I think battery swapping would work with fleet vehicles. Taxis, local delivery etc.
For private vehicles I don't think it would work. I'd be pretty pissed off if I drove my brand new car in and swapped the battery with one that had done hundreds of cycles.
Amazing - the idea of a replaceable battery and the mechanism in that model is an idea me and my friends have discussed many times as being a great way to mass introduce electric cars now, while the batteries get good enough to not need that.
Everything is nice and beautiful. But I think that the bulk electric cars on the roads there will be no earlier than 2050 or 2060. So even 40 or 50 years will ride on petrol & diesel
Everything is nice and beautiful. But I think that the bulk electric cars on the roads there will be no earlier than 2050 or 2060. So even 40 or 50 years will ride on petrol & diesel
Everything is nice and beautiful. But I think that the bulk electric cars on the roads there will be no earlier than 2050 or 2060. So even 40 or 50 years will ride on petrol & diesel
Good to see actual videos. It's amazing the shift in just two years into an electric state of mind. I just wish the manufacturers would try harder, I mean come on the Rolls has just over a hundred miles range and yet tesla can get a 300mile model s. I know the weight involved but why not 200miles
I vaugly remember watching this video while I was strung out on medication for my wisdom teeth. I kept saying, I remember that, sort of... at different parts =P
Did you get to test drive the Focus? That's the one I would want if I could afford a car right now but since it's not due 'till 2012 (iirc) I might be able to start saving ;)
I like your enthusiasm and optimism Robby but I'm afraid it's till quite misplaced. yes a lot has changed but the bastard carmakers are still much too comfortable with making a lot of electric concept cars and then changing them to ICE drive for production. the germans are especially nasty at that.
we have the overpriced iMiev, the overpriced Leaf and the rather expensive Tesla. everything else is vapor except the Ford which will also be overpriced when it comes in a year. no real solutions yet
@ninjabob2456 yes it's fair to say because it's true. supply and demand has no inherent merit.
same as aids medicine can be overpriced.
you are thinking soulless hellbound business logic. I'm thinking truth
people buy them at hugely inflated prices because they really want those cars