Elon Musk tried to convince us that could be done in his 2013 on stage demo but it doesn't seem to have become reality yet.
Two years after its debut, Tesla's battery-swapping program is not in good shape.
www.businessinsider.com
While I can see great value in electric vehicles around town with overnight recharges, I like to be able to drive without stopping on the long, straight, boring trip from Phoenix to Los Angeles, needs a 650 km range minimum, when that becomes feasible in an EV and I can then recharge it quickly for the trip back, then I'll consider an EV. My gasoline powered vehicles have no problem on such a round trip with a five minute refill.
How often do you take that trip of 650km? For sure not every week, right? How many cars does your family have - for sure more than one. Why not starting with one EV and go from there?
And: how long does that 650km Trip take - and are you doing it without any breake for food, beverage or toilet time? With a fully charged wide-range Tesla you start with 500+km range. Assuming there is a super charger on the way, you take a cup of coffee, go for a pi and when you return, your car has recovered to at least 80% of the range. So - you could do roughly 800 - 900 km with a 20 minutes stop. Or simply half way between Phoenix and Los Angeles, take the 20 Minutes break. Not sure you could do that faster with a gas burner, as you simply NEED that break to stay focused and safe. If you plan it in, it is no problem at all. Just start 10 minutes earlier, cause that is the real time difference if you include the time you need to pay the gas, check oil etc on the gas burner...
Sorry to say it, but this becomes more and more an excuse rather than an argument. I am currently almost not driving a car, that is why I do not invest into one (and because the Model Y is still not produced in Germany and therefore, we can not test-ride it yet; else I would most probably already have ordered one...).
The reason why the battery exchange never happened is because Tesla recognized it is a logistic nightmare...
Apart from the issue with limited range and long waiting times at charching stations, I'd like to know how a typical problem on congested highways will be adressed. Here in Germany we frequently have accidents or weather conditions that bring traffic to a stop, causing large traffic jams . With standardized, quick swap batteries, a rescue vehicle can be sent to the stranded vehicles and swap the batteries out. Try recharching several dozen or hundreds of vehicles on a snowed in Autobahn in Winter....
Hi Gerald,
as written above: there is no way you can standardize these battery packs unless you standardize all cars. see how many different normal batteries exist for cars. how many different airfilters, spark plugs etc. etc. - what makes you believe the automobile industry could agree on a standard when they haven't achieved it in 150 years? You would need a truck load full of battery packs to achieve this. Also, why should a city car carry half a ton of batteries with it just because an SUV would need it? makes absolutely no sense.
The better way to help cars stranded at road side would be to have mobile chargers to be delivered to these cars that make them able to reach at least to the next charging station. just like when you run out of fuel, ADAC brings you 10 Liters (at a price...) to make you able to get to the next gas station. Or have recharging-possibilities at these emergency phones along the highway. or have inductive charging on the right lane of the highway... or.... Anything is better than the idea of changing batteries. It is simply logistically not something you could do in an economic way.
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