Discussion
Would be interesting to see what the business model really is on this. I personaly think that you need a fair number of them to in order to make a "critical mass" for it to work (which he is already doing with the superchargers). I think the station can remember your original battery and give it back to you if you come and get it.
I suppose that it could allow people to purchase a car with a relatively small battery and then get a larger one temporarily for long trips. It would also be interesting if you could say - go to a local swap station ahead of your road trip and swap your battery for something like aluminium air (which has much larger energy density but not rechageable in the same way), swap for more aluminium air batteries on route as required and get your old battery back on the way home.....
I suppose that it could allow people to purchase a car with a relatively small battery and then get a larger one temporarily for long trips. It would also be interesting if you could say - go to a local swap station ahead of your road trip and swap your battery for something like aluminium air (which has much larger energy density but not rechageable in the same way), swap for more aluminium air batteries on route as required and get your old battery back on the way home.....
I'm thinking that Telsa are thinking there might not be much market demand - given the cost of a swap will not be free and cost "less than a tank of gas". So around US$40-60 maybe. They've located it on the I5 at Harris Ranch about half way between LA and San Franciso - so they see the target market as people waiting to do a long intercity trip with minimal delay at a supercharger. I.e pick up a drive thru meal, fresh battery and then get on your way again.
The distance from LA to SF is about the same as London to Edinburgh give or take 20 miles. So I don't think we'll see battery swaps popping up every where. Maybe 1 near Manchester for people travelling to / from Scotland, 1 in the Midlands for people driving up and down the country doing rep work, 1 in the south east near London and lastly the channel ports for people wanting long distance trips to to Europe. Maybe another near Bristol for people heading in and out of the south west.
I think the mechanics will be you can keep swapping in between stations, but will need to pick your own battery up from the 1st one you dropped off at on the way home. The channel ports might even be the best location. I'm pretty sure people heading off to watch sporting events, go skiing (in the AWD version) or just heading out on a trans european adventure would be quite happy to pay - in Europe at least - half the price of equivalent unleaded price.
That said... you'd have to be in a real rush to want to pay for a battery swap instead of getting a free extra 200 miles on a supercharger with a 30 minute wait. Given that you'll get 200 miles of additional driving, synching up superchargers with meal times makes more sense. By the time you order your burger, eat it, nip to the loos and get a coffee refill, the car will be able to travel furter than you can without stopping again. Given it's hard to average more than 70mph on any long distance trip, regardless of your Max velocity, that's 3 hours stints.
The distance from LA to SF is about the same as London to Edinburgh give or take 20 miles. So I don't think we'll see battery swaps popping up every where. Maybe 1 near Manchester for people travelling to / from Scotland, 1 in the Midlands for people driving up and down the country doing rep work, 1 in the south east near London and lastly the channel ports for people wanting long distance trips to to Europe. Maybe another near Bristol for people heading in and out of the south west.
I think the mechanics will be you can keep swapping in between stations, but will need to pick your own battery up from the 1st one you dropped off at on the way home. The channel ports might even be the best location. I'm pretty sure people heading off to watch sporting events, go skiing (in the AWD version) or just heading out on a trans european adventure would be quite happy to pay - in Europe at least - half the price of equivalent unleaded price.
That said... you'd have to be in a real rush to want to pay for a battery swap instead of getting a free extra 200 miles on a supercharger with a 30 minute wait. Given that you'll get 200 miles of additional driving, synching up superchargers with meal times makes more sense. By the time you order your burger, eat it, nip to the loos and get a coffee refill, the car will be able to travel furter than you can without stopping again. Given it's hard to average more than 70mph on any long distance trip, regardless of your Max velocity, that's 3 hours stints.
I think the battery-swapping is actually to comply with some Californian legislation. To get the maximum "credit" for zero-emissions the vehicle must "accumulate at least 190 or 285 miles, respectively, in 15 minutes or less."
Even a supercharger can't pump that much energy in. Hence it's likely that there will only ever be that one battery swapping station, in order to comply with an arcane bit of legislation which makes some money back for Tesla on every Model S they sell in California.
No incentive to build battery swap stations anywhere else.
Even a supercharger can't pump that much energy in. Hence it's likely that there will only ever be that one battery swapping station, in order to comply with an arcane bit of legislation which makes some money back for Tesla on every Model S they sell in California.
No incentive to build battery swap stations anywhere else.
TransverseTight said:
I'm thinking that Telsa are thinking there might not be much market demand - given the cost of a swap will not be free and cost "less than a tank of gas". So around US$40-60 maybe. They've located it on the I5 at Harris Ranch about half way between LA and San Franciso - so they see the target market as people waiting to do a long intercity trip with minimal delay at a supercharger. I.e pick up a drive thru meal, fresh battery and then get on your way again.
The distance from LA to SF is about the same as London to Edinburgh give or take 20 miles. So I don't think we'll see battery swaps popping up every where. Maybe 1 near Manchester for people travelling to / from Scotland, 1 in the Midlands for people driving up and down the country doing rep work, 1 in the south east near London and lastly the channel ports for people wanting long distance trips to to Europe. Maybe another near Bristol for people heading in and out of the south west.
I think the mechanics will be you can keep swapping in between stations, but will need to pick your own battery up from the 1st one you dropped off at on the way home. The channel ports might even be the best location. I'm pretty sure people heading off to watch sporting events, go skiing (in the AWD version) or just heading out on a trans european adventure would be quite happy to pay - in Europe at least - half the price of equivalent unleaded price.
That said... you'd have to be in a real rush to want to pay for a battery swap instead of getting a free extra 200 miles on a supercharger with a 30 minute wait. Given that you'll get 200 miles of additional driving, synching up superchargers with meal times makes more sense. By the time you order your burger, eat it, nip to the loos and get a coffee refill, the car will be able to travel furter than you can without stopping again. Given it's hard to average more than 70mph on any long distance trip, regardless of your Max velocity, that's 3 hours stints.
$40 to battery swapThe distance from LA to SF is about the same as London to Edinburgh give or take 20 miles. So I don't think we'll see battery swaps popping up every where. Maybe 1 near Manchester for people travelling to / from Scotland, 1 in the Midlands for people driving up and down the country doing rep work, 1 in the south east near London and lastly the channel ports for people wanting long distance trips to to Europe. Maybe another near Bristol for people heading in and out of the south west.
I think the mechanics will be you can keep swapping in between stations, but will need to pick your own battery up from the 1st one you dropped off at on the way home. The channel ports might even be the best location. I'm pretty sure people heading off to watch sporting events, go skiing (in the AWD version) or just heading out on a trans european adventure would be quite happy to pay - in Europe at least - half the price of equivalent unleaded price.
That said... you'd have to be in a real rush to want to pay for a battery swap instead of getting a free extra 200 miles on a supercharger with a 30 minute wait. Given that you'll get 200 miles of additional driving, synching up superchargers with meal times makes more sense. By the time you order your burger, eat it, nip to the loos and get a coffee refill, the car will be able to travel furter than you can without stopping again. Given it's hard to average more than 70mph on any long distance trip, regardless of your Max velocity, that's 3 hours stints.
or
Have a pee and a nice cup of tea and a cake/bacon roll
But i live in a impossible dream world where all fast chargers are located somewhere you can get a nice cup of tea and cake/bacon roll
Gassing Station | EV and Alternative Fuels | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff