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What Happened to Battery Swaps?

Discussion in 'Model S' started by tanner, Jan 16, 2016.

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  1. tanner

    tanner Active Member

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    #1 tanner, Jan 16, 2016
    Last edited: Jan 17, 2016
  2. green1

    green1 Active Member

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    #2 green1, Jan 16, 2016
    They opened one station, invite only and you had to make a reservation, and pay a fee, and go get your old battery on your return trip.

    They couldn't compete with the convenience and cost of the superchargers.

    Battery swap was always just a CARB credit grab, it never made real sense in the real world.
     
  3. Electroman

    Electroman Well-Known Member

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    #3 Electroman, Jan 17, 2016
    Why do you say that ?

    That link doesn't say anything about scrapping it ...!
     
  4. tanner

    tanner Active Member

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    #4 tanner, Jan 17, 2016
    I meant like I haven't heard any news in that department. The announcement was in 2013, I thought they had moved on.
     
  5. green1

    green1 Active Member

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    #5 green1, Jan 17, 2016
    To my knowledge the one station is still in operation, and still almost never used.
     
  6. tanner

    tanner Active Member

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    #6 tanner, Jan 17, 2016
    Huh, interesting. Who were the invites sent too? More details?

    - - - Updated - - -

    I know, that's the point. I'll edit it to avoid confusion.
     
  7. green1

    green1 Active Member

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    #7 green1, Jan 17, 2016
  8. tanner

    tanner Active Member

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    #8 tanner, Jan 17, 2016
  9. green1

    green1 Active Member

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    #9 green1, Jan 17, 2016
    The details are in the thread I linked to, but yes, it does still work, it just takes an extra few moments to remove and re-attach the shields
     
  10. tanner

    tanner Active Member

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    #10 tanner, Jan 17, 2016
    Yeah. Was reading through it, seems like it takes ~4 minutes. A bit longer than the initial 90 second demo. Would be cool if more stations were deployed and price was lowered to around $50 or $60. Would be WELL worth it to pack swap before a long trip.
     
  11. Thundalicious

    Thundalicious Member

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    #11 Thundalicious, Jan 17, 2016
    Listen to the Talking Tesla podcast, episode 4: "A billion swaps are dead"
    It gives a nice summary of the battery swap program and it's demise.
     
  12. tanner

    tanner Active Member

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    #12 tanner, Jan 17, 2016
    Link? I've never heard of it.
     
  13. cwerdna

    cwerdna Active Member

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    #13 cwerdna, Jan 17, 2016
  14. Thundalicious

    Thundalicious Member

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    #14 Thundalicious, Jan 17, 2016
    http://www.talkingtesla.net/

    New podcast every 2 weeks, discusses Tesla news, Elon, other Elon companies.
    They limit it to about 30 min/episode.
    Website will link you to podcast on Stitcher or Apple iTunes/Podcast app.
    It's been up since the summer, episode 19 just dropped in the last day or so.
     
  15. cwerdna

    cwerdna Active Member

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    #15 cwerdna, Jan 17, 2016
    See what happened to Project Better Place - Page 70.
     
  16. tanner

    tanner Active Member

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    #16 tanner, Jan 17, 2016
  17. jerry33

    jerry33 S85 - VIN:P05130 - 3/2/13

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    #17 jerry33, Jan 17, 2016
    My trip experience indicates that the 15 minutes or less Supercharger stops generally allow a pit stop and they are compete before you finish (this wouldn't be the case in very cold/bad weather, then the SC stops would be longer). One 15 minute stop in the morning, a 45 minute stop at lunch, and a 15 minute stop in the afternoon gets a minimum of 400 miles, and more likely 500 miles. Add an additional 20-30 minute stop and you get to 600.

    A swap station would never compete.The only real case for battery swap is commercial users where the vehicles are in operation 24 hours. To be effective, the swap station would have to be located just for that operation. Outside of an airport would be ideal because a single swap station could service multiple commercial customers.
     
  18. J-Philipp

    J-Philipp Member

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    #18 J-Philipp, Jan 17, 2016
    Was the Model X designed to be compatible with battery swap ?
     
  19. apacheguy

    apacheguy S Sig #255

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    #19 apacheguy, Jan 17, 2016
    From what I've heard it is heavily used and difficult to obtain an appt.
     
  20. jerry33

    jerry33 S85 - VIN:P05130 - 3/2/13

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    #20 jerry33, Jan 17, 2016
    No one has ever said, but I assume so.
     
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