackbauer (Jan 12, 2008)

May I ask your reasons for not making this design open source?


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## Boxster-warp (Jun 22, 2014)

Hello from Germany
Nice ev conversion.
Greetings Boxster-warp


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## mainfuse (Jun 9, 2016)

Hi, We have a similar project using a geo metro and our own vcu. Great to see others are doing this too! Our vcu has user programmable features so you can adjust to your own needs. see here https://www.thunderstruck-ev.com/dilithium-vcu.html
thanks Brian


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## electro wrks (Mar 5, 2012)

mainfuse said:


> Hi, We have a similar project using a geo metro and our own vcu. Great to see others are doing this too! Our vcu has user programmable features so you can adjust to your own needs. see here https://www.thunderstruck-ev.com/dilithium-vcu.html
> thanks Brian



Looks like a great product. If it could control the charger(s), AC, and the DC to DC (anything else?) on the Leaf components , it would be even better for DIY and commercial conversions.


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## CanadaLT28 (Oct 15, 2011)

electro wrks said:


> Looks like a great product. If it could control the charger(s), AC, and the DC to DC (anything else?) on the Leaf components , it would be even better for DIY and commercial conversions.



I just bought one of Pauls controllers for the Leaf but I'm still not sure what it controls and what it does not control. I don't know if this is more comprehensive or not.


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## zippy500 (Apr 3, 2017)

CanadaLT28 said:


> I just bought one of Pauls controllers for the Leaf but I'm still not sure what it controls and what it does not control. I don't know if this is more comprehensive or not.



which board did you buy the drop in ?


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## CanadaLT28 (Oct 15, 2011)

zippy500 said:


> which board did you buy the drop in ?



Yes, the $329 one. Bit sparce on info.


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## zippy500 (Apr 3, 2017)

i currently have one, got it working briefly, cant get it to run again, hoping Paul can help.


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## CanadaLT28 (Oct 15, 2011)

zippy500 said:


> i currently have one, got it working briefly, cant get it to run again, hoping Paul can help.



Did you do anything questionable, LOL. I'm sure I will although I hope not


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## zippy500 (Apr 3, 2017)

its only setting numbers, you have to get the correct offset angle, which im having probs with.

I did buy one off thunderstruck units it didn't work for me, it doesn't control charger or dc/dc it just 2 wire can bus control to invertor.

In a effort to do something on a budget its costing a small fortune now. in hindsight,wish i just saved for the netgain hyper 9 now


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## CanadaLT28 (Oct 15, 2011)

zippy500 said:


> its only setting numbers, you have to get the correct offset angle, which im having probs with.


Is this something that Paul can do before he sends one to me or does it have to be done whilst in the car? I know you are in the UK so it's kind of hard for you to send it back and forth to get fixed.


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## zippy500 (Apr 3, 2017)

CanadaLT28 said:


> Is this something that Paul can do before he sends one to me or does it have to be done whilst in the car?


Its something that you have to do after you have fitted the card and powered up


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## supersonett (Dec 17, 2018)

Zippy 500 , did you try the Thunder struck Can box and never got it to work or did you choose to not use it since it only control the inverter ?


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## zippy500 (Apr 3, 2017)

supersonett said:


> Zippy 500 , did you try the Thunder struck Can box and never got it to work or did you choose to not use it since it only control the inverter ?


I could not get it too run, I have since found out that my inverter was faulty, the IGBTs on the OEM board where physically broken.

The guys at Thunderstruck where very helpful, they even suggested that the inverter was faulty, I was not prepared to spend anther 500 $ on a inverter that may or may not work

Very easy to connect and a good simple interface to adjust commands,

I really hoped it worked for me good solution.

Your next best option is to get one of Pauls affordable drop in boards.

I bought one on Pauls orginal AC control boards a while ago, I have only just finised it and got the motor running now.

check my video link

https://youtu.be/MZWjKcrGcgo


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## supersonett (Dec 17, 2018)

zippy500 said:


> I could not get it too run, I have since found out that my inverter was faulty, the IGBTs on the OEM board where physically broken.
> 
> The guys at Thunderstruck where very helpful, they even suggested that the inverter was faulty, I was not prepared to spend anther 500 $ on a inverter that may or may not work
> 
> ...


Hi , i will definitely try to use the original Inverter , mostly for saving time . The main reason i asked is that my next decision will be --> home made aurdino or the thunder box. ( even more time saving i hope ) 

Still have not really found that many that got this running yet ( google based) , maybe to new


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## supersonett (Dec 17, 2018)

zippy500 said:


> I could not get it too run, I have since found out that my inverter was faulty, the IGBTs on the OEM board where physically broken.
> 
> The guys at Thunderstruck where very helpful, they even suggested that the inverter was faulty, I was not prepared to spend anther 500 $ on a inverter that may or may not work
> 
> ...



Hi, i will definitely run the original inverter , mostly because i think i save time ? ? but maybe step two would be a board for more options 

Have there been any numbers of cars built yet with this kit, google do not find that much.



