Ah, you are referring to our Tame Racing Driver. Or in this case: his American cuosin (just quoting 
)
The LEAF 2 (2018) is greatly improved from the original. Currently the battery is 40Kwh, but next year it will get a 60 Kwh version, presumably with 50% more range.
See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLcL5SemC_M for a first-drive review, suggesting a real range of about 170 miles.
And a full test demonstrating how well the regeneration works (this channel is very good for all things EV): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=\_SEs9I9sptw
PS: the LEAF is also seat up for vehicle-grid charging similar to using it as a power wall, but cleverer.
Don’t forget Jaguar with the I-PACE, who have beaten the Germans to market with a real Tesla competitor.
Oops double post (deleted).
I meaned to second post https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MocHcoBm4bU
Where Jonny elaborates. Watch it through to the end.
My 2017 LEAF 30 is good for about 125miles in Summer and 100 in Winter. Here in North Wales “Summer” is about 65 degrees F and sunny on good days.
The current 2018 LEAF 40 is supposed to be around 160 summer miles and perhaps 140 in Winter. Nissan say a 60kWh version is on the way later this year.
Do you have any idea about what the Leafs battery is made up of?
Is it lithium 18650’s?
No it is not. Look here for the 2018 specs.
Ah, so the Leaf is using Lithium batteries in a thin pouch format with about half the energy density of an 18650 cell.
I think Tesla’s got the right idea partnering with Panasonic and using a more common, cylindrical cell with mucher higher energy density.
Agreed. Nobody (except Tesla with their Gigafactories) would use a great heap of 18650s. or 17500s, or whatever.
Rumour is that the Nissan 2019 cells (60 Kwh vs 40 Kwh) will use LG technology, and improved thermal management.
See my link to see how Jaguar are using heat pumps (actually the air-conditioning backwards) to keep the cells at ideal temperature.
Jaguar, Nissan, and all the German makers, have different ideas. Which will prevail. Not coming to a torch to you soon. And they know how to make desirable cars.
This would all have happened without Tesla, but they showed what could be done with extreme stuff. I don’t think they are ready for the mass-market, or mass manufacture.
You couldn’t be more wrong, in every respect. But time will tell.
What Tesla did was they over sized the power supply in oder to get a long live time of the battery pac. They said (that was before ludicrous mode), if you drive on the highway with full speed, you would discharge with only 1/4 C-rate!
One of their paradigm change was to put 4- to 8-times more batteries in the car as normal.
Edit: It’s a mad mad mad mad world. (correct quote).
Just today Airbus and BMW have stated their support of UK post Brexit. The unelected lot in Brussels want to punish us.
BMW make 1000 Minis per day here, and Airbus wings (and engines) are made here too.
And 15% of the F35 (mostly the clever bits).
As well as most Hondas, Nissans, Toyotas for the EU market. And of course Jaguar and LandRover. Plus the exotics, McLaren, Aston, Lotus, Morgan etc.
Never mind secret stuff like Galileo, and security sharing from e.g GCHQ/Mi5
Nose, face, spite, cutoff comes to mind.
Where will this end ?
It’s an interesting video, but I’m not really sure I’d want to buy their recycled cells they rescue from an auto-wrecker.
Perhaps with the Child-Catcher. Already happened 
.
More laughs and giggles, whilst making a point or two:
Just about everyone else use pouch cells assembled into prismatic modules.
Tesla are alone in using NCA 18650 / 21700 cells. Choosing NCA over NMC, more or less forced the rest of the design. Bad things happen if an NCA battery gets hot, so Tesla have to stick to a size that is easy to cool. Also they need packaging that will contain a single cell going into thermal runaway.
The only other production electric cars with NCA batteries are the ones with Tesla powertrains.
NMC batteries may not have the per-cell energy density of an NCA 18650 but can get by without liquid cooling loops. Some designs don’t need active cooling at all. This is a cost savings and and of the reasons why a LEAF is 1/4 the price of a Model S.
NMC energy density is improving. Nissan have gone from 24, to 30 and now 40kWh in the same form factor. 24 to 30 was partially better packaging. None of them have active cooling although maybe the 40 could use it.
The latest NMC 811 chemistry is close to or better than what Tesla / Panasonic are getting with NCA. At the same time it is far less likely to go into thermal runaway. This or NMC 622 might be what Nissan are going to use in the 60kWh LEAF due later this year.
LEAF 30kWh pack:
BMW i3 battery pack assembly.
I love watching those factory clips. Worker ergonomics is as important as efficiency in a German auto plant. Notice how the workers never bend below their waist.
Why not? The cells seem to be the most secure part of the whole vehicle. Secured like a safe literally. The car must have been totalled to not be worth fixing. But that box doesn’t have a scratch on it. Maybe it’s just me I don’t fear lithium batteries like the hype makes it out to be. I’ve had more bad experiences with nihm then lithium
The last year of the Obama Presidency saw close to $10 Billion committed for R&D on alternative energy. A goodly part of that was battery technology. I haven’t followed the current Energy dept but given the deficit rose last budget, I suspect that spending is continuing. Certainly privaate enterprise is spending on battery R&D. Everybody’s batteries 5 years from how will be much better.
Thanks for the Tesla tear down vid, good stuff. Given how much power must be in one of those battery packs, and the fact that folks will be messing with formerly wrecked cars with batteries in potentially bad condition, how long until the first fatality I wonder?
There is more than one kind of Lithium battery. The kind Tesla in cars use can catch fire if they get too hot.
The car has multiple safety systems to stop this from happening. The raw cells have far less, if anything. There could be a thermal fuse but who knows if the older cells have that.
A single cell isn’t going to cause too much trouble, but I worry about home made PowerWalls and home built EVs using Tesla / Panasonic NCA cells. I’ve seen some DIY projects that appear to have no thermal management.
Even in the car, the batteries do occasionally (well very rarely) catch on fire. To be fair, fires in combustion engine cars are far more common but they don’t get press attention.
Tesla’s Powerwall use NMC cells,. Tesla say this is for improved cycle life but I wonder if it also because they want to reduce the risk of thermal runaway.