Quote:
Originally Posted by octothorp
The idea discussed in the article of treating batteries like exchangeable propane tanks is an interesting idea. Imagine if Shell, for example, has their own brand of batteries for all the major models of electric cars: you pull into a station, pop the hood, drop off your empty batteries, put in the new ones, pay, and hit the road again. Probably takes less time than fuelling up, if cars are built with this process in mind. You don't own the batteries, Shell does, you just pay for the energy Shell loads onto them, and when you have time, you can plug the car in and refill them yourself.
From the station's perspective, they're charging you for the power loaded on the battery, and maybe a small fee for swapping out the batteries. They charge up the batteries and put them in their supply to resell to the next person. The stations make their profit from a handling fee which is small from the consumer's perspective, but potentially offers a greater profit-margin to the retailer than gasoline sales.
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That's one of the reasons why I think hydrogen is a better solution. How many batteries is a service station going to need to store to meet demand? How much extra space are they going to need to store those batteries?
Only time will tell.
But going with that thought, as battery technology improves, you theoretically could get an upgrade to your vehicle from a pure battery swap. Longer lasting, faster charging, more power etc.