I agree battery swapping may well be the "crazy idea" but I don't believe swapping is related to the lack to supercharger access on the 60 kWh and 40 kWh battery packs.coolfilmaker said:I think the crazy plan has to do with battery swapping at the supercharger stations. That would explain why the smaller capacity cars are not eligible to use them.
A few weeks ago the web site listed 60 kWh support for the superchargers as "TBD." Now it says "optional" with no price given. Support must include some relays that switch the single port from the internal charger(s) for AC to the battery pack for DC. The maximum rate of charge for a given chemistry is proportional to the pack capacity, so if the 85 kWh pack can accept a maximum of 90 kW, the smaller packs are limited to less, so perhaps the 60 kWh pack will charge at a maximum rate of about 60 kW.
Presumably they are not offering DC access for the 40 kWh pack because its maximum rate of charge is too slow for the superchargers. However, if they would get off their NIH attitude and offer support for CHAdeMO and/or SAE DC QC through their port, then DC access for all 3 battery sizes would make sense. The cost of the relays should not be much.