3 ms·
Battery swapping is a dead technology, it is simply not economical. It is too expensive, much harder to scale and incompatible with cell-to-chassis designs. Ind
by lima 9mo ago
Battery swapping is a dead technology, it is simply not economical. It is too expensive, much harder to scale and incompatible with cell-to-chassis designs. Industry barely managed to agree on a charging connector!
Meanwhile, battery longevity is essentially a solved problem. Manufacturers do have an incentive to improve it due to customer demand, and modern NMC chemistry, cooling and BMS have improved significantly to the point where they're expected to maintain 70-85% capacity after 10 years[1], far from worthless. At this point, components like the motor likely fail before the battery does.
Given the much lower failure rate of everything else in an EV, TCO is dramatically better than ICE cars even with degradation[3].
Manufacturers like Mercedes even guarantee 70% health after 8 years (a worst-case estimate).
There is a significant commercial incentive for aftermarket battery repair shops. EVClinic[2] is very successful and a glimpse into the future.
[1]: https://www.geotab.com/blog/ev-battery-health/ https://www.geotab.com/blog/ev-battery-health/
[2]: https://evclinic.eu/ https://evclinic.eu/
[3]: https://evclinic.eu/2025/12/31/diesel-mythology-vs-ev-reality/ https://evclinic.eu/2025/12/31/diesel-mythology-vs-ev-realit...
- dijit 9mo agobelieve it when I see it. no car you can buy with this longevity tech, no phone either- same issue.
- maximus-decimus 9mo agoThe Tesla Model S has been out for almost 13 years, so you can already see it. Your phone doesn't have liquid cooling temp management and is probably recharged daily. With a car that has 300 miles range, a lot of people probably only do a full cycle every week.
- dijit 9mo agoIt was recently in the media that old Tesla’s are now worthless once the batteries are dead and that this is happening now. Heres one such source but theres hundreds if you care to look: https://min.news/en/auto/2a2636e0ac962b5d94ee68babcd09a3d.html https://min.news/en/auto/2a2636e0ac962b5d94ee68babcd09a3d.ht...
- vel0city 9mo agoOld ICE cars are also usually dead when major drivetrain parts fail after a decade and a half.
- ponector 9mo agoFor old ice car the solution often is to swap with used parts from wrecked vehicles. Not suitable for batteries.
- vel0city 9mo agoFor old EVs the solution is to deal with used parts from wrecked vehicles. It can absolutely be suitable for batteries.
- PlunderBunny 8mo agoWe had a 2010 Ford Transit van (diesel) and after 189000km, we sold it because the parts were becoming too hard to source (disclaimer: in New Zealand).
- maximus-decimus 9mo ago> are now worthless once the batteries are dead 13 years old dead luxury cars are worthless, yes, especially when the tech is quickly evolving. That doesn't say anything about how long it takes for them to die or how reliable the tech is.
- lima 9mo agoAnd even those those ancient luxury cars can often be repaired by a third-party shop like EVClinic. There aren't many 10+ year old EVs yet, and demand is limited. This is changing, and EVClinic will be the first of many aftermarket EV repair shops.
- hvb2 9mo agoSo 7000 to 8000 euros to replace a battery of a 80 to 100k car? It depends on how many miles it has driven and how much other maintenance the car has had. It's a big expense but a battery dying is probably comparable to a timing belt breaking, those aren't cheap either and thats not even for luxury cars...