A jailbreak for your car, two decades ago this would have been absurd.
Now, if they really want to go for it, how about the ability to have universally swappable EV batteries for electric cars. It’s funny how they are trying to bring them back to smartphones and ignoring the huge improvement it would be for EVs. All electric cars would have to do is have supports and internal ports to connect the swappable batteries in their trunks, no need to touch the internal EV battery.
Even if it was some shit mileage, like 10-20km, it would seriously revolutionize the roads. Forget trying to find a spot to charge at, it would provide enough business opportunities to just be able to call and have a swappable battery delivered to you and replaced, fast food style. Presumably with batteries that don’t easily catch on fire when mishandled and have additional safety mechanisms, like the rather common and rather high capacity LiFePO4 batteries.
I saw a documentary about Renault doing this in Israel I think. With a network of stations looking like auto wash: it takes your car, opens a door under the car, swaps the battery with a full one and off you go.
Tesla had this exact functionality with their original Model S’ … but like that company it wasn’t profitable (or it was just regular ol Tesla mismanagement) so they also stopped doing it.
It’s not the same thing, because that’s changing the entire EV battery while I’m advocating for an auxiliary port in the back of the trunk to be able to have auxiliary EV batteries that can be all that’s necessary for local travel.
Not all EVs use the same pack type and there are advantages and disadvantages to the different types that will continue to change as we progress the technology. It wouldn’t make a lot of sense to have universal batteries as it would also limit the designs of the car if it were legislated.
Universal batteries would be bad, but standardized batteries would be great. If a battery has certain dimensions and gives a certain output, and can regulate itself as to charge and discharge, it doesn’t matter what chemistry it uses or internal cells it has. We have had D, C, B, A, AA, AAA, etc., for years and manufacturers got along just fine within those specs. Removable batteries are already a thing with Gogoro scooters in Taiwan and I think at least one car brand in China.
I don’t know if the industry is mature enough for that. There are different voltages, max power outputs and sizes. A set a size and voltage defines nearly everything.
Standard specs are great for something that is replaced frequently (alkaline batteries). It’s less needed for things that are replaced rarely.
Those are cells not packs. A cell based pack uses cells in a module that then are combined to create a pack. Standardizing is not as easy as people make it out to be.
The only problem I have with the current ideas for battery swaps is that they are still very proprietary so would only affect a small set of vehicles. The most universal alternatives I’ve seen have to be hauled as trailers.
I think that rather than one singular battery swap idea, it should be a standard where anyone can make one, just as long as it fits in the trunk and can be secured and connected into a standardized high voltage port in the trunk that wouldn’t have to be that different from the current ones being used. The problem then would be trying to force companies to retrofit older models. Maybe there will be more of an incentive to have something like this when EV batteries begin dying out after 20+ years with cars that are otherwise perfectly fine to drive.
They can recycle 99% of the battery. You can crush it, separate and reuse. It’s actually pretty cool. Don’t know why you’d want to swap batteries that last for over 300,000 miles and soon to probably last longer than the car itself.
A jailbreak for your car, two decades ago this would have been absurd.
Now, if they really want to go for it, how about the ability to have universally swappable EV batteries for electric cars. It’s funny how they are trying to bring them back to smartphones and ignoring the huge improvement it would be for EVs. All electric cars would have to do is have supports and internal ports to connect the swappable batteries in their trunks, no need to touch the internal EV battery.
Even if it was some shit mileage, like 10-20km, it would seriously revolutionize the roads. Forget trying to find a spot to charge at, it would provide enough business opportunities to just be able to call and have a swappable battery delivered to you and replaced, fast food style. Presumably with batteries that don’t easily catch on fire when mishandled and have additional safety mechanisms, like the rather common and rather high capacity LiFePO4 batteries.
I saw a documentary about Renault doing this in Israel I think. With a network of stations looking like auto wash: it takes your car, opens a door under the car, swaps the battery with a full one and off you go.
Apparently it went bankrupt after a year (2012-2013): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Better_Place_(company)
Tesla had this exact functionality with their original Model S’ … but like that company it wasn’t profitable (or it was just regular ol Tesla mismanagement) so they also stopped doing it.
It’s not the same thing, because that’s changing the entire EV battery while I’m advocating for an auxiliary port in the back of the trunk to be able to have auxiliary EV batteries that can be all that’s necessary for local travel.
How about a tow-behind battery for extra capacity?
It makes sense, but I already don’t trust anyone to tow anything safely.
Not all EVs use the same pack type and there are advantages and disadvantages to the different types that will continue to change as we progress the technology. It wouldn’t make a lot of sense to have universal batteries as it would also limit the designs of the car if it were legislated.
Universal batteries would be bad, but standardized batteries would be great. If a battery has certain dimensions and gives a certain output, and can regulate itself as to charge and discharge, it doesn’t matter what chemistry it uses or internal cells it has. We have had D, C, B, A, AA, AAA, etc., for years and manufacturers got along just fine within those specs. Removable batteries are already a thing with Gogoro scooters in Taiwan and I think at least one car brand in China.
I don’t know if the industry is mature enough for that. There are different voltages, max power outputs and sizes. A set a size and voltage defines nearly everything.
Standard specs are great for something that is replaced frequently (alkaline batteries). It’s less needed for things that are replaced rarely.
Those are cells not packs. A cell based pack uses cells in a module that then are combined to create a pack. Standardizing is not as easy as people make it out to be.
I know a guy who started a company to do exactly this (in Europe only for now).
So the battery swap idea is out there, and being acted upon.
The only problem I have with the current ideas for battery swaps is that they are still very proprietary so would only affect a small set of vehicles. The most universal alternatives I’ve seen have to be hauled as trailers.
I think that rather than one singular battery swap idea, it should be a standard where anyone can make one, just as long as it fits in the trunk and can be secured and connected into a standardized high voltage port in the trunk that wouldn’t have to be that different from the current ones being used. The problem then would be trying to force companies to retrofit older models. Maybe there will be more of an incentive to have something like this when EV batteries begin dying out after 20+ years with cars that are otherwise perfectly fine to drive.
They can recycle 99% of the battery. You can crush it, separate and reuse. It’s actually pretty cool. Don’t know why you’d want to swap batteries that last for over 300,000 miles and soon to probably last longer than the car itself.