A Nissan Vanette converted to a prototype Mobile Charging Station from BMW Group Malaysia was like nothing else we saw in 2023.
BMW Group Malaysia launched quite a number of vehicles this year. They started strong with the 3 Series facelift range, then brought in the M2, a new X1 and iX1, the new 7 Series and i7, as well as the new i5, plus loads of other facelifts and new variants of models launched prior to 2023. Needless to say, it has been an exciting year for the company and their electrification efforts are paying off. That being said, none of these launches can hold a candle to what BMW Malaysia showed during the Malaysia Autoshow 2023.
It had a manual transmission, rear wheel drive, 40 year old engine tech and it was… a Nissan Vanette, but not just any Vanette.
BMW & EV Connection’s prototype Mobile Charging Vehicle
BMW Group Malaysia and EV Connection actually worked together to make this Nissan Vanette relevant to two very pressing issues – what happens to battery cells in EVs as they age AND what happens if your EV runs out of juice? The “prototype Mobile Charging Vehicle” was designed with a used Nissan Vanette as its foundation. Inside, 16 units of repurposed BMW battery modules with a State of Health of approximately 70% were installed. At this State of Health, the weight of the batteries overcomes their ability to provide usable range on an EV. However, when repurposed as a mobile charging station, they have some utility left in them.
The system that was designed has a total capacity of 20kWh, which isn’t much – even the least expensive EVs today have battery packs around at least 40kWh. However, it’s not too important in this application, as the Nissan Vanette gets around with an old-school push rod engine burning petrol from a fuel tank. The idea is that this Mobile Charging Vehicle would be driven to a stranded EV and then a 30kW DC Charger fitted to back of the van would be used to charge the EV up. In fact, the whole thing was set-up to charge two EVs at the same time. It’s an unlikely scenario but we could see this happen should two EVs have just enough range to park next to each other.
Another emergency scenario where the Mobile Charging Vehicle would come in handy is in disaster zones when homes are cut off from power. This thing has enough juice to power eight homes, though it’s not clear for how long.
Why This Was My Favourite BMW Vehicle
BMW’s electric vehicles are very impressive. I’ve driven the iX xDrive50i and I despite the difficulties encountered on my cross-country wedding car journey, it was THE most impressive EV I’ve ever been behind the wheel of. Making and selling EVs well is one thing, but solving the issues they bring up is another. The Mobile Charging Vehicle is just a prototype. It doesn’t really solve anything. If anything it creates the illusion that the battery problem is being solved when in reality just 16 modules out of an undisclosed number of faulty or unhealthy modules are confirmed to have found some second life as a public relations piece. There needs to be some more transparency and accountability for where these battery modules are and where they end up.
Still, it exists and I have faith that it’s being put through the kind of rigours a prototype mobile charging station ought to be put through. Hopefully something comes of it, and it’s definitely more elegant than mounting a diesel generator on the back of a lorry to serve as a mobile EV charger. Maybe they’ll expand this programme and repurpose even more used vans to find a home for even more used battery modules. It’s an overall good thing that this prototype exists and good on BMW Malaysia for not being picky about what the donor vehicle was.