Nice movie


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## Nuts&Volts (Dec 20, 2011)

Wasn’t sure where else to ask this, but anyone know what the connector is for the resolver plug on the motor? I sold the harness that came with my motor and need to try to get something that mates up

It’s in the bottom of this picture 













Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Tremelune (Dec 8, 2009)

I'm very interested in converting a classic Mini, but it looked like it would be too hard for me to do until I found your example. Great work, prost!

How is this Mini Leaf to drive in the real world?

How much did you have to modify the original chassis?

Do you have specs or measurements for the custom motor mount / subframe and axles?

What's the final battery configuration?

Any other challenges/surprises you encountered?

Any more info would be greatly appreciated!


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## brian_ (Feb 7, 2017)

Tremelune said:


> How much did you have to modify the original chassis?


It obviously has a nicely built fully custom subframe (all the unpainted steel fabrication in the photos), which makes sense to me, but it also appears to have custom lower control arms... I'm curious about the reason for this.


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## CanadaLT28 (Oct 15, 2011)

supersonett said:


> Hi, i will definitely run the original inverter , mostly because i think i save time ? ? but maybe step two would be a board for more options
> 
> Have there been any numbers of cars built yet with this kit, google do not find that much.
> 
> ...



I am doing a double leaf motor/inverter truck build. It is using Pauls boards, Volt packs (yes more than one) and as yet, I haven't found a way to monitor and charge the batteries. DC-DC is not difficult.


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## Tremelune (Dec 8, 2009)

I managed to get in touch with this builder (ESDI EV Technologies). I've been following them on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/esdi_ev_technologies/

The subframe is from KJB Technologies in the UK which has been modified to attach the Leaf motor.

I'm told the car will do 110kph (70mph) with a range of around 100km (60mi) with good torque. The photos here indicate 17 Leaf modules, which would be ~128V nominal.


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## brian_ (Feb 7, 2017)

Tremelune said:


> I managed to get in touch with this builder (ESDI EV Technologies). I've been following them on Instagram:
> 
> https://www.instagram.com/esdi_ev_technologies/
> 
> The subframe is from KJB Technologies in the UK which has been modified to attach the Leaf motor.


Interesting, because one of their photos including the subframe tags allspeedengineering, which would be All Speed Engineering Ltd, which makes subframes. In fine Instagram tradition, the posts are full of irrelevant tags, including for instance "teslabattery", but in an attempt to find the photo with that tag again I found one with this comment:


> *esdi_ev_technologies*
> First try to fit the #Nissan #Leaf drivetrain into the front frame from #allspeedengineering


I didn't find KJB Technologies in a web search, but I didn't look for long.

Anyway, clearly the easiest way to get a Leaf or other similar EV drive unit into a classic Mini is to buy the conversion subframe which fits it most closely, and modify that. There appear to be multiple subframe suppliers.



Tremelune said:


> The photos here indicate 17 Leaf modules, which would be ~128V nominal.


I ran out of patience for scrolling through random photos; however, the Instagram photos show a long stack in the trunk labelled as the "battery compartment", but also frames for Leaf modules to be stacked on the interior floor in place of the rear seat. The photos in this thread show only the long (17 module) stack across the trunk. Do we know if only the trunk stack was used?


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## Tremelune (Dec 8, 2009)

Interesting! Maybe there are more batteries than I'm accounting for? I'm just piecing things together in a similar way. It's hard to get much information from private messages on Instagram...

Edit: Yep, it seems they're running 29 modules for around 220V, limited to 70% torque (either by batteries or the custom controller, I don't know).


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## keep (Nov 16, 2016)

Hi there!

Sorry guys I haven’t been following this forum post for the last couple of months. 

Just to answer some questions:

Yes, we are running 29 Nissan Leaf battery modules. 17 in the back and another 12 under the back seats. 

The torque was limited at that time because we are afraid of killing the driveshafts and then other projects needed to be done and so we didn’t do final testing with max torque at that time. But we are working on the Mini now and installing our new Nissan Leaf ECU kit. I can give you updates next week or the week after whne the Mini is running again. ;-)

We have also done some other changes to the Mini hardware wise and I will post some pictures if anybody is interested.


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## Tremelune (Dec 8, 2009)

I think it's safe to say we're very interested! I'm about to start fitting batteries in my car and getting the subframe sorted.

How's the weight distribution with all those batteries in the back? From what I've read, Minis don't like to be heavier in the rear than the front.


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## CanadaLT28 (Oct 15, 2011)

keep said:


> Hi there!
> 
> Sorry guys I haven’t been following this forum post for the last couple of months.
> 
> ...


Keep, do you have any updates on your VCU?


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## scottherrington (Jul 3, 2020)

keep said:


> Hi there!
> 
> Sorry guys I haven’t been following this forum post for the last couple of months.
> 
> ...


Hi
Did you have to upgrade the rear suspension and strengthen the rear mounts/inner arches?
Cheers
Scott

Sent from my moto g(8) power lite using Tapatalk


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