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Look to China for mass production of cost effective batteries, not Tesla... firms like EV West help me demystify the true state of maturity of this market http:

Look to China for mass production of cost effective batteries, not Tesla... firms like EV West help me demystify the true state of maturity of this market http://evwest.com/catalog/ http://evwest.com/catalog/

mtgx 10y ago
That's what I'm afraid of. That China will push a "race to the bottom" not on just prices per se, but on lower prices with poorer quality batteries that hold much fewer charges and degrade faster, making you want to dump your EV battery after 3 years. But everyone will be too focused on their promotion of "cheap long range EVs" to notice.
- venomsnake 10y ago
  Revolutionary idea ... make batteries replaceable. We had it back in the days. You could just remove the old batteries and put the new ones.
  - imron 10y ago
    Tesla cars can do this in less than 2 minutes - faster than it takes to fill up a tank of gas. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5V0vL3nnHY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5V0vL3nnHY
    - kalleboo 10y ago
      Insert the typical disclaimer here about how they only did that demo to get some California ZEV credits and how they're not moving forward with actually implementing it for end users
      - imron 10y ago
        Well, that sucks.
      - walrus01 10y ago
        and the disclaimer about how the only semi-viable battery swap company went bankrupt and shut down: http://cleantechnica.com/2013/05/27/no-better-place-battery-swapping-company-going-bankrupt/ http://cleantechnica.com/2013/05/27/no-better-place-battery-...
      - codeulike 10y ago
        There is an actual battery swap station in california where Tesla owners can swap batteries. But not many people sign up for it.
    - CamperBob2 10y ago
      If ever there was a legitimate role for a government-mandated standard...
  - davej 10y ago
    Tesla tried this and it didn't seem very popular (albeit low sample size): http://fortune.com/2015/06/10/teslas-battery-swap-is-dead/ http://fortune.com/2015/06/10/teslas-battery-swap-is-dead/
- nawariata 10y ago
  I would be more concerned about exploding batteries, lithium is no joke. http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?262234-TK-Monster-Explosion http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?262234-TK...
  - olivermarks 10y ago
    This is why EV's have a horizontal firewall, to protect the occupants from the batteries. Plasma burns are a big concern for the guys building and tuning drag racing and hill climbing EV's. (Electric vehicles are wonderful for acceleration sports but currently hopeless for any sort of sustained high speed/endurance racing).

mtgx 10y ago

That's what I'm afraid of. That China will push a "race to the bottom" not on just prices per se, but on lower prices with poorer quality batteries that hold much fewer charges and degrade faster, making you want to dump your EV battery after 3 years. But everyone will be too focused on their promotion of "cheap long range EVs" to notice.

venomsnake 10y ago
Revolutionary idea ... make batteries replaceable. We had it back in the days. You could just remove the old batteries and put the new ones.
- imron 10y ago
  Tesla cars can do this in less than 2 minutes - faster than it takes to fill up a tank of gas. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5V0vL3nnHY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5V0vL3nnHY
  - kalleboo 10y ago
    Insert the typical disclaimer here about how they only did that demo to get some California ZEV credits and how they're not moving forward with actually implementing it for end users
    - imron 10y ago
      Well, that sucks.
    - walrus01 10y ago
      and the disclaimer about how the only semi-viable battery swap company went bankrupt and shut down: http://cleantechnica.com/2013/05/27/no-better-place-battery-swapping-company-going-bankrupt/ http://cleantechnica.com/2013/05/27/no-better-place-battery-...
    - codeulike 10y ago
      There is an actual battery swap station in california where Tesla owners can swap batteries. But not many people sign up for it.
  - CamperBob2 10y ago
    If ever there was a legitimate role for a government-mandated standard...
- davej 10y ago
  Tesla tried this and it didn't seem very popular (albeit low sample size): http://fortune.com/2015/06/10/teslas-battery-swap-is-dead/ http://fortune.com/2015/06/10/teslas-battery-swap-is-dead/
nawariata 10y ago
I would be more concerned about exploding batteries, lithium is no joke. http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?262234-TK-Monster-Explosion http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?262234-TK...
- olivermarks 10y ago
  This is why EV's have a horizontal firewall, to protect the occupants from the batteries. Plasma burns are a big concern for the guys building and tuning drag racing and hill climbing EV's. (Electric vehicles are wonderful for acceleration sports but currently hopeless for any sort of sustained high speed/endurance racing).