[technoev]

I saw a Fully Charged Show video on Cleevely and how they can fit a Muxsan range extender battery in the boot. I have a 2016 30kWh Leaf and was wondering how does the range extender work with regards to charging? From a simple user perspective, does it behave as if it was one big battery?

Hoping that I don't have to separately charge each battery or if the dash does some weird stuff like the SOC and range only takes into account the main battery.

When charging, does it charge both batteries in parallel or does it do them one after the other? Which battery charges first?

And with regards to the rapidgate issue on the 30kWh, will it improve the rapid charging ability, stay the same or make it worse?

 

[80698]

And with regards to the rapidgate issue on the 30kWh, will it improve the rapid charging ability, stay the same or make it worse?

The 30kWh has rapidgate? Mine certainly didn't! I could rapid charge 10 times in a day, have the battery temperature in the red zone and still be charging at full speed. The only time it would slow down is if the temperature gague was completely full - Acceleration, regen and charging rates would be limited a little. Likewise if it was exceptionally cold it would start off slow but then increase.

The rapid charge ability of that car was one of the best. It seemed to rapid charge at full speed to a pretty high SOC, and not be influenced by many external factors at all.

#RapidGate was only something that came to light upon the release of the 40kWh model, especially with the early examples having over-cautious software that would try to protect the battery by slowing down the charge speeds much earlier, as well as making multiple rapid charges in succession increasingly slow too. If you are experiencing this in your 30 then there may be a fault with your vehicle. The complaints about your car were always very much the opposite, that the battery was allowed to overheat and suffer from early and accelerated degradation.

 

[Simon..Hewison]

When charging, does it charge both batteries in parallel or does it do them one after the other? Which battery charges first?

And with regards to the rapidgate issue on the 30kWh, will it improve the rapid charging ability, stay the same or make it worse?

My understanding of it is that the extender charges and discharges at the same time as the main pack, and they do some man-in-the-middle tweaks between the main pack's charge controller and the car. From a user's perspective, you shouldn't need to worry about it. Not sure how it would show up on Leafspy, which might not be able to get battery voltage or temperatures from the extender pack.
If you can find a charger that puts out 50kW (many are 43kW but labelled as 50kW), then the current going into the main battery is reduced because some of that is going into the extender. Likewise, when you draw high current under accelation, the load on the main pack is less. As such, battery overheating is reduced, so if you regularly do roadtrips, then you'd notice that the battery temperature doesn't rise as fast. Because the battery temperature doesn't rise as fast, you can probably rapid charge more often before it starts to slow the charge rate due to the battery getting too hot.

 

[andrew*debbie]

@Mike Schooling had concerns and perhaps a warning about the Muxan extender. There was a thread some time ago. I don't recall the details.

Here is the thread --> Battery upgrades - A cause for concern

It was not specifically about Muxan but they are mentioned.

Muxan also responded in that thread -- I suggest you read it.

 

[technoev]

Sorry, bad use of the term rapid gate. I never really saw a huge slow down on my Leaf, it was more the escalating battery temp after 2 to 3 successive rapid charges.

 

[80698]

Sorry, bad use of the term rapid gate. I never really saw a huge slow down on my Leaf, it was more the escalating battery temp after 2 to 3 successive rapid charges.

In that sense I don't imagine anything would change by getting an extender fitted. You're simply adding more battery cells elsewhere in the car which will not really impact the main pack, and the extra should probably behave very similarly to what you have. Take into account that this will give you more range therefore less charge sessions to complete a longer journey so a little less heat to build up.

The LEAF Completely lacks any active thermal management of the battery pack so unlike most other EVs out there, heat will continue to build up and there isn't much you can do about it. Unless you're regularly doing super long journeys and rapid charging repeatedly, I would say the car is still up to the job. If it is a regular thing though, it may be better to consider a new, more capable EV rather than spending money on extending the range of your current one.

 

[dk6780]

I saw a Fully Charged Show video on Cleevely and how they can fit a Muxsan range extender battery in the boot. I have a 2016 30kWh Leaf and was wondering how does the range extender work with regards to charging? From a simple user perspective, does it behave as if it was one big battery?

Sort of - there is only a single connection to make using the normal AC or DC connection.

Hoping that I don't have to separately charge each battery or if the dash does some weird stuff like the SOC and range only takes into account the main battery.

The Muxsan software on the CANBridge takes account of all of that.

When charging, does it charge both batteries in parallel or does it do them one after the other? Which battery charges first?

The batteries have different characteristics but fundamentally charge at the same time as they are in parallel.

And with regards to the rapidgate issue on the 30kWh, will it improve the rapid charging ability, stay the same or make it worse?

As above #Rapidgate was a software control to limit the charging rate at higher battery temperatures on the 40kWh cars. The 30kWh just continues to overheat its battery .....

The additional battery capacity reduces the effective charge and discharge on the standard pack hence reducing the problem but not eliminating it.

Not sure how it would show up on Leafspy, which might not be able to get battery voltage or temperatures from the extender pack.

LEAFSpy has been tweaked to pick up the additional capacity, and the voltage is the same for the two packs as they are in parallel, but there is no access to the battery temperature for the additional pack via LEAFSpy.

 

[technoev]

@Mike Schooling had concerns and perhaps a warning about the Muxan extender. There was a thread some time ago. I don't recall the details.

Here is the thread --> Battery upgrades - A cause for concern

It was not specifically about Muxan but they are mentioned.

Muxan also responded in that thread -- I suggest you read it.

Thanks for that, I had a read and totally understand the concerns. I read Muxsan's reply and it seems like they're doing the responsible thing. I have no way of knowing for sure but the fact they took time to reply and explain things in detail is a good sign.

Having a look at Cleevely, they offer an ability to replace a 30kWh Leaf battery with the 62kWh. That'll be awesome.

 

[Hermit Dave]

The 30kWh has rapidgate? Mine certainly didn't! I could rapid charge 10 times in a day, have the battery temperature in the red zone and still be charging at full speed.

I’ve seen charge speed drop to 20kW when battery was on red. Under normal circumstances it charges from 15% to 97% in 30 mins but in the one instance it added 30% in over 45 mins

Next morning when it was cooler and battery managed to cool overnight it charged as usual


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[Hermit Dave]

The extender pack battery discharge curve is different to that of the main pack from what I’ve read (there’s a muxan video about it too)

Yes they charge in parallel and discharge in parallel. During discharging main pack discharge more initially and extender pack takes over as voltage drops


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