Wait... Nissan LEAF Battery Replacement Just Went OPEN SOURCE!?

The Nissan LEAF has been produced and sold in significant number for nearly fourteen years - and while the majority of those cars are some still happily rolling on their original, healthy battery packs many years later, others are in need of replacement packs.

To date, that process has either involved paying a Nissan Dealer a small fortune to have the battery pack replaced with an identical-spec one to that fitted in the car when new; or paying a specialist to replace the battery pack with a newer one from a salvage LEAF.

That latter process has relied on reverse-engineering of the Nissan LEAF's CAN bus and developing a hardware and software solution that allows older LEAFs to happily work with more modern LEAF packs. And that reverse-engineering is reflected In the costs associated with asking a specialist to replace the battery pack.

But now Daniel (Dala) of Dala's EV Repair in Finland has announced that he's open-sourcing the technique he's used to successfully upgrade customer's LEAFs to larger, newer packs.

Here's why that's a MASSIVE deal, and could dramatically lower the cost of LEAF battery replacements.

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00:00 - Introduction
02:21 - What we're covering
02:53 - The LEAF's biggest flaw
03:17 - A refresher on acive vs passive thermal management
05:11 - Why so many LEAFs need battery replacement
06:21 - Nissan LEAF battery upgrade options
07:20 - The Cottage industry in LEAF battery replacements
09:12 - Going Open Source
10:20 - Why Dala's opening up the information
10:59 - Support Dala
11:27 - Acknowledging the risks
13:13 - Why this is such a big deal
15:13 - Thanks, and Goodbye!
17:00 - (Not) A Classic Mac Segment

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Script: Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield, Kate Walton-Elliott
Presenter: Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield
Editor, Colorist: Michael Horton
Art and Animation: Erin Carlie
Producer: Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield
© Transport Evolved LLC, 2023

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[graememudie]

This should be a requirement of all EV manufacturers. Upgrade battery capabilities must be made compulsory.

[DalasEVRepair]

Thank you so much Nikki for featuring the LEAF upgrade efforts 🙏 CCS next! 😎

[slavric]

I have Leaf 2016, 30kWh, 250.000km and the battery has about 60% SOH. That would be fine, if it would be useful in winter. So I asked our official Nissan dealer for replacement. He politely told me to scrap the car and buy a new one, since the battery cost is in range of 30.000€. Yes, not a typo. So, if this is green, then I'm a hippo.
Dala is such a nice guy, his work will help many, maybe even me. Thank you for this informational video.

[peterkn]

I do believe the most likely way to keep our oldest EVs on the road will be third party battery packs. The vehicle manufacturers likely won't find it as profitable to update their battery packs, similar to how our cellphones are nowadays. Hopefully, manufacturers will always make their battery packs removable, unlike our modern cellphones.

[rp]

We need more of this to keep reusing before recycling. We need more battery replacement options for more makes before they end up in recycling.

[Mattstech]

Yep, Dala is awesome! It's definitely not an easy decision to take a _lot_ of work and make it open source when he could be making some money off it. But this is definitely great news for Leaf owners of current and future time.

[kennethsimbapuppyeyes]

Wow thanks for sharing. Have a 2023 and totally could do this kind of work just knowledge is power thanks my frewn

[AlanTov]

Nice video. Whenever I see an old Leaf it brings a smile to my face.
And anyone who went with one before EV’s took off deserves full credit.

[phredqwatson]

Nikki, Champion of EVs for the common folk!
Thanks for your vigilance on this.

[juancarrera]

Woot! Dala’s channel is super cool! This seems like a fun thing to do. I hope this goes well for him. I look forward to his whole pack usage as stationary storage.

[casey]

I bought s 2015 Leaf with a new traction battery, ive had it a week and ive already started planning battery and inverter upgrades. It helps that ive been buildong c-max packs for aftermarket equipment for several years and own all the fun special tools like osciliscopes, hydraulic crimping machine, TIG welder, ect. Actually, i have a 12' x 8' enclosed trailer stocked with tools for this stuff.

[partasuhari]

Dala is doing a great job and has earned my patreon support. Good news for the Leaf community

[eamonstack]

Most Leaf owners cannot do swaps themselves. Our social enterprise (nonprofit) offer this service to Leaf owners, in Ireland. The owners purchase the used battery pack themselves and we install using LeafSpy battery matching and Muxsan CAN-bridge. Next: an amazing Dala project offers "plug and play" integration of the old Leaf pack in a solar installations. Brilliant.

[joshuaknight]

I had a 30 put in my 2011 Leaf by Cleevely during lockdown. So far, so good. The CAN bridge came from Muxsan. Dala has always responded to my emails and is super helpful. He’s also boosted his leaf power up to 200kW.

[anthonyc]

I'd love to see another visit to the LEAF shop in PDX and the work they're doing on refurbishing old LEAFs for new owners. Especially when it comes to 2011-2012 cars with the flawed onboard chargers.

[MarkLLawrence]

I would love to upgrade my 2012 Leaf with a newer battery and for good measure, replace the CHAdeMO charge port with NACS.

[melissamybubbles]

I'm glad Dala is doing what he's doing. Personally, I'd be way too afraid to mess with electricity, but some people would be competent to do this kind of work.

[benjaminnead]

Excellent video, Nikki. I've been following Dala's YouTube channel for awhile. He's also put out a few videos on Mitsubishi i-MiEV (Citroen CZero & Peugeot iOn in Europe) repairs and upgrades, which hits home for me keeping those running, as my example celebrates its 11th birthday this summer. Let's keep these older EVs functional and viable options for used car buyers on a budget for as long as we can.

[whitlockbr]

Imagine putting a 10th generation solid state battery in a leaf!! that would be epic! it would get the range of a Model 3 at least!

[thejinn]

That is really cool. Open source? I love all things open source, that is just too awesome. Honestly, and I say this with my bias as a gamer, but if you have something that is open source or easily modded, you'll have a community of enthusiasts who can keep something alive.