Travel battery using Tesla style quick change

Obviously this is not a quick or easy fix. I am thinking about the long game here, a true ICE alternative. What if the car were designed to have a space in the undercarriage cable of holding a LARGE travel battery? You pull into a Tesla style quick change station and it gets installed automatically in 90 seconds. Pay a daily rental rate that includes unlimited quick changes at other stations. Reach your destination and drop the battery at the nearest quick change station. When you are ready to head home, pick up another travel battery and repeat the process.

I know there are numerous technical challenges involved; weight distribution, suspension settings, infrastructure, pricing, insurance…….. the list goes on and on. It would require a massive re-engineering of the chassis, suspension, brakes, etc. However, if you could rent extra capacity instead of having to buy it, you would crush the primary objection to EVs; range. Additionally, a quick change would eliminate the charging time objection.

This is really more of an EV vs. ICE long term strategy, not a practical solution to the Leaf’s range problem. But just think about it for a minute. If ALL EVs had space for a universal travel battery, and you could easily access quick change stations, it would make for the ultimate in versatility. Low cost to charge daily commuter with a competitively priced range extender. You could even offer multiple sizes to fit the drivers’ needs. I would gladly pay $25/day for an additional 100 miles of range or $50/day for a 200 extra miles (both with unlimited quick changes of course).

I am sure the haters are going to crush my dreams with all the reasons this is a horrible idea….. but ask yourself first, is it technically possible and what objections to EVs would remain in my fantasy world?

If you can picture widely available battery stations, why not QC in every EV and widely available QC stations, instead? Less complexity and cost involved.

LeftieBiker said:

If you can picture widely available battery stations, why not QC in every EV and widely available QC stations, instead?

Click to expand...

Because smaller capacity batteries can't be charged very quickly? Or, if you mean to suggest that larger capacity batteries become common, why would your average Pat commuter want to 1.) pay for that capacity or 2.) haul its significant weight around when s/he only needs it a few times per year?

I like the idea and almost expect Tesla to incorporate it into their upcoming Model 3, using some of their supercharger locations and/or service centers for the, er, service. I'd love for Nissan to team up with Tesla somehow to do the same, but I'm not holding my breath.

LeftieBiker said:

Less complexity and cost involved.

Click to expand...

If it's built into the design, from "day 1", there'd be little to no added complexity or cost. And being able to rent capacity on an as-needed basis would actually reduce cost -- and possibly complexity, too -- for the consumer who occasionally travels long distances and doesn't want to rent or drive an ICE.

Sure, this could work in theory. Economy of scale may even make it a good business plan for whatever company deploys/maintains the network of "travel" batteries.

Engineering challenge is relatively easy to overcome - design of the system and interface to be standard across different makes/models. With standard design even safety issues can be addressed.

Business model would be dependent on adoption; enough EVs have to support the system in order to provide enough volume to spread the initial costs around.

The challenge that I see killing such a proposal is getting adoption across different EV manufacturers. Getting any sort of 'standard' agreed upon is often viewed as limiting to individual innovation. I don't (yet) see any single manufacturer being large enough to create the volume required for this solution to become viable.

Tesla is the closest to doing this from my understanding - they have designed a solution that works for the Model S and I expect will work for the Model X as well (seems they are utilizing much of the same engineering design which is wise IMO). However, they are absorbing the cost of the charge/swap infrastructure into their vehicle design/sales. May be difficult to get other manufacturers to buy into this solution....

Standardization would be key and we cannot even standardize the QC system.
Many have proposed a battery pack on a trailer that could be rented.
While all good ideas I don't see much action until EVs get to be over 20% of total auto sales.

smkettner said:

Standardization would be key and we cannot even standardize the QC system.
Many have proposed a battery pack on a trailer that could be rented.
While all good ideas I don't see much action until EVs get to be over 20% of total auto sales.

Click to expand...

Standardization can "happen" and be a good thing. Apple eventually embraced Intel(!), I think my Blu-ray player plays + and - DVDs, and thank goodness gopher: didn't last long! So there is hope, but you're right that it will take a certain critical mass and number of years (think of the internet in the late 90s; that's where we are in this 'revolution').

And no one wants to pull a trailer (imho), or at least I don't! I want to go somewhere, tell them I need an extra 48kWh for my vacation next week, and come in and have them install it in 20 minutes. Like having someone install more RAM in your laptop (years ago), say... all the software, sensors and display adjust accordingly. When vacation is done, I return to the service center, they remove the extra capacity, I pay and drive away with my 24kWh (appropriate-weight) commuter LEAF intact, none the wiser or different for what just transpired.

I can see it happening, and we can help make it happen!

smkettner said:

Standardization would be key and we cannot even standardize the QC system.

Click to expand...

Yep. And no automaker wants to be locked into a particular standard form factor, capacity and chemistry of a battery that their competitors...err partners are also using for who knows how long?

OP should skip to the last few pages of http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=8040" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/635-Project-Better-Place" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

The caption at http://www.fastcompany.com/3028159/a-broken-place-better-place" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; says "Better Place's battery-swapping stations were projected to cost no more than $500,000 each; they cost $2 million. They're now shut down."

The subject of battery swapping has been discussed to death all of the place at "TMC", like http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/16730-Swapping-is-Coming-Discuss-how-it-will-be-accomplished" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. Search http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/archive/index.php/t-16730.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; for formula, for instance.

These http://www.kreiselelectric.com/en/projects/electric-bmw-3-series-touring/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; guys have a nice thing going on at the bottom of the page.