I really push the limits of what the little leaf is capable of.
Winter pushes the limits of the leaf.
So in winter the poor little leaf gets a double beat down, the cold weakened battery gets to power the resistance heater.
What I need for winter is a good heater that works and causes little to no range loss. You know all the advantages of an electric vehicle with less of the draw backs.
My options are get a 2013 or newer. Meh, by the time I sell this one and get a 13 it would cost at least $3,000.
Put in a bigger battery. If I keep this car it's going to happen at some point, no point in doing it early and the supply of used 40kwh packs hasn't materialized yet.
So the 3rd option is to put in a diesel fired air or coolant heater.
The air heater would go in the back and blow air forward. The diesel fired coolant heater would tie into the heater coolant loop and work with the existing heater and blower.
Hopefully I can score one of these heaters this summer, when no one wants them for cheap. Hopefully a German made Eberspacher, none of that chicom garbage, I don't want to set my car on fire.
I know some one will cry "this isn't fossil fuel free".
I look at it this way. Bio diesel could be used, if it didn't gel, so probably not, but it's plausible.
Using a little bit of diesel enables electric vehicles to give a less miserable, over all better, safer winter driving experience.
