Leaf Battery Cooling? by Paul Kennett

Description

This is an experiment that I fully expect to NOT work. These parts let you connect a vacuum cleaner hose from the passenger air vent (on a right-hand drive 24kWh ZE0 2011/2012 Nissan LEAF) to a nozzle that fits into the main battery disconnect panel hole (located between the front and back seats). The theory is you can set the car to blow cold air out the air vents (AC: off, Mode: top vents only) then close all the other vents and have all that cold air blow over the top of the main battery - in the general vicinity of the cells that reside under the back seat. Those are the cells that are most densely packed and therefore overheat the most when doing multiple fast charges. I've used a Dyson Dc08 hose. To install the blower nozzle you need to remove the battery disconect cover plate. It's held down with 10mm head bolts. Reasons why this is a bad idea: 1. the cells are located inside a sealed metal can with an air gap between the top of the cells and the top of the can - blowing cold air over the top of the can will translate to very little cooling of the insides of those cells. 2. my current exit nozzle design is a complete guess as to where I should be directing the airflow. (Ideally I'd have a thermal imaging camera looking in the area as it's being fast charged to find any hotspots - if they exist). 3. opening the battery disconnect cover plate will freak some people out. Note: the battery disconnect plug is a fully waterproof and tamper resistant system. When it is…