Battery Swap For EVs?

I check out Ample's second-generation battery swap station. The new 2nd gen design allows for pull-through access and allows the user to enter and exit the vehicle during a battery swap session. It also cuts the swap time in half from the 10 seconds it took the first-gen station to complete the swap, down to only 5 seconds.

[misaelramos]

Just like NIO does in free markets, you can LEASE/SUBSCRIBE to batteries, and swap whenever necessary. No need to worry about charging before a long trip just show up for a full pack. You might argue that you take good care of your pack and don't want to mix them all but if you're concerned about the eventual replacement of the pack, this eliminates that worry as you'll always have access to a serviceable pack. When you consider the impact of DC charging on your pack, picking up a pack that was likely charged at a steady rate in a controlled environment is better than jamming electrons into the same battery over and over on trips. Battery swapping will be an excellent addition to EV infrastructure.

[liontone]

It makes the maintenance super easy, as well. No reason to truck around huge batteries. Just service the module.

[liontone]

Ample is the real deal. The fact that they sized the modules down to shoebox shapes is a game changer.

[tonys]

This fits commercial fleet cars, vans, trucks, service vehicles. I wouldn’t swap my carefully maintained battery for an abused exhausted one.

[merrickhurst]

Catalytic converter thieves rejoice, your profession is persisting into the future!

[FuncleChuck]

We’ll do literally anything to avoid building trains.

[chrisschembari]

There are two main paths forward for swappable batteries. Either your station has to specialize in one or a few very similar models of batteries that all work with the station's same equipment, which would fracture the industry so that you will have multiple battery swap stations on each block, each of which can only service certain battery models; or there has to be some industry-wide regulation forcing EV manufacturers to all use the same battery.

There might be a middle road using parts of both the above paths, too, I guess.

Battery swapping might be great for fleet owners, who will pick their preferred EV models so they can all be served at one station.

[larrywest]

One complication is that – assuming there is variability in charging capacity – it will be harder to plan trips, and harder for cars' on-board computers to accurately predict range.

At least, planning will be an issue until battery swap stations approach the ubiquity of gasoline stations.

I suppose range calculations can be made reasonably accurate if each battery module can accurately report its state and history to on-board computers.

[MrJinske]

The more options for evs is always better than less. This way any use case can be suited.

[ChicagoBob]

By the time they ramp up the ev range will be over 600 miles. Maybe for trucks

[davidhenderson]

I think battery swapping is the only way TVs going to ever become main stream

[TheWizardGamez]

The good thing about it is that it extends battery life since you’re not fast charging everything. If you didn’t know, that’s why your phone lost all its battery capacity in a month of you getting it. Stop fast charging.

[scottmcelhiney]

So, swapping out batteries, meaning unbolting and resecuring hardware over and over and over... how long before a bolt is crossthreaded or just fatigues from cycling in and out of the vehicle over and over? How about the cooling connectors and electrical pins? I think those are huge parts of why Tesla doesn't offer this at all, even after showing it early on... just not needed. To many potential failures and liability... and if you go with it, how many batteries for how many different vehicles are you going to store at a swap station?

[jonevansauthor]

I mean, when you say EV you mean any vehicle, not just cars. Since they already have massive numbers of people using electric mopeds with swappable batteries in Asia, it just does have a future, doesn't it?

Can it work for cars? Probably. It's already being done too. We'll see. Lots of people are putting it in quadricycles and perhaps cars too. Lots of reasons it'd be great. Not got a driveway? Take your swappable battery upstairs to your flat, charge it, in the morning you have enough range to get too and from work. Simple. Charge the rest of the battery when you get to a fast charger or to the supermarket.

[johnwang]

This is the way it should be but it needs to be a regilation, a standardization not just a proprietary system of a disruptive company. We argue about something aseanimgledd as NACsS and CCS but this is where forced regulation is needed and where we're not likely to get it.

[JoeBLOWFHB]

So you only need twice as many batteries as cars? What happens if your battery is damage by road debris, is that part of the lease or am I buying a damaged battery?

[DoubleCTech]

Battery swapping stations only make sense if you lease the battery, which I certainly wouldn’t want to do. 🤷‍♂️

[nc]

Last I checked Ample doesn't Offer direct charging.... And for a total modular battery pack swap, takes much longer than the Chinese alternatives... So it doesn't seem viable... And I don't trust the CEO.... But would love to see a direct comparison.... Good luck doing that someday Tom

[IronmanV]

And just a couple of days ago there was the video of the EV with the swappable battery that had lost it's pack

[sonnyonny]

Battery swap does not have a place for cars that you own. Maybe in commercial use it definitely would have a future for fleets that a company controls and handles all the maintenance of.