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Swappable batteries
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Written on: 14 May 2008 [22:07]
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ecoadmin
Administrator
Topic creator
registered since: 20.07.2007
Posts: 585
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Hi, renault/Nissan wants to have an electric commuter car ready for London's 2012 Olympic Games. The companies have invested a lot of efforts into the EV research. Together with Silicon Valley startup Better Place, the car manufacturer has demonstrated a prototype. The car is a Renault and Nissan and NEC (joint-venture) provided the Li-Ion battery pack. The car is highway capable and goes from 0 to 60 in 8 seconds with a range of 125 miles. To reduce the limitation regarding range Better Place wanst to introduce swappable batteries. Swap stations located near highways would provide the opportunity to swap battreies within minutes. A recharging grid is planned initially for Israel and Renault hopes its EV to be on the road there by 2010. 150 swapping stations are planned in Israel together with 500'000 charging spots. Better Place is also in talks with other countries such as Denmark about a similar infrastructure. Smaller countries are ideal for a nationwide EV charging network. In the US the obstacles are higher and it would take billions of dollars to create a battery exchange network. But how about EV's with Range Extenders for cars needing more range while the network is being built? Whats your opinion about Project Better Place and swappable batteries? Is the car industry ready to come up with a system of swappable batteries? Twike 890
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Written on: 02 June 2008 [19:10]
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Lensman
 registered since: 31.05.2008
Posts: 75
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Of course I wish Israel the best of luck with Project Better Place, but personally I have grave doubts this will succeed. Just how do they plan to physically swap out a battery pack weighing hundreds of pounds? One person suggested it might be like an automated car wash. But that sort of setup takes several minutes to service one car. And the capital investment and "footprint" (land area needed) would be *much* higher for each service lane than putting in another gas pump or two at a service station. Even with the gov't heavily subsidizing this plan, I doubt it will succeed. Furthermore, just the other day I read a blog or online comment pointing out another problem: this system would be subject to fraud. Whoever posted the comment didn't go into detail, but I can see how this might work. Since the battery packs degrade over time, someone could take an old battery pack and switch the ID plate with a new one, then trade in the old one at an inflated value. Since the battery packs are said to cost something in the neighborhood of $12,000 to $30,000, I can see there would be a strong temptation for fraud. Now, this is one subject regarding which I would be very happy to be proven wrong. I'll certainly be interested in seeing if Israel goes thru with this plan, and whether or not it's judged a success. [This article was edited 2 times, at last 02.06.2008 at 19:12.] |
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