The editorial answers you | Swapping the batteries of electric cars rather than recharging them?

Do you have questions about our editorials? Questions about hot topics in the news? Each week, the editorial team responds to readers of The Press.

Philip Mercury
The Press

You are far from the only one to have had this idea! It has lost popularity over the years and has its share of detractors, but remains alive nonetheless. What you are describing is even already in use in Norway and China, in particular.

As you write, the idea of ​​swapping the battery instead of recharging avoids the wait for recharging. The principle is reminiscent of the empty propane tank for the BBQ that you exchange for a full one at the service station.

The other advantage is that the battery still represents the bulk of the cost of an electric vehicle. In a sales model where the battery does not belong to the owner, it is possible to sell the vehicle for much less and then charge for recharging or set up a subscription system. This could facilitate the adoption of electric vehicles, which are even more expensive than their gasoline versions.

Launched to much fanfare in 2007, the American-Israeli company Better Place set out to do just that. Thanks to a partnership with the manufacturer Renault and supported by the former president of Israel and Nobel Peace Prize winner Shimon Peres, the box raised nearly 900 million US dollars and deployed exchange stations in Israel, in Australia, Denmark and Hawaii, in particular.

The technology worked with Renault’s Fluence ZE cars. Drivers only had to park at the stations. Under the floor, robots were busy removing the dead battery and replacing it with a fully charged battery in just five minutes.

Unfortunately, Better Place came to a dramatic end and became creditor-proof in 2013. The failure was mainly attributed to mismanagement; the company would have underestimated the cost of deploying its stations and would have launched operations in too many countries at once.

Since then, the idea has lost much of its popularity. Tesla, in particular, considered the concept before abandoning it.

“The technological context is changing so rapidly that this solution is less and less attractive,” judges Daniel Breton, President and CEO of Electric Mobility Canada, for example.

He points out that in 2012, it took one hour of charging to put 30 km of autonomy under the hood of an electric car. Today, with the most efficient terminals, you can store 400 km in 20 or 30 minutes. This reduces the attractiveness of swapping batteries.

Critics also point out that such a solution requires a very high number of batteries. In addition to all those in the vehicles, other batteries have to wait at the exchange stations. This leads to additional costs that ultimately end up being passed on to the consumer.

The problem of interchangeability between the models that you mention in your question is also an obstacle. Today, manufacturers are not even able to standardize their charging sockets. So, no, their batteries are not one-size-fits-all like AA batteries in flashlights.

Despite these drawbacks, the dream of swapping batteries is not dead. Chinese electric car maker Nio has more than 800 exchange stations in China and has started rolling them out in Norway.

California start-up Ample also believes it can break into the market by changing battery “modules” rather than the complete battery. According to the company, the technology could work with any model of electric vehicle. Investors seem to believe it, the young shoot being already valued at nearly 1 billion US dollars. A partnership with Uber has notably been signed.

According to Daniel Breton, swapping batteries could also be interesting for heavy vehicles that travel long distances, since their batteries require a longer recharge time.