Building an Electric Car - EV Parts - Building an open source inverter logic board - Nissan Leaf

With the engine out of the Porsche, it is time to take a step back to looking at the inverter to control our Nissan Leaf motor. After a number of unsuccessful attempts to control the inverter using CAN messages, I have decided to switch my focus for the moment on to what would be stage 2 of the Nissan Leaf control, adding a new logic board to give us more control over the Nissan Leaf inverter and hopefully tune it to produce more power.
The board I have chosen is the "Open Inverter" logic board with a Nissan Leaf adaptor board. Full details of this open source inverter can be found here:
openinverter.org
And the boards are available to purchase through the shop.
There is also a community growing around these and associated boards built on the same architecture and software here.
openinverter.org/shop/
I have no association to this other than liking the design and simplicity of the product and I will let you all know how I get on with the boards in future videos.
openinverter.org/forum/
I haven't given up on the goal of controlling the inverter using CAN commands, however I know if I spent too much longer on it there was a risk that the project could stall as I end up focussing on that. I still want to be able to control the inverter this way, but I will pick that back up once I complete this build.
Music used in this video:
Rev - Eveningland ► • Rev - Eveningland | Ro...
Finding Me - Eveningland ► • Eveningland - Finding Me
We do builds and projects with electric motors and on electric vehicles, with a focus on electric car conversions. The automotive world is moving towards electric cars at a great pace, but a lot of these are focussed on the mass market or are very expensive performance vehicles.
We want to see what can be done to create our own performance electric cars using the currently available components. We'll take you through every step of our projects (both successes and failures.)
Please come and join us on this journey.
A note on this channel.
While we try to make these videos as informative as possible, these are not instructions or how to videos. Working with high voltage electrical components is very dangerous and can injure, maim or kill. The same goes for working on cars and motorbikes. If these videos have inspired you to take on an EV project of your own, and we hope they have, we would encourage you to undertake the necessary study, education, training and/or investigations to familiarize yourself with tasks you are undertaking. Thanks for watching and we hope you have enjoyed the video.

[@gregscott989]

Nice neat solder work....

[@madhatmassarani6]

Great milestone in this conversion plan, I expect the rest will be easier to control through software. Hope you have additional boards as back up should this one decide to fail during the next steps. Well done indeed.

[@PerformanceEV]

Thanks. I'm really looking forward to getting hands on with the software and tuning the settings to my application...and testing the outcomes. At thebmoment, this is the only board I have, so I will be double checking evrything I do and crossing my fingers that nothing goes wrong.

[@EamonnOBrienPlus]

Shane... Another irish car 'hacker' here. Absolutely love your channel. Really honest, interesting videos.

[@PerformanceEV]

Thanks Eamonn, glad you're finding them interesting. Are you 'hacking' anything interesting at the moment?

[@EamonnOBrienPlus]

I have an old BMW e34 i bought for absolute peanuts that id love to convert but i suspect purchasing a used i3 is getting more likely by the day :)

[@PerformanceEV]

Nice, I do like the shape of those old 5 series, even better if you got a bargain. There are some interesting projects on Damien Maguire's KZbin channel if you need some BMW EV inspiration.

[@EamonnOBrienPlus]

I follow him intently too. Both you guys are absolutely amazing.

[@leaf_for_life]

За кадром проделана огромная работа!

[@PerformanceEV]

Yeah, there were a couple of things I didn't manage to film, so they were done behind the scenes, but the really hard work (designing and building logic board and writing the software) was done by the Open Inverter folks.

[@vladimira.shestakov2493]

!!! SooThanks

[@Racing2Learn]

Nice WRX RC in the background! We’re thinking of throwing the Leaf motor in an RX-7 roller we’ve got. Keep up the great work!

[@PerformanceEV]

Thanks. RX-7 sounds like a great option for a conversion. I would love to hear how it goes.

[@Racing2Learn]

Performance EV what are your thoughts on 2011-2012 Leaf drivetrains vs. 2013+? We can get the 2011-2012 models for dirt cheap in California. Also, what are you thinking for batteries? Thanks!

[@PerformanceEV]

@@Racing2Learn on the power trains, nothing I have seen indicates that there is much difference between them. The main changes were in the packaging of the components into a single stack from '13 onwards. The internals all seem to be very similar. It may even be easier to fit the older set up into a another car.

[@PerformanceEV]

On batteries, I am still working it out, but it will most likely come down to cost and availability. Tesla modules are really good, but don't come cheap. The leaf ones are cheaper, but I have read they are a bit limited in terms of how much power they can deliver at once. The volt ones seem to be well regarded for power delivery, but are less available in the UK.

[@albaheatandpower2010]

I had looked at changing the Logic board too but found out the best way was to use a VCU.

[@Racing2Learn]

Alba Heat and Power which VCU are you using? Thanks!

[@albaheatandpower2010]

@@Racing2Learn www.thunderstruck-ev.com/dilithium-vcu.html or you can speak to Anne Klopenberg at New Electric.

[@PerformanceEV]

I agree the VCU option is definitely the most practical way of controlling the leaf motor. Especially as you don't need to dig around inside the inverter. I'm doing it the hard way as an educational experience and to see what the leaf set up is capable of. Can I ask what you converted? I'm really interested in what others have done in this space.

[@albaheatandpower2010]

@@PerformanceEV doing a 1972 Karmann Ghia, should be twice its original hp. Enjoying the videos and keen to see how the Porsche performs. All the best.

[@PerformanceEV]

Nice! Karmann Ghia is one of my all time favourite cars. Good luck with the build.

[@reubeneves5207]

Hey mate really impressed with your build ! I'm building a electric motorbike using a brushed dc motor and i plan on using a nissan leaf inverter to control the motor. I was wondering whether the logic board you use in your video could be used to control a brushed motor. cheers

[@mariopic]

one thing i was wondering can u use the 11 nissan sentra throttle pedal or do i need to use the 13 up sentra/Leaf

[@eandrae]

Are you going to use the leaf OEM charger and BMS system too

[@PerformanceEV]

I would like to use the OEM charger, but I haven't started looking into it yet so I don't know how feasible it will be. But I will make sure to do some videos on that when I get around to it. Regarding the BMS, it depends on which battery pack I end up getting. General consensus is that the Leaf packs can't really provide the power the motor is capable of consuming so I am investigating other options.

[@WildmanTech]

Following closely. Looking to do a similar project. Open to collab if you're into it.

[@pomonabill220]

PLEASE stop using the music! Silence would be great!