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Battery Swapping
Published on December 19th, 2014
by Christopher DeMorro
2
It’s been over a year and a half since Elon Musk introduced the Tesla battery swap, today Tesla announced that a limited pilot program would begin next week. Though only a few invited Model S owners will participate at first, a swap will cost the same as a full tank of premium gas, and will take just three minutes to change a depleted battery for a fully charged one.
The battery swap station will be located across the street from the Superchargers in Harris Ranch, California, though drivers will have to make an appointment before using it. The pilot project is meant to “test technology and assess demand.” In the blog post announcement, it is noted that the additional titanium battery shield has increased the battery swap time to three minutes, rather than the 90 seconds initially demonstrated. However, Tesla remains confident that with refinement they can get the swap time to less than a minute.
Here’s the thing though; who’s really going to use the battery swap stations? It’s been suggested the only reason Tesla even made it in the first place is to still be eligible for California’s ZEV credits, as California was considering making a 5-minute refill time a requirement for the credits.
However, ZEV credits have become an increasingly small part of Tesla’s income portfolio, as other automakers are able to earn the credits on their own. With 140 Superchargers in the US alone, and most charging done at home anyways, battery swap stations seem like they might be viable in limited numbers and locations. Project Better Place tried to build a whole business model around battery swapping, and that led them straight into bankruptcy.
At least Musk followed through on his promise to open a battery swap station by the end of the year, which is one less thing off my list of complaints. Now let’s get the Model X on the road, and I’ll be a happy camper.
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About the Author
Christopher DeMorro A writer and gearhead who loves all things automotive, from hybrids to HEMIs, Chris can be found wrenching or writing- or esle, he’s running, because he’s one of those crazy people who gets enjoyment from running insane distances.
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I will absolutely use the battery swap station once just to try it out. If my original pack gets returned with a full charge, I would also use the battery swap station at least once on road trips since I live far enough from Harris ranch that I need a nearly full charge to make it home without cutting things to close. Charging power slows as the battery fills up so that last charging stop at Harris Ranch takes over an hour. I also imagine anyone that owns a 60 kWh Model S would gladly pay to rent an 85 kW battery for a road trip. And there are at least a few Model S owners in urban areas that don’t have access to charging at home and routinely charge at superchargers- I bet some of them would pay for swaps rather than waiting at a supercharger a couple of times a week. I don’t expect most Model S owners will pay for battery swapping on a regular basis. But I bet there are enough to keep at least a couple of swap stations along heavily traveled routes occupied.
Gasoline is $1.76/gallon in Oklahoma City.