Quote:
Originally Posted by Isaac Zackary
That would be great in an inhabited part of the country! But out here there aren't too many towns, let alone businesses. On some barren roads there may be a gasoline station or two. They'd be about my only hope. On PlugShare I think there's only one place to plug in through all of South Park, and if I remember right it's a 120V outlet. With what's on Plugshare I might make it from here to Denver on a few charges along the way, but the distances between some of them would be pushing the limits of the Leaf's range.
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I guess you're really pushing the Leaf in that part of the country, can you share the route on plugwise with us?
Hopefully these will be more common along the road in the future:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Isaac Zackary
If I did do a trailer of some sort it could be used for just those last few miles where the Leaf didn't make it. Then charge up from the next Level 2 and keep going. It would turn a 4 hour drive into a 12-16 hour drive, depending on how many charges I end up needing.
Solar really has me intrigued. Also an extended range battery. I do think I'd rather weigh the pros and cons of keeping it all-electric before resorting to combustion. I've thought about plastering my whole roof in solar cells and then charging the 12V system off of it. And then charge a separate 12V battery that then, when at a certain voltage, could charge my traction battery when I'm parked via a 120V inverter and a dissected EVSE. It probably wouldn't help a lot, but I could get a few kW hours out of it. The problem is keeping it streamlined and not affect the aerodynamic shape of the Leaf.
A solar trailer or even solar panels made to fit in the trunk are also on my investigation menu. If I could make something that produces around to 6.6kW in direct sunlight I could have my own portable charging station. There would be several technical difficulties with such a design, but definitely possible.
Sadly no. I've had family members almost kill themselves with their homemade trailers. Here in Colorado anyone can go in and ask for a VIN plate and a license plate for their trailer and go. No inspection.
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Instead of a push trailer, why not go for a small DC generator? Combined with a ChaDeMo plug you should be able to charge really rapid, depending on the output of your generator. Think about 20-30kW?
On the idea of a solar roof, you can do it you'll need flexible solar panels and a really precise installation not to screw up the aerodynamics of the car.
I've had some interaction with a
solar boat and it can be done, but those panels are not cheap.
If I guestimate a bit you should be able to cram about 300-400Wp on the roof of a leaf, so you're looking at about 1kWh produced a day averaged out yearly. So while it is fun to receive charge from your roof the ROI isn't working with you.
Of course it would still be a nice gadget to play with
