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It was abandoned because fast charging stations keep improving, and are much simpler and cheaper to operate than battery swap stations. It's already at the poin
by NickM 6y ago
It was abandoned because fast charging stations keep improving, and are much simpler and cheaper to operate than battery swap stations. It's already at the point where you can take a 400-500 mile road trip in a Model 3 with maybe a single twenty minute charging stop, which is just not that much extra time, and most people like to take a short break every few hours anyway.
I suspect Tesla knew this would probably happen, but IIRC there was a rule for a while with the California ZEV credit program where manufacturers qualified for extra credits if a vehicle could be "refueled" in under five minutes. Tesla set up a single swapping station to prove it could be done and therefore qualify for the extra credits, but it was always kind of inconvenient and expensive and very few people actually used it.
- patall 6y agoI see, that actually makes sense. To bad most affordable cars actually operate in much lower ranges.
- amirhirsch 6y agoA car with a 40 mile range would be cheaper to buy, and a lot lighter so also more efficient. You could swap in a 400 mile battery when you actually need it.
- mgr86 6y agoThe problem I have with the 40 mile range is that is highly dependent on 1. temperature. Extreme cold lowers range 2. topography. Inclines can drain a battery quickly. Declines can add range. 3. driving style. Do you have a lead foot? 4. Driving type. Are you on a highway?
- amirhirsch 6y agoYou're nitpicking here. 60 mile range. 100 mile range. Whatever customer needs daily is far different from their outlier use cases. Most people with home/work charging never go below 40 miles from full.
- mgr86 6y agofair enough. It is an innovative idea.
- ianai 6y agoI’d still like to be able to tow a battery behind me for extended trips. I don’t know how running the AC impacts range, I would like to know. Places with extreme weather and major population centers can make an otherwise short drive really taxing on resources through ac use or just being stuck in place for extended periods of time. Like how peak LV traffic can turn a 15 min drive into a 50 minute drive in 120f+ heat. Tow-able batteries would make wide use cases like apartments more viable too. Edit-typo
- frosted-flakes 6y agoThat seems like a fantastic idea. This way, the car's internal battery can be smaller and lighter for day-to-day use (and therefore more efficient), and whenever longer range is needed you can just rent a fully-charged tow-a-battery, which you can swap out like propane tanks, or recharge yourself at home. These tow-a-batteries would work with any electric car with standard secure hook-ups. Since these batteries would be rather expensive, I imagine that you would have to pay a refundable deposit to the tow-a-battery network (Shell, Esso, etc.) that covers the full cost of the tow-a-battery in order to rent one. The biggest down-side is that a rear-end crash could be rather dangerous. I don't see a way around that without making the tow-a-battery a vehicle in itself.
- leetcrew 6y agoby the time you've added enough protection (ie, extra mass and drag) to the towed battery, it seems like you would be pretty deep into diminishing returns. a large amount of the extra energy would be spent on moving the trailer itself.
- ianai 6y agoNot really. Yes batteries add lots of weight. But electric motors have lots of torque and are known to climb hills easily. Like how Tesla’s forthcoming truck can tow up to 14000 pounds. I’m not doing the calculus, but I suspect the power characteristics of electric motors more than make up for a towable battery. Edit-here’s an article about a company doing this https://electrek.co/2020/02/19/french-startup-proposes-battery-trailers-as-ad-hoc-ev-range-extenders/ https://electrek.co/2020/02/19/french-startup-proposes-batte...