Battery Swap at super charger stations

[tslaaustin]

I just saw this interesting video of Elon Musk explaining and demonstrating bettery swap at super charger stations.

Any information on when is Tesla plan to implement this ?
Demo was really cool. They were able to swap battery for 2 Tesla Model S in less than 4 mins which is same time took to fill up gas in an ICE SUV.

 

[tslaaustin]

Looks like Tesla is already following up on the battery swap concept. Someone posted swap station construction video here. Hopefully it will be available soon.
These things would be handy specially during night drives not having to wait in supercharger station for long during late nights.

 

[JSergeant]

I just saw this interesting video of Elon Musk explaining and demonstrating bettery swap at super charger stations.

Any information on when is Tesla plan to implement this ?
Demo was really cool. They were able to swap battery for 2 Tesla Model S in less than 4 mins which is same time took to fill up gas in an ICE SUV.

AFAIK this is over and done with - it was tried at Harris Ranch and nobody was interested in using it.

Tesla's battery swap program is pretty much dead
JUNE 10, 2015
Tesla’s battery swap program is pretty much dead

 

[TexasEV]

Tsalaustin, you're three years too late. But lots of posts here about it from 2013 that you can search if you're interested in ancient history.

 

[markn455]

They killed this idea a few months following the announcement.

 

[S'toon]

Couple of things happened.

First, people would rather have a bathroom break or bite to eat while charging for free rather than pay $80 for a battery swap.

Secondly, Tesla added that titanium plate to prevent debris fires. That caused the 90 second swap to turn into a 15 minute swap. Not worth it.

So, no interest in the swapping stations.

 

[callmesam]

Swap is not dead but fully operational at Harris Ranch.

 

[RDoc]

I still think the idea is great, but it would require some serious capital expenditures to fully automate it for practicality. With the number of Teslas coming soon, they're going to need something like this or the superchargers are going to be packed.

 

[Matias]

To my understanding it was a change in CARB rules that killed the programme.

 

[DCGOO]

It doesn't scale at all. It would require a building, inventory and staff.

 

[willcasp]

I thought saw Musk talking about this, and lack of interest was what killed it. Few people did it once. No one did it twice.

 

[Todd Burch]

Secondly, Tesla added that titanium plate to prevent debris fires. That caused the 90 second swap to turn into a 15 minute swap.

Do you have a source for this? That is not my understanding. The debris protection consists of two things:

1. A titanium extrusion.
2. A small titanium plate.

I've never heard any information about this plate increasing a swap to 15 minutes.

 

[Chuq]

What I don't understand is that.. for all their faults, Better Place had this system working flawlessly. They had six taxis (I think electric Renault Zoes) in Tokyo that were running 24/7, using battery swaps when low. The trial lasted three months. They had no problems so they extended the trial. I think it was close to six months when they decided 'Yep - this works'.

Their business model was different, in that the owners did not own the battery - they were leased. But the technology worked.

 

[kort677]

To my understanding it was a change in CARB rules that killed the programme.

correct, this is one of the larger factors in addition to general dislike of the whole concept. you can make a long distance drive using SpC stops of 15-20 minutes and here in the US and in Europe the SpC network is filling in well rendering the battery swap an expensive and redundant concept.

 

[aaron0k]

correct, this is one of the larger factors in addition to general dislike of the whole concept. you can make a long distance drive using SpC stops of 15-20 minutes and here in the US and in Europe the SpC network is filling in well rendering the battery swap an expensive and redundant concept.

A lot of MS/MX owners who can afford the car; also own their own home, can easily find a parking space, charge overnight etc... it's a skewed perspective.

A lot of car owners in general, do not own a home, do not have overnight charging access etc, live in condos, apartments, street parking, etc.

The appeal of buying a $35k EV, then spending 1-2 times a week traveling to a SC; spending 40 mins each time... wears quickly and limits the market. The Battery Swapping concept could have been a lot more popular; Tesla was just testing it with the wrong crowd (the 2%); then to price it "equivalent to gas"... why bother? Doomed from the start...

 

[WarpedOne]

But the technology worked.

Of course technology worked. It is not a technical problem, it is economic and usability problem.
Better place went bankrupt not because their tech did not work ...

 

[PaulR]

What I don't understand is that.. for all their faults, Better Place had this system working flawlessly. They had six taxis (I think electric Renault Zoes) in Tokyo that were running 24/7, using battery swaps when low. The trial lasted three months. They had no problems so they extended the trial. I think it was close to six months when they decided 'Yep - this works'.

Their business model was different, in that the owners did not own the battery - they were leased. But the technology worked.

The above is true. and they, indeed had it working. Their main problem was terrible management. Spending millions of dollars for expansion with no real planning. Renault finally had to bail out.