Range anxiety? Simply swap out your battery
Discussion
It's not a new idea, Tesla and Renault (Better Place) tried it and found it not to be viable
https://www.powersystemsdesign.com/articles/why-di...
I guess it's just possible that the different conditions in parts of China might make it a more feasible approach, but I think generally it's an idea that seems attractive on the surface, is rather difficult and hence expensive to arrange in practice, and has largely been overtaken by faster charging of modern EVs.
Acorn1 said:
Yes, I would have thought rolling out an infrastructure to support it would be mind bogglingly expensive, let alone the logistics.
Cool idea though.
Exactly. NIO would have to build many swap stations and populate each one with spare batteries to make it feasible. The battery pack is a major factor in the cost of a car so who pays for al these extra batteries and the maintenance of the stations? They need probably as many stations as Tesla have supercharger areas.Cool idea though.
Considering that when I use public chargers I'm rarely there for more than 10-15 minutes, but a swap station with a queue of cars may take longer than that at 5 minutes per car.
gmaz said:
Exactly. NIO would have to build many swap stations and populate each one with spare batteries to make it feasible. The battery pack is a major factor in the cost of a car so who pays for al these extra batteries and the maintenance of the stations? They need probably as many stations as Tesla have supercharger areas.
Considering that when I use public chargers I'm rarely there for more than 10-15 minutes, but a swap station with a queue of cars may take longer than that at 5 minutes per car.
My observation is that Chinese consumers (not just car consumers) are a lot more forward thinking and less risk averse to new ways of doing things, than consumers over here. Considering that when I use public chargers I'm rarely there for more than 10-15 minutes, but a swap station with a queue of cars may take longer than that at 5 minutes per car.
"Chinese EV manufacturer NIO says that 60 percent of drivers using its electric cars prefer swapping their EV’s battery at a quick change station rather than plugging in and recharging.
The Asian car maker bet big on battery swap stations since its inception in 2014 and says that more and more drivers of its models want to take a trip to a battery swapping station. The data comes from over 6.2 billion miles (10 billion kilometers) driven by NIO vehicles in China and Europe, where the car brand operates 1,383 Power Swap Stations."
https://insideevs.com/news/664267/nio-drivers-pref...
samoht said:
It's not a new idea, Tesla and Renault (Better Place) tried it and found it not to be viable
https://www.powersystemsdesign.com/articles/why-di...
I guess it's just possible that the different conditions in parts of China might make it a more feasible approach, but I think generally it's an idea that seems attractive on the surface, is rather difficult and hence expensive to arrange in practice, and has largely been overtaken by faster charging of modern EVs.
30 million swaps to date would suggest its very viable, 10 mill in the last 6 monthshttps://www.powersystemsdesign.com/articles/why-di...
I guess it's just possible that the different conditions in parts of China might make it a more feasible approach, but I think generally it's an idea that seems attractive on the surface, is rather difficult and hence expensive to arrange in practice, and has largely been overtaken by faster charging of modern EVs.
https://electrek.co/2023/10/09/nio-completes-30-mi...
This is a very interesting concept. Not only should it reduce charge times dramatically, it'll remove one of the major expenses of EV's. If you've got a dodgy battery then it's replaced in minutes. Next to no labour time, new units readily available and you're not left with an up front cost of £30 grand for a battery. Yes, you'll pay for it and probably more in the long run but not being left with an immediate extortionate bill will certainly help. The standardisation of batteries will surely help repair costs, too.
RazerSauber said:
This is a very interesting concept. Not only should it reduce charge times dramatically, it'll remove one of the major expenses of EV's. If you've got a dodgy battery then it's replaced in minutes. Next to no labour time, new units readily available and you're not left with an up front cost of £30 grand for a battery. Yes, you'll pay for it and probably more in the long run but not being left with an immediate extortionate bill will certainly help. The standardisation of batteries will surely help repair costs, too.
Not sure it reduces charge times dramatically: as others have pointed out an average 20 - 80 % recharge can take about 15 minutes and a battery swap might save a little, but nothing in the big scheme of things.However the major breakthrough might be the the other point you mentioned: replacing a damaged or underperforming battery in no time. One of the recurring fake news about EV is that after 8 years they have to be scrapped because battery is dead: with the swap you always have a fit-for-purpose battery.
But knowing that an electric motor is basically eternal, if also the battery becomes a non-issue and a good shell should last many years, are we sure manufacturers are prepared to have such long life-cycle of a consumable?
I work in the lighting industry and some large bulb manufacturing companies now have complaints that after the big business to replace standard bulbs, now the sales are dropping because the new LED bulbs last too long.
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