Imagine This:
Not having to charge your electric vehicle. Instead, what you do is once a week or so, you drive to a swap station and an automated robot removes your depleted battery and installs a fully charged one. The whole process takes about 10 minutes--about the same amount of time you would spend at a Chevron station--and off you go.
This is supposedly going to become the reality in China:
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www.reuters.com
The article mentions the benefits of not having to hunt for a place that may or may not have your specific car's compatible charging station. It would be much like having to hunt for a specific brand of gasoline for which you have a credit card--a Chevron as opposed to an Exxon station. It would also help simplify the power grid demand. Instead of placing charging stations in the parking lot of a Truck Stop or Cracker Barrel, there would be a centralized area where you could take your vehicle.
The big issue, of course, is standardization across a single manufacturer and, if possible across multiple manufacturers. It would be like the VHS was...every company who made a VHS player may put their own spin on the features and quality but the mechanics of the device. Every studio who put out a movie, did so on VHS. It was the standard. Currently there is no standard. But this looks like it could be a game changer because it doesn't require you to upgrade your house, you can live in an apartment and simply have your batteries swapped out, and it is scalable for micro uses as well. Consider your local police department for example. Largely, they have the same vehicles. They could have a private battery swapping operation that services only their vehicles. Ditto for a local package carrier like USPS and Federal Express. Internal combustion engines would still be required to go from city to city carrying heavy loads but last mile deliveries could be all electric if they could standardize the vehicles.
Not having to charge your electric vehicle. Instead, what you do is once a week or so, you drive to a swap station and an automated robot removes your depleted battery and installs a fully charged one. The whole process takes about 10 minutes--about the same amount of time you would spend at a Chevron station--and off you go.
This is supposedly going to become the reality in China:
DETROIT/BEIJING, March 25 (Reuters) - A year ago Tesla dismissed the alternative path of electric car battery swapping as "riddled with problems and not suitable for widescale use". It seems Beijing disagrees.
In fact, China is pushing hard for swappable batteries for electric vehicles (EVs) as a supplement to regular vehicle charging, with the government throwing its weight behind several companies advancing the technology.
Four companies - automakers Nio and Geely, battery swap developer Aulton and state-owned oil producer Sinopec (600028.SS) - say they plan to establish a total of 24,000 swap stations across the country by 2025, up from about 1,400 today.
Inside China's electric drive for swappable car batteries
A year ago Tesla dismissed the alternative path of electric car battery swapping as "riddled with problems and not suitable for widescale use". It seems Beijing disagrees.
www.reuters.com
The article mentions the benefits of not having to hunt for a place that may or may not have your specific car's compatible charging station. It would be much like having to hunt for a specific brand of gasoline for which you have a credit card--a Chevron as opposed to an Exxon station. It would also help simplify the power grid demand. Instead of placing charging stations in the parking lot of a Truck Stop or Cracker Barrel, there would be a centralized area where you could take your vehicle.
The big issue, of course, is standardization across a single manufacturer and, if possible across multiple manufacturers. It would be like the VHS was...every company who made a VHS player may put their own spin on the features and quality but the mechanics of the device. Every studio who put out a movie, did so on VHS. It was the standard. Currently there is no standard. But this looks like it could be a game changer because it doesn't require you to upgrade your house, you can live in an apartment and simply have your batteries swapped out, and it is scalable for micro uses as well. Consider your local police department for example. Largely, they have the same vehicles. They could have a private battery swapping operation that services only their vehicles. Ditto for a local package carrier like USPS and Federal Express. Internal combustion engines would still be required to go from city to city carrying heavy loads but last mile deliveries could be all electric if they could standardize the vehicles.
