AutoblogGreen

While I share his vision of an electric car future, I don't believe "battery swapping" will have much of a place in it. First problem would obviously be getting all battery manufacturers to develop the identical battery architecture. That Elvis has already left the building. Next, all the different car manufacturers must locate their batteries in a similar location on their cars and make them swappable. Not happening. i think he should quickly take that money he's raised and figure out how to make quick charging stations ubiquitous throughout the country.
I think a wireless system on the road in front of parking/charging meters might be a decent idea to pursue.

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Shai Agassi seems to be saying: Because we're going to provide lots of recharge and battery-swapping stations, limited range won't be an obstacle anymore. Then electric cars can grow in popularity without having to rely on advances in battery technology.

CNBC headline: NEW ELECTRIC CAR VENTURE WILL RELY ON ADVANCES IN BATTERY TECHNOLOGY

What we have here is a failure to communicate.

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Not gonna happen. Besides the comments Domenick makes, additionally there's the problem that people won't trust what they're getting is an even swap for what they're giving.

Who's to say you aren't swapping out your 1 week old pack with 3 charge cycles on it for a 2 year old one with 500 charge cycles on it? And what happens when someone starts making crappy knockoff battery packs that only last half as long and starts handing those out as swaps?

Then there's the way in which it will discourage improvements in battery technology! Why would you pay 15% extra for a state of the art pack with 10% extra runtime, when you're just gonna swap it at the next station you go to for one with regular runtime anyway?

I just can't see this working.

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How much will these go for at the pawn shop?

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The whole point is the its up to the provider to ensure the quality of the batteries. You won't own a battery. The provider owns all the batteries. Its just a part of the service they provide to you.

Also I don't believe it will discourage improvements in battery technology. Its in the provider's interest to get better batteries so it can reduce their costs.

If they are looking after all this and you never have to worry about it then what is the problem. They are saying you'll pay a subscription which is the same as you'd pay now for gas and the car will cost even less to buy as its subsidised by the energy provider. I can't wait for it.

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This would be great for fleet vehicles and taxi's.

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Simon:
By better you mean cheaper. Why would they get higher capacity packs? Lower capacity packs will be cheaper. To me it feels like cable boxes. The cable companies pay for them all, but don't use them. Since they don't use them, their primary criteria is how much it costs, not how good it is to use it.

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Why would we need a "swapper" when we can charge an electric car up to 80% full in 1 minute using AltairNano batteries? (Or to full in 6)
http://greyfalcon.net/quickcharge
http://greyfalcon.net/quickcharge3
http://greyfalcon.net/quickcharge2

_

I will admit though that THIS type of battery swapping INSTEAD of V2G makes a lot of sense.
http://greyfalcon.net/plugins5

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Ford Motors prefers quickcharging over clumsy battery swapping for their own electric fleet.

http://www.posicharge.com/ford.html

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This battery swap idea is usefull in that one doesn't need a large pack of expensive Li-on batteries, just a smaller pack. Charge at home to get a 100 mile range, then swap it for long trips. Makes the initial cost of the car less when you don't have to have 200-300 miles worth of batteries. Lighter too.

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Some of the problems with battery swapping would be solved by leasing batteries, with the lease company replacing any battery falling below certain performance levels, and the lease company also running the swap stations. I suspect that what "Project Better Place" is planning to do.

There would still be the problems of getting the car manufacturers to use the standard modular battery packs, the eventual obsolescence due to improved battery technology, and the high infrastructure costs. It will still be cheaper to recharge than to swap, and there might not be enough swap business to keep it going.

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