When you talk about electric cars the first thing people are concerned with is the range and how to get the batteries charged when you run out of power. So Leafplan set out to find a new way of charging a Nissan Leaf: by towing it behind another car and braking to charge the car.
The Nissan Leaf has brake regeneration which means it charges itself during braking. So in theory you can charge the car by braking while you are being towed. However, the Nissan Leaf manual states you 'shouldn't tow an electric car with four wheels on the ground'. The Nissan dealer was a bit sketchy about why that was so we set out to prove the theory and made this video.
As you can see in the video it really does work! However there are some small differences. Because the car is being towed the range computer thinks it's driving ultra economical and calculates the range according to this. So the range the computer calculates isn't the actual range which you will have when you drive the car, it's about 33% less.
However, the car does charge itself while braking, and actually does a very good job. It's about as fast as a fast charger charging the car. You have to be careful though not to overdo the braking; charging only happens in the first phase of braking if you overdo the Leaf will start to use the regular brakes resulting in very smelly brake pads ;-)
Leafplan is a project in The Netherlands set out to find the practical use of the electric car. From how to get a charge point at your house to actual range calculations and experiments like charging the Nissan Leaf while being towed is all part of this year long experiment. On http://www.leafplan.nl/english you can find more information and follow the Leaf via Google Maps, check out the battery life, range and charge stats live from the car, and see live video directly from the car!
