Better Place plugs in battery swapping station

Better Place on Tuesday showed off an automated electric vehicle battery-swapping station which takes about one minute to slip in a fresh battery.

The station in Yokohama, Japan is part of a government-sponsored test around electric vehicles. The vehicles being tested are modified Nissan SUVs that run entirely on batteries.

Fill 'er up: Better Place's electric vehicle swapping station being tested in Japan.

(Credit: Better Place)

The switching stations use robotic battery "shuttles" on a track system that remove a depleted battery for recharging and insert a fresh battery.

As the batteries are on the bottom of the car, a driver goes up a ramp and stays in the car during the battery exchange. The battery shuttles are designed to work with a variety of different battery sizes

At this site in Japan, the batteries are charged from a large solar photovoltaic array, making it zero-emissions driving, according to Better Place.

Better Place's business model is to sell customer a subscription service to charge batteries, which are owned by Better Place. Customers get access to charging stations at home and in public places as well as battery-swapping stations for longer rides.

The anticipated range from the electric cars--Better Place has signed on Renault-Nissan as a provider--will be about 100 miles. The company is setting up a network of charging stations in Israel and has agreements with other locations, such as Denmark, San Francisco, and Australia.

In an interview last month, Better Place founder and CEO Shai Agassi said that the company plans to test its components, such as battery-changing and car-charging stations, this year in anticipation of a market roll-out in 2011.

[Mergatroid Mania]

Well? Lets hear from all the nay-sayers.

"Electric vehicles aren't the answer"
"Electric vehicles are as bad as coal"
"Electric vehicles have too short a range"
"The public doesn't want electric vehicles"
"Current electric infrastructure can't handle the load"

Looks to me that slowly all these complaints are being taken care of. Range has been extended, batteries can be charged by solar power, batteries can be exchanged for longer trips or if you prefer that over plugging in every night, people seem eager to try them out, no emissions, nice looking vehicles.

Lets have a few people that work in the coal industry come in and make up some more derogatory stories about electric vehicles now. Maybe a few from the oil industry can help them out.

The future is hear, deal with it.

[richardarchitect]

This is one of the more intriguing options I have seen so far. It would take a huge financial commitment from Best Place to initially buy the batteries and set up its stations. But once that is accomplished, actually charging the batteries should be pretty inexpensive, especially as it could be done at off-peak times.

[Viv Collins]

This makes a lot more sense than the consumer actually buying their own batteries, the public perception is that batteries fail and need replacing, after all the battery industry has spent years developing that business model through its marketing, how are car makers going to convince us to invest thousands of dollars in a hybrid battery pack? thats built in and not replaceable by the user ;-)

[dracoaffectus]

We actually discussed this possibility in one of my computer classes a couple months ago. It seemed obvious to us as a good way to extend the driving range of electric vehicles. And the solar charging is just icing on the cake.

I can't wait to see these stations start cropping up on every corner =)

[HeavyJim]

I would like to see how many of these posters extolling the virtue of these electric cars have actually bought an electric car and are using it. They ARE out there for sale, at least thats what they keep claiming.

[Harlan879]

I really like this business model. I hope it works. I do hope, incidentally, that they have good security systems. I'd hate to go out to my car in the morning and find the battery missing!

[kjethwa]

I like the business model of Better Place owning the battery and kind of leasing to the consumer. All that is good. I see a couple of issues with the whole model which I am sure that smart people like Shai Agassi and others at Better Place are already thinking about. The issues are:
1. The battery technology is becoming better such that the batteries will have longer discharge time (ie. longer mileage) and lesser charging time (less than 5 minutes). When (maybe 5 years time) this happens, Better Place's whole business model of replacing batteries will fall apart and the capital spent on the vehicle battery swapping infrastructure will be wasted?

2. As a consumer, what happens when the battery is swapped out? Do I have to re-program my radio stations and all other electronics in the car every time?

Interesting business model but still lots of unknowns and variables.

[freemarket--2008]

1. Barring major breakthroughs, batteries are unlikely to improve more than 20-30% in the next 10 years. Even if your trip is within the range of the car, you may want to top it off just to be safe or to allow travel flexibility.

2. More than likely, there will be a normal battery or a capacitor still in the car which will keep things powered when the battery is removed.

My question is will they credit you for residual charge in the replaced battery? If it is only half discharged, you should only pay half for the replacement, plus some small service fee.

[clashboard]

Good point. I'm sure the cars will have to have some kind of auxiliary battery to retain the clock and radio presets.

And with regards to any residual charge in the outgoing battery, maybe they could do an

[Kalemanzi]

EV's that run on solar power charged batteries is the future. Probably vacuum HHO and EV hybrids is what we will be driving soon. Interesting that they did not consider flash charging like with stations in California. I know the guys who do electric drag racing also does flash charging. Wonder if swapping a battery like this is quicker then?