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I think the trick is not to swap the whole battery Instead design in a space for a secondary battery, maybe 40% the capacity of the main battery. Make those s
by toss1 5y ago
I think the trick is not to swap the whole battery
Instead design in a space for a secondary battery, maybe 40% the capacity of the main battery. Make those standard and swap-able.
Now, you can use the car as ordinary in either the one-battery or two-battery mode, with the 1B config being more nimble handling with less range, and the 2B config more range. In any case, you can then enjoy rapid-swap of the standard 2nd battery, or maybe just rent one for a long trip.
This also helps the automakers keep their proprietary designs on the main battery for differentiation. The 2nd battery could go in the extra trunk space or something...
- stetrain 5y agoBut if you are talking about faster partial-capacity refills during road trip stops, we already have that. Current batteries charge way faster from 0-50% than 50-100%. The curve really starts to fall off above 80%. I usually try to plan my stops so that I’m arriving with 5-10% and charging to 60-65%. With 250kW chargers that results in a ~15min charging stop. I don’t think the costs of development, impact to vehicle design, and infrastructure would make sense for swaps just to replace what is already a 15min charge.
- toss1 5y agoTrue, the differential will reduce as we get even higher-amperage chargers and batteries w/higher C ratings. Yet still, being able to get 40% in 3 minutes is still better. I'd also see little reason that a properly configured trunk couldn't hold a pair of 40% battery units. Kind of like carrying jerry-cans on the back of a rover, except you can just plug them in...
- stetrain 5y agoJerry-cans don't weight 400lb