Re:I’m ready to trade in my electric car. Here’s why
by jfengel on Sunday April 23, 2023 @04:39PM
(#35680362)
Battery swap seems unlikely. It's just an excuse for "skeptics".
The use case for swaps is small. The vast majority of trips are short. Trips long enough to require a recharge often require a long stop for the driver.
People have priced in the notion of spending some time each week pouring flammable liquids into their vehicle. If we had started with electric cars everyone would find it disgusting and far too frequent. The speed of it for rare use cases would not impress.
Swappable batteries will not change that. They are too expensive and they limit design too much. Reducing the charge time to five minutes or even zero minutes would not change the minds of people who would simply swap to their next excuse.
The use case for swaps is small. The vast majority of trips are short. Trips long enough to require a recharge often require a long stop for the driver.
People have priced in the notion of spending some time each week pouring flammable liquids into their vehicle. If we had started with electric cars everyone would find it disgusting and far too frequent. The speed of it for rare use cases would not impress.
Swappable batteries will not change that. They are too expensive and they limit design too much. Reducing the charge time to five minutes or even zero minutes would not change the minds of people who would simply swap to their next excuse.