Having to worry about the relative cost of your battery vs the one you are swapping for could make this a bit of a lottery. Also possibly bribing the attendant to give you a much newer one instead of the old creaky pack that no one wants.
Leasing seems like a good idea (pay X per year and you can use these stations and you'll always end up with a battery of a certain acceptable quality), according to the video though it does cost money.
That might be worth it to save the PR of a burnt out tesla from a failed battery.
The station could use a mix of solar power, wind, power grid and charge the batteries for probably much less $/kWh than gasoline in a car.
When you fill up a petrol / diesel engine you have one option: petrol / diesel.
When you fill up an Tesla (and other electric cars have different possibilities) you have:
- Recharging on your home power, which would cost whatever your home power costs but can only be used when you are OK charging over night - Recharging at one of those Tesla fast stations, which costs nothing, but takes 40min - Swapping a battery at a Tesla station, which takes 90 seconds and costs $??
The price then depends on the mix of those three strategies, which is determined by your usage (drive to and from work every day, it's your home power etc)
Sounds like when I get my propane tank filled. They don't care what condition it is in. I get a freshly painted filled one every time. And if I want, I can pay for a bigger one.