Even the most doubtful haters will soon have to admit that Tesla Motors has done the unthinkable; build a better electric car. While CEO Elon Musk has already hinted at what the future holds for his electric automaker, a recent filing with the SEC revealed a twist to Tesla’s plans; battery swapping.
The idea of fast-swapping the battery out of an electric car is not new, though so far the few large-scale experiments have not been successful. Most famously Project Better Place promoted a battery-swapping scheme that had ambitions of 100,000 vehicles on the road by 2016; currently they’re selling about 100 models a month in Israel and Denmark, after pulling out of America and Australia.
In their recent SEC filing, on page 38 outlining future plans, Tesla discusses what factors may affect the adoption of electric vehicles. Specifically, the filing says that the ability to “…rapidly swap out the Model S battery pack, and the development of specialized public facilities to perform such swapping, which do not currently exist, but which we plan to introduce in the near future.”
What is Tesla thinking getting into battery swapping? Perhaps they are thinking that their Supercharger fast-charging stations just aren’t going to be enough. To truly compete with gas-powered vehicles, electric vehicles need a similar “refill” time. Battery swapping could make that possible, eliminating one of the biggest criticisms of EVs; their long recharge time.
As it stands, the Tesla Supercharger takes about 30 minutes to add 150 miles of range to the Model S, and can fully charge the 85 kWh model in just over an hour. While that is faster than any other method on the market, it is still longer than many people want to wait, and is limited by access to Superchargers.
But if battery-swapping stations were to become more prevalent around major metro areas, well, that could change the whole EV dynamic, and perhaps make battery leasing another option for Model S owners.
Elon has already taken a lot of risks with Tesla, and most of them have paid off. Can he make battery swapping work too?
Source: Green Car Reports
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I am a Better Place customer in Israel. Upon ordering the Fluence ZE Dynamic, a well-appointed family sedan i paid about 40K dollars for a brand-new car and 60 thousand miles of driving. Since then, having driven 26 thousand of those miles I have not spent a penny more, inclusive of charging at home charging away, swapping batteries on the road and 24/7 service which is second to none. At local prices, had I persisted in driving my Chevy Impala, I would have spent 25K$ for the same miles, not counting two 10K services. The system works, keeps improving by constant tweaking, allowing me to enjoy the best of Electric driving: silence, agility, acceleration, no mechanical intervention (The only routine is tire pressure, no gas no oil no coolant, no gear oil, feather-light steering,) and no range anxiety since OSCAR always knows how far I can go and where to swap a battery. My garage smells pristine (electricity does not stink) and no stains on the floor. I could park this machine in my living room. Elon Musk is fully aware of all this
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great comment and for providing insight into battery swapping for those of us who cannot benefit from this sales model. So glad they are doing things right in Israel and I hope you will continue to let us know how it goes with your Fluence ZE.
ReplyDeleteAppreciate it! We love electrics here at AltEnergyAutos and only wish that solar panels were more used throughout the world so we can all "get off the grid"!