Battery swapping

[GregH]

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13746_7-57590471-48/tesla-battery-swap-a-dead-end/

Agree with the author's view that battery swapping is not a good idea (does it scale?) but obviously I tend to side with Chademo.. I would guess if somebody was dumb enough to invest in specialized battery swapping stations for the Leaf, you could probably swap out a pack as quickly as Tesla could a model S pack... but that doesn't make it a good idea.

 

[UBUYGAS]

If a LEAF battery could be swapped out while I wait at a refilling station I'd do it. I guess you would have to be in some sort of program.

So Tesla owners would get free swaps as many times as they need?

 

[cwerdna]

For those who haven't been following the battery swapping space (prior to the Tesla demo), Better Place tried and went bankrupt: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=295700#p295700" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

Their stations were also $500K each.

 

[Deleted member 9549]

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13746_7-57590471-48/tesla-battery-swap-a-dead-end/

Agree with the author's view that battery swapping is not a good idea (does it scale?) but obviously I tend to side with Chademo.. I would guess if somebody was dumb enough to invest in specialized battery swapping stations for the Leaf, you could probably swap out a pack as quickly as Tesla could a model S pack... but that doesn't make it a good idea.

There's no way you could swap a Leaf battery anywhere near as easily as tesla did. It may look easy but its not. Required lots of design work from the ground up.

 

[Nubo]

Iirc, someone awhile back was charged $3000 to remove and reinstall the LEAF battery to facilitate collision repair/repaint. Not sure what that amounts to in Shop Time these days, but maybe 12-14 hours labor?

Tesla does it in 93 seconds.

http://vimeo.com/68832891#

 

[Zythryn]

If a LEAF battery could be swapped out while I wait at a refilling station I'd do it. I guess you would have to be in some sort of program.

So Tesla owners would get free swaps as many times as they need?

No, "fast or free" as Elon put it.
The superchargers are free, the battery swapping will be somewhere in the $60-$80 range per swap.

I was skeptical of battery swapping. However, done to augment a supercharger network and with incentives to supercharge rather than swap, I think it has a good chance of working.

 

[ydnas7]

For those who haven't been following the battery swapping space (prior to the Tesla demo), Better Place tried and went bankrupt: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=295700#p295700" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

Their stations were also $500K each.

Better Place went through something like $800m of which $200m were taxes paid. If only, all they needed to do was pay $500k per swap station, then together those stations would be about 2.5% of their costs!