As I wrote a few days ago, once charging is below 10 minutes, charging stations work just like gas stations in terms of throughput. We will see gas stations converting directly from gas pumps to chargers. (Unclear if gas pumps can coexist near high-powered chargers; gasoline vapor and high voltage electricity should not be in the same space.)
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Better_Place_%28company%29
The idea is to use smaller batteries for cheaper and lighter cars. Range is less but batteries are swappable for long trips.
[1] https://electrek.co/2023/11/21/nio-is-joining-forces-with-a-...
(Of course, electric cars are not a key need in Israel anyways, the country is in dire needs of mass transit system improvement and integration - which would significantly reduce car overuse and congestion problems.)
The whole battery replacement situation is why EVs depreciate so much.
If swapping batteries in a modular system became a thing, the depreciation problem might shrink...it would also make EVs a lot more appealing to a significant number of people.
With battery, the main issue I see is the same as cities encounter with shared-vehicle: sometimes many people go at the same time from place A to place B, which lead to empty stations and overflowed stations. And you end up having to compensate this effect A LOT.
I admit that the problem is not intrinsic to battery-swap, it's more that it's not adapted to the way people move around. And as people don't move around randomly (which might be the best scenario), the solution is not as simple as the Calor Gas cylinder problem.
3min is better than 10min, but ask anyone if they'd prefer to fuel up 3 times slower and pay half the cost and I bet most everyone would say they would.
For fueling up, you must be there until it's done. For charging you don't. You connect your car and go inside the convenience store. With 10min, that's excellent. Chances are most everyone will either exit their vehicles, plug it in, go back inside their vehicle for 10min, walk around for a bit, or go to the store for a quick errant. In any of those cases the experience will be better than dealing with fuel.
Lets not stop there, you also want to be able to dispose of the battery if you can no longer control the heat.
Currently the solution is to submerge the entire car or let it burn out on the spot. Takes about 2 days but it can randomly reignite.
The chargers are not right in with the pumps, but not all that far either.
Street view link but the imagery is 6 years old so no ChargePoint visible. The chargers are where the unhitched semi cab is parked. You can see better pictures by looking at user submitted photos for the ChargePoint. https://maps.app.goo.gl/EEnpFRwwv49fkUPo7
I'm sure like any battery the charging gets slower over time as the battery warms up, so finding the sweet spot would be nice.
I'd quite like to buy an electric car and select an appropriate power bank based on this.
Also, why do the packs have to be permanent? Why not have the ability to add or remove modular cells as and when needed? Just add the capacity when you need it. Plug the unused cells into your solar array when you aren't using them.
That opens up a few options. Firstly, you can choose to power your house or your car, or of you need to get to work and you forgot to charge, you take the dead cells out and swap a fully charged set in. Leave the dead ones charging at home.
Have a modular system where battery swapping is possible doesnt seem to be a system that EV manufacturers have considered for some reason.
I'm sure under normal conditions, 270 miles would be cutting it pretty close, if it even makes it there at all. Luckily there are 10 supercharges along the way.
Not sure how it is for non-teslas, but I'm guessing at least a few of those places with superchargers also have chargers that will work with other kinds of cars.
Driving through the desert on an open road is not conducive to efficiency. It’s hot, need AC blasting. It’s an open road—drive fast! (Or it’s bumper to bumper for 10 hours).
I love electric cars. I’ve been drawing pictures of them thinking about them and waiting for them for a long time. And, I am very grateful for those that made them a reality. That said, I’m also pragmatic. Where we are today versus where we need to be to make them practical for a large portion of the population is sublime.
That makes around 4k can be charged on route, more realistic it's above 10k already.. and that's only Tesla.
Growing pains happen, but I drove my M3 across EU multiple times.. and needed to wait for a charger once, for 3 minutes.
Where exactly is this peak on a 3-4 hour drive where everyone starts with different percentages/takes break at different point in time and software optimizes to avoid overloaded stations automatically?
The last part felt a little mean-spirited in retrospect. But my intention was to point out that you're just describing a lack of infrastructure yet
Once we build this stuff it's *there for use* and just has the usual burdens of maintenance. Arguably less since we don't need to transport big trucks full of oil to it regularly
Not everyone wants to bleed so they can be on the bleeding edge.
If you were talking about LA to La Paz then there is a real concern about making it, but LA to LV is no problem at all.
No issues whatsoever.