Could battery swapping solve a key barrier to EV adoption?

Summary. Battery swapping is a technology that could solve one key barrier for EV adoption: consumers’ range anxiety and the long waiting time for battery charging. Wouldn’t you feel more assured on a weekend trip if you knew you could stop at a swap station and replace depleted battery packs with fully charged ones in five minutes?

How long does a battery swap take?

“If fast charging will take half an hour and the battery swap takes five minutes, you save 25 minutes.” For a delivery company like FedEx or Amazon, that 25 minutes could be worth the cost of investing in backup batteries. Battery swapping could also fit smaller vehicles, like e-bikes, which often already have removable batteries.

Are battery swaps a good idea?

But in practice, says Gil Tal, director of the University of California Davis’ Plug-in Hybrid and Electric Vehicle Research Center, battery swaps replace the challenge of fast charging with another. “The problem is that for each car on the road, you have many more batteries waiting in storage,” he says.

Is battery swapping a relic of a bygone EV age?

Jeremy Michalek, a mechanical engineering professor and director of Carnegie Mellon’s vehicle electrification group, calls battery swapping a relic of a bygone EV age. Today’s new EVs routinely deliver 200 to 400 miles of range, with a potential 517 miles for the forthcoming Lucid Air.

Are swappable batteries a waste of money?

Since batteries are so expensive, bulky and resource-intensive, Michalek says, creating vast networks of swappable packs—which must be stored, kept charged and maintained—would be a waste of money and resources, while expanding carbon footprints. Many surplus batteries would end up sitting around, waiting for customers.

Could battery swaps help EVs?

Ample joins several other companies, past and present, with similar ideas. Battery swapping aims to match the convenience and speed of visiting a gas station, which proponents say could help strengthen the case for EVs by making it faster to replenish a car’s range.