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Nissan Leaf Battery Upgrade Project

  • Prototype displays 227 km of range!

      1 July 2020

    We posted a video update for our project on our Facebook Page on 27th May and then realised that our Givealittle page had just been closed... unfortunate timing!

    The project has made good progress over the last few months with our two project engineers able to continue working from home during the COVID-19 lockdown period. We are happy to report that our solution now displays the correct increased battery range in the car's dashboard - excellent!

    We have all the new battery modules for two pre-production upgrade packs and recently ordered the brackets and other parts to complete the first few upgrades. The first of these should be assembled and ready for testing by end of July.

    Again a huge thanks to all who have supported the project this far - we are getting there!

    https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=263088641503925

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  • Status Update & Page Re-opening

      20 February 2020

    Dear Supporters!

    We are re-opening this donation page following requests from several of you and in light also of EECA’s announcement yesterday that our application for co-funding was not successful.

    For more detailed information about the progress of our upgrade solution and plan going forward please check out our Facebook Page and/or the Project Page on our website.

    SUMMARY

    * Latest application to LEV Fund unsuccessful.

    * Prototype upgrade performing well since July 2019.

    * Driven ~10,000 km including a trip to Nelson in Dec 2019.

    * Over 200 km in several run-out tests including high proportion at highway speeds.

    * First version "translator" working; ongoing development and testing of additional functionality.

    * Looking to raise capital to fund faster scaling of upgrade capacity and development.

    * Battery order received ready to build first two trial customer packs.

    LEV FUND

    You may have seen that our planned battery upgrade trial was not among the list of successful projects awarded co-funding in EECA's latest round of the LEV Contestable Fund. We received notice from EECA in December that we had not been successful, but we weren't able to comment on this publicly until the official announcement yesterday. We were of course disappointed, but kept moving forward and excited that we are now ready to build the first two trial customer upgrade packs.

    CAPITAL RAISING

    We have received many expressions of interest from people who would like to provide larger financial support and/or invest in Blue Cars to help us continue and grow our battery upgrade and other solutions for electric vehicles. If you are considering a larger donation or would like more information about the investment opportunities please email us at invest@bluecars.nz.

    Thanks again to everybody who has already donated towards our project - your support has been valued and encouraging!

    Please feel free to share this page with your family, friends and other Nissan Leaf owners not least!

    Best regards from our team :)

    Carl Barlev

    Founder

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  • Prototype Demo Tour Underway!

      15 December 2019
    Main image

    On Saturday, 14th December our Founder and his family set off from Auckland to give our prototype upgrade pack its first long-distance test-drive.

    The trip from Auckland to Nelson will include stops at fast charging stations and exclusive EV dealerships along the way to show people the car and talk about our battery upgrade solution.

    Check out more photos and updates on our Facebook page or come along to one of the events planned along our route this weekend.

    Cheers :)

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  • Surprising Progress!

      1 October 2019

    Hi everybody :)

    Firstly, a huge thanks to everybody who has liked, shared and donated so far! We're really grateful for all the support and messages of encouragement!

    One surprising fact is that the $3,045 we've received to-date has come from just 38 donations with the average donation amount just over $80 - much higher than we were expecting!

    With around 8,000 used Nissan Leafs in New Zealand we were hoping to reach a larger proportion of the owners of these cars in particular (as our project will initially benefit Nissan Leaf owners).

    If one quarter of these Leaf owners give even just $20 each we'll get to our target and one step closer to co-funding from EECA in December!

    Please share the link around if you haven't already!

    Thanks again :)

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