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If you want to do long trips you could change the battery. The battery of the Tesla S is flat and on the floor, attached with a few screws.. Changing it takes

If you want to do long trips you could change the battery. The battery of the Tesla S is flat and on the floor, attached with a few screws.. Changing it takes seconds, the entire operation more or less like going to the gas station to fuel a conventional car.

ryanhuff 14y ago
Do you mean carry an extra battery, or do an exchange? While you "could" do an exchange, similar to how propane tank exchanges work, do you really want to be trading your pampered battery in for some random battery with an unknown history?
- DoubleCluster 14y ago
  Yeah, because you will exchange it again later that day anyway.
- danielweber 14y ago
  Battery swap almost necessitates leasing the battery. You cannot reasonably own a $10,000 thing you swap multiple times a week. But leasing it works extremely well.
  - ryanhuff 14y ago
    I assume that such a lease approach would have to carry insurance to cover battery damage, similar to buying coverage for car rentals. At least with car rentals, the insurance isn't very affordable, and leads to some people being irresponsible with the property.
    - danielweber 14y ago
      The insurance for a car lease is totally affordable. And that's what it would be -- a long-term lease. You would lease a battery for 3 or 5 years from a company, and then swap at that company's swap stations. They would bill you on something like total miles put on the vehicle or total miles delta put on at swap stations. You would have exactly one entity with which you would interact in case of battery issues: the company.
      - ryanhuff 14y ago
        That's a much more scalable approach. Supercharging stations, etc, seem like an insufficient band-aid. Imagine a gas station with each pump occupied for 30 minutes a piece.
brk 14y ago
That was basically the business idea of Better Place. Last I heard though they hadn't gained much traction.
- earthboundkid 14y ago
  They had the dumb idea of using renewable energy for the charging stations and, here's the dumb part, BUILDING THEIR OWN CARS instead of licensing out the battery tech to all the car companies for cheap. It was pretty clear for all the glowing profiles that came out when the company was forming that the guy running it was charismatic but a flaker.
ajays 14y ago
That makes the most sense. Imagine a Jiffy Lube style setup: you drive on to a station, robotic arms automatically remove your battery and install a new one, and you're on your way. Total time: under 2 minutes. Boom!

ryanhuff 14y ago

Do you mean carry an extra battery, or do an exchange? While you "could" do an exchange, similar to how propane tank exchanges work, do you really want to be trading your pampered battery in for some random battery with an unknown history?

DoubleCluster 14y ago
Yeah, because you will exchange it again later that day anyway.
danielweber 14y ago
Battery swap almost necessitates leasing the battery. You cannot reasonably own a $10,000 thing you swap multiple times a week. But leasing it works extremely well.
- ryanhuff 14y ago
  I assume that such a lease approach would have to carry insurance to cover battery damage, similar to buying coverage for car rentals. At least with car rentals, the insurance isn't very affordable, and leads to some people being irresponsible with the property.
  - danielweber 14y ago
    The insurance for a car lease is totally affordable. And that's what it would be -- a long-term lease. You would lease a battery for 3 or 5 years from a company, and then swap at that company's swap stations. They would bill you on something like total miles put on the vehicle or total miles delta put on at swap stations. You would have exactly one entity with which you would interact in case of battery issues: the company.
    - ryanhuff 14y ago
      That's a much more scalable approach. Supercharging stations, etc, seem like an insufficient band-aid. Imagine a gas station with each pump occupied for 30 minutes a piece.

brk 14y ago

That was basically the business idea of Better Place. Last I heard though they hadn't gained much traction.

earthboundkid 14y ago
They had the dumb idea of using renewable energy for the charging stations and, here's the dumb part, BUILDING THEIR OWN CARS instead of licensing out the battery tech to all the car companies for cheap. It was pretty clear for all the glowing profiles that came out when the company was forming that the guy running it was charismatic but a flaker.

ajays 14y ago

That makes the most sense. Imagine a Jiffy Lube style setup: you drive on to a station, robotic arms automatically remove your battery and install a new one, and you're on your way. Total time: under 2 minutes. Boom!