(WIP) 2010 f150 4x4 that thinks is a Leaf

[2010RELEAF]

I have started down this path of ev conversion. My vehicle is a F150 4WD YEAR 2010. My donor vehicle is a 2013 nissan leaf.
I will using the leaf for my electrical system in the Ford.
The truck will get it's motor, transmission, drive shaft, transfer case.
I will use the complete leaf stack. The leaf motor will be mated to a 6 speed manual transmission(f40 or mr6) then i will use the half shafts from the transmission and the half shalfs of the Ford and overlap them, cut them, and weld them.
It will become a fwd only f150.
The battery pack will be built using first generation chevy volt batteries. I aiming for 100 kWh when done. It will have a bms but no cooling or heating at this time.
My goal is to have all systems working correctly like abs, traction control, stability control and airbags. I will be bringing the rfid keyless system from the leaf to the floor.

[2010RELEAF]

It was good to receive a phone call from a salvage yard regarding the f40 transmission I'll be using. The f40 is coming out of a buick regal gs maybe 2012 if I remember correctly.
200 transmission
0. one mounting bracket
90. for half shafts 45 each
50 shifter and shifter linkage

the one thing they didn't have was the clutch plate so I can use it as my adapter to the leaf.

This was a lot harder than I thought it would be, it would either break the bank or break the bank

My batteries are from many many chevy volt first generation, I believe they come in a 3p96s configuration.

I get lost in the math a little bit but was thinking I would be a 20-25p96s to get to my 100 kWh minimum size.

To do my abs system I will count the number of teeth on the reluctor rings front and back on the leaf and then Fabricate reluctor rings to match to be installed on the Ford. The tooth count will be adjusted for the different wheel circumference between the two vehicles. This should work and keep everything happy also.

[tom91]

he battery pack will be built using first generation chevy volt batteries. I aiming for 100 kWh when done.

How are you getting there? Gen 1 Chevy volt batteries are really low energy density of only 16kWh a pack when new, alot are quite degraded after all these years.

[Bratitude]

This approach sounds odd

So your matting the leaf motor to the fords manual transmission, but then removing the rear drive shaft to make it fwd? Why not just make new drive shafts from the leaf gearbox to the front wheels?

And plan on combining a bunch of Chevy volt packs to reach 100kWh?

the volt modules can not be broken down smaller than 16s and 14s (from my memory) modules. So no way parallel up individual modules.


And full harness swaps are complicated, time consuming and messy. Why not use the zombiverter for controls g the leaf stack and rest of the system?

[2010RELEAF]

I'll answer both questions, as for the final drive system for the completed f150 will be.
Original ford rear end with no drive shaft attached.
The Fords gas engine, transmission, rear driveshaft, transfer case. front differential and part of each front half shaft. those remaining half shafts will be coupled to just half of the cv axles from a 2012 buick regal gs. those ends mate up with the 6 speed manual transmission also from the regal and then onto the imput shaft will the leaf motor directly attach. I will not be using the leaf transaxle.

So a 4wd truck becomes a fwd only truck.

As for the batteries, I have way more time than money for this proof of concept. My source for the batteries is free minus my fuel to go get them. So I talked with the guy again last night and we agreed that I would pick up around 2000# each time I go there.
And yes they can be broken down further than as you stated. It's been done and im just following in footsteps on this one.
I will be breaking down all packs to the individual pouch level and capacity test each one as I grade them by capacity.
I will be rebuilding a new pack with a 20 - 25p96s configuration. My minimum target is 100kWh but if I have more room it will be bigger.
I hope that clarifies those two issues sometimes my brain doesn't do the best job of conveying it's thoughts.

[muehlpower]

The Fords gas engine, transmission, rear driveshaft, transfer case

Will they be removed or remain?

My English isn't very good. Can you list again the components that are being removed and those that will be in the car afterwards?

[2010RELEAF]

The parts remove,
gas motor
automatic transmission
rear drive shaft
4wd transfer case
front differential
gas tank
main radiator used to cool gas engine
master cylinder
brake booster
abs module
ecu
instrument cluster
radio
a/c and heater controls
im sure there is more im forgetting

going into the truck
almost everything from the 2010 nissan leaf s.
it might be easy to list what im not using
The body of the car
the suspension system
the wheels, brake rotors,hubs, calipers, brake lines
not using the airbags themselves.
seats
not using the part of the steering wheel that you can see while in the cab
not using any of the leaf light fixtures.

in addition to that my battery pack will be from a first generation chevy volt

and my transmission is from a 2012 buick regal gs

I'm probably forgetting stuff



and probably 90% of all wiring.

