Hacker News Reader

Comment by gregwtmtno | Hacker News Reader

The author believes that electric cars will be better for ride sharing services than gasoline cars because the cost per ride is cheaper.

I'm not sure I agree. Unlike private cars, shared cars are in use many more hours per day and charging time versus gasoline refill time should be considered.

View on HN

Three years ago Tesla already had a robot that could replace a battery in 90s: https://www.teslamotors.com/videos/battery-swap-event

Yeah. Except no one can figure out how the system would work.

The Roadster's battery pack costs $28,000. The Tesla Model S's battery pack is expected to cost $10,000+ AFTER the efficiency of the Gigafactory in 2020.

Swapping out a $10,000+ part and sharing it between cars is going to be a major, MAJOR business / economic question. How do you do it fairly? How do you ensure that the quality of the battery remains the same? Can people cheat the system?

In the sharing paradigm it is Tesla, or a large fleet service, who owns all the vehicles. In that case they have their own battery swapping sites and they own all of the batteries. Fairness only come into play if you are assuming private ownership of the vehicles.

That's true enough. But rapid chargers can "fill" an electric vehicle in 30 minutes. A typical London taxi driver does around 200 miles per day.

So, depending on usage patterns, that's a recharge over 30 minute lunch break - and maybe a short top-up every time they go to the loo.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/transport/10...

Strange, Tesla only seems to say 170 miles over a 30-minute charge.

https://www.teslamotors.com/supercharger

Yes. So you start the day with a full charge - plugged in at home. Then top up at lunch / dinner / loo break.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com