[ArizonaJon]

Review of the new Leaf with extended range. I enjoyed some of the comments - ie The Leaf shifter annoys some journalists, the same ones who still don’t like push-button start. The evaluation seems to be well balanced. Looking forward to others interpretation.

https://www.extremetech.com/extreme...ail&utm_campaign=whatsnewnow&utm_medium=title

 

[The Other Tom]

Well, at least they've tried to something to fix the uncooled battery:

"there are now three packs wired in parallel rather than two in series, meaning lower voltage flowing across the battery interconnects and less demand on each cell in the battery packs. "

Time will tell

 

[discodanman45]

Knowing how active battery management systems protect against degradation, you would have to be an idiot to choose a Leaf with passive cooling. It is a stupid decision by Nissan and they are still going to have more degradation than every EV sold in the US. Battery degradation doesn't exist for the Tesla or Bolt, I wonder what they are doing different... Insert sarcastic grin here.

 

[Jeff N]

Well, at least they've tried to something to fix the uncooled battery:

"there are now three packs wired in parallel rather than two in series, meaning lower voltage flowing across the battery interconnects and less demand on each cell in the battery packs. "

Not true. The old and new packs have the same number of cells in series so the voltages on the battery interconnects are the same. The current does get spread across 50% more cells so there is less stress on each cell but during DC charging and hard acceleration the new pack can have greater current flow going through it than was allowed on the older pack.

There are other factors involved as well but it isn’t at all obvious that the new pack will have fewer heat dissipation issues.

 

[NewsCoulomb]

There are other factors involved as well but it isn’t at all obvious that the new pack will have fewer heat dissipation issues.

The two biggest factors I can see favoring the new pack are the lower C discharge rates when driving at higher speeds and the larger mass of the battery. Still, by the time I am done with the first 200-mile leg of my longer trips, my Bolt EV's battery is typically pushing 95 F. I could easily see the battery temperature at the first charging stop in a Leaf Plus being over 100 F, and after the DCFC session, it would probably be pushing 110 F.

At that point, the larger battery mass will come back to bite the LEAF Plus, as it will take more time to dissipate the heat.