[Bratitude]

this project makes absolutely no sense. good luck

[2010RELEAF]

Could you elaborate what part doesn't make sense.

[Bratitude]

so your going to use a buick fwd transmission with the leaf motor mated to it via an adapter plate, and then make custom drive shafts to mate the buick gearbox to the fords front end.

then do a leaf harness swap

and then break down a bunch of sketchy chevy volt packs and some how re assemble to welded tabbed pouch cells, and some how match all the cells properly, from which you have sourced used and are in unknown health.

then some how make the stock leaf system work with this Frankenstein battery pack.

which will weigh like 4000lbs if not more and take up a lot of room.

each step is an experiment, and a time consuming one. with lots of custom work.

why not mate the leaf motor to the ford gearbox OR keep the leaf gearbox and make leaf-to-ford cv axles.

and well...everything else...

[2010RELEAF]

I guess it might help for me to say I like the leaf as a vehicle in most every way except for its extremely ugly form factor, it's lousy range, and just ok power.

So.... I do like the look of a truck as sales numbers show so do most Americans. So that fixes one of the problems. The second is the power output, but that's an easy fix based on my reading. The transmission is there so I have options for the small cost of 600 dollars and barely any additional weight over the leaf transaxle. There should be plenty of room in the engine bay. And the last thing was range, so im putting in a big battery that my math says it will be between 2000 and 2500 pounds with case.
I don't know what else to tell you.

[2010RELEAF]

So as part of my ev conversion it was important to maintain or improve all of the f150 features. So as i processed through maintaining the abs, stability control, and traction control i landed on bringing over the nissan leaf components. This felt the the easiest and most reliable.
So everything from the leaf braking system will be installed in the f150 except i will keep the f150 rotors and calipers, Abs rings, and speed sensors.
Then i ran into a snag, the abs rings on the leaf are 48 tooth front and back and the Fords is 56 in the front and 108 in the rear. That will never work as the leaf will be very confused with those imput signals.
I have come up with a very cost effective way to resolve this. I will make custom abs rings for the ford so that it thinks it's still a leaf.
One change im making is instead of making 48 tooth tooth rings im making them 37 tooth so that they will be properly offset for the larger tires on the ford.
I have ordered two new ford hubs. when they get here we will press them apart so I can access the abs ring. I will measure up the original ones id and od and make new ones will the same dimensions only with 37 teeth instead of 56.
This will be very similar for the rear. Once it's drawn up in cad I will send the files off to be laser cut.
This seems the easiest and will be very reasonably priced. This to me maintains the factory vibe about it.

What have other people done to maintain the function of these systems. I know many pick older vehicles but someone has to of done a newer vehicle.

[2010RELEAF]

Today I drove to Chicago to pick up another Nissan Leaf SL. My last one that I got was the s trim package. Both are 2013.
Since there are so many Leaf parts being used in the conversion I decided to get a fully loaded one.

This Leaf i got Today is very nice, very clean. The only real downside is the battery only has 7 bars. This helped a lot on getting the price down.

I've got 2 more trips to Chicago in the next two weeks, the first is to go get the 6 speed manual transmission and the other is to pick up my first truckload of volt batteries.

Two different chargers came in the mail, ive tested both and think I have decided which one to use. Once I get some pouches in hand I will run the tests again.

At that time I will purchase 19 more for my testing station. I've also come up with a way to hold 20 pouches at a time and be able to clamp and unclamp all 20 pouches in maybe 10 seconds tops.

This coming week I will start tearing down the leaf and all wiring. I ordered those vanilla colored tags with metal wire to label as I go.

For dropping the leaf battery, I was thinking of putting the car up a ways on jack stands and use 3 jacks to lower it down. I was figuring 3 so it's stable. In a triangle pattern.

[GregFordyce]

Another option for removing the battery would be to slightly loosen all the bolts holding the battery, then remove all but 4 bolts. Lower the car down so the battery is sitting on a dolley with wheels, then remove the last bolts, jack the car up, slide the battery out and lower car. See my HalfPint build.