Switching an Electric Car Battery in About One Minute (w/Video)

3 by Timothy Hurst on December 27, 2010

VHS or Beta? Blu Ray or HD? The race for supremacy in technological innovation is often the stuff of legend and the question of whether electric cars will more likely be "refueled" by plugging in or by swapping discharged batteries for fresh ones is no different. Well, maybe a little different. In the case of EVs, it is quite possible the two technologies, although competing on some level, could both win and flourish simultaneously.

The obvious advantage of pulling a car into a station and swapping a spent battery for a fresh one is the amount of time it takes compared to plugging-in and charging. As demonstrated in the video below, cars employing the Better Place model can be completely rejuvenated with a fresh battery in just over a minute. In terms of charging stations, so-called Level Two chargers (fast-charging DC stations) will charge a battery in 10-25 minutes, usually only recharging a battery to 80 percent of capacity in that time.

But because of the specific infrastructure needed to make the switching station model work, Better Place cars like the Renault Fluence ZE can also be plugged-in and charged via Level One (slow-charging) and Level Two like the Nissan LEAF, Chevy Volt and other EVs currently on the American market or headed that way.

Currently, Better Place is focusing on the populations dense markets of Israel and Denmark, but the company's founder and CEO, Shai Agassi said in a recent interview with NPR that he hopes to prove the viability of the switching station concept in corridors in Australia and then in the U.S.

h/t Treehugger

http://www.thegreenjobbank.com Bernard the Green Jobs Guru

I suppose the drawbacks of the switching method is that it takes more batteries, so there will be more to dispose of (and we’re not too good at that yet), and from a practical point of view, how can the car owner trust that the switched battery is as good as the one he bought with the car? There should be some guarantee that the charge is good enough for a minimum mileage.

http://ecopolitology.org Timothy B. Hurst

Hi Bernard-

Thanks for your comment. Yes, the switching method does require more overhead (i.e batteries sitting around waiting to be swapped).

In terms of guaranteeing battery quality, Better Place actually owns the batteries, as the car owner, you lease the battery from Better Place. This ensures that you won’t get stuck with a lemon of a battery, because it’s in Better Place’s best interest as a business to lease out well-maintained, fully-functional batteries.