Nissan LEAF charged via towing

Now this is something that we would not recommend Nissan LEAF owners to do (we didn’t try it out in our review for obvious reasons), but apparently a Dutch LEAF owner found out that his electric vehicle can juice up its batteries behind a truck as long as the brake is carefully applied. Needless to say, Nissan engineers also advice against you doing such a thing since there will be obvious implications to your warranty and it might just screw up the LEAF’s sensitive electronics – just check out the video (in Dutch, but with English subtitles) for the bigger picture after the jump.

Vincent Everts’ LEAF ran out of battery when he needed to reach home in time for his daughter’s birthday party. He decided to enlist the help of a Tundra owner to tow his Nissan LEAF behind, seeing if the LEAF’s regenerative brakes worked as advertised, recharging the 24-kilowatt-hour battery while being towed in the process.

This is a tricky maneuver since it requires just the right amount of pressure – pressing the pedal too far engages the brakes, but with the right balance, regenerative braking will send energy to the pack. Everts managed to snag 73 kilometers of range in just 10 minutes of towing, but the car’s sophisticated energy management system kinda screwed up in the end, showing off just 50 plus kilometers of range after he drove for a short distance. Best to keep an eye on your vehicle’s battery level before going out, and make sure it is fully charged the night beforehand before you pull some stunt like this!

Edwin Kee
Categories: Green, Top Stories, Transportation
Tags: leaf, nissan, nissan leaf