A base Nissan Leaf makes 109 hp, which is honest but hardly exciting, and the maker set out to answer a simple question: can a Leaf actually be made fast? The plan was to get close to 200 hp, sharpen the 0-60 time, and make the car stop feeling embarrassing to drive. To do it, the factory inverter was swapped for an aluminum unit labeled 26065 from a more powerful Leaf model, at a cost of roughly 300 pounds.
The safety routine before touching anything looks solid to me: the ignition was shut off so the internal relays opened, the 12 V battery was disconnected, and the high-voltage service plug was pulled from the center console. Getting access meant removing the wipers, wiper motor, scuttle panel and the lower underbody tray, plus the front driver-side wheel and its inner arch liner. The air conditioning compressor was unbolted to free the lower motor mount bolts, motor coolant was drained into a plastic container, and the power delivery module top cover came off before the old inverter was lifted out and the replacement was test-fitted.
The fiddly bits stand out. Connector differences meant about 20 wires needed soldering, and the PDM internal wiring used 10 mm and 13 mm fasteners. The parts list included a CAN bridge, an inverter plug, 19 mm coolant hose and heatshrink, with Sikaflex 291i on the bench alongside crimping tools and gloves. LeafSpy ran through an OBD adapter, and a phone app called Race Timer logged the acceleration runs. One mishap along the way: a pry tool chipped the edge of the windshield during removal.
An early 0-60 run measured 9.5 seconds, but the maker says the outcome was not quite what was expected, and whether the car truly reached around 200 hp is not shown. Battery Man also pointed to an open project that unlocks more performance from the Leaf platform, which seems like a useful pointer for anyone following along.
Project by Battery Man. Watch it on their YouTube channel: