EV Swap Electric Pickup: Range Test & Review

[@darwinskeeper421]

There's nothing like data to make an engineer's heart happy. I'm impressed that you were able to go so far with the Frontier with a 40 KW battery. Hats off!

[@nathancousley1696]

Great to see the resulting range is a very functional distance. Makes me excited to get started with my 2002 Frontier, although I will probably end up with less range with a 4x4 version.

[@EVSwap]

Yes I am very pleased with the results. Your 4x4 will be a little bit heavier and probably has a higher ride height, but other than that it should be similar to this one. If you can keep the ride height as low as practical that will help.

[@adampotter9183]

Dang, I should have done some quick back of napkin math and bumped up my mileage estimate. Congrats to those that got it right!!

[@jkinghorn]

Nice update, that's more than I thought for the speed and aero on the Frontier. Was that mostly in 3rd or did you shift into 4th or 5th for the higher speeds?

[@EVSwap]

We kept it in 3rd the entire time. Remember back at the beginning of the build Dave blocked off the front grill openings for better areo and we put low rolling resistance tires on. Every little bit helps!

[@jkinghorn]

@@EVSwap Wow yeah that's really great range!

[@Nerd_Bird]

Interested in that one cell at the beginning of the drive that was down 70mV at one update. Have you seen that cell drop that hard under usage aside from here? Also, dang my guess was off by one!! Coulda had that if you'd kept that window up!!

[@EVSwap]

The cell voltages jump all over when under load or regen, due to different lengths of wires in the BMS and proximity to high current wires etc. I've not seen any cells drop to worrying levels when doing full throttle pulls, even at low SoC.

[@tommycornetto6665]

Im doing a conversion with the same setup. Curious what do you use to light up the nissan when charging? I was going to use a current relay. Is there a better solution? Also loving the channel!

[@EVSwap]

I simply wired the LED Nissan badge to the water pump relay so that it is on whenever the water pump is running. So it's on when driving or charging and turns off when it's done. Easy!

[@tommycornetto6665]

@@EVSwap brilliant. Thank you.

[@andrewbrooks8236]

Another great video Jimmy. Out of interest - what is the batteries SOH? I recall from your build video that it was a remanufactured 40 kWh pack when you installed it so I assume it is quite good? It is useful info for me as my conversion is using a 10 year old 24kwh pack with 72%soh so I am hoping for 80 klm range at least until I do a battery upgrade

[@EVSwap]

Thanks! You can see at 0:53 on the Leafspy display the SOH is 98.55%. We really lucked out getting this car at the salvage yard!

[@silvy7394]

-Raw state of charge is not a term used anywhere -There's no top or bottom buffer on the battery. It charges to 100% and discharges to 0. Its LiNiMnCoO2 battery. 4.2v charged 3v discharged, and that's exactly what the car does. -Thats not how the dash readout works. The dash will slow a higher SOC until it hits 50%, where both SOC's will slowly meet up exactly at 50%. Mostly because BMS SOC doesnt start at 100%, Then below 50% they will drift apart again with dash SOC being below battery SOC. BMS SOC doesnt start at 100 because you're not guaranteed that last 3-5%.

[@EVSwap]

Good info thank you!

[@taosmetalalchemy4580]

Jimmy what do you think the simular test would have been in the Leaf that the parts came from, more range or less?

[@EVSwap]

Probably about the same, I have never driven a 40kwh LEAF myself.

[@darrenmc32]

How is the performance compared to the original engine?

[@EVSwap]

WAY better! The electric motor makes more power and about 75% more torque through the entire RPM range than the original engine makes at peak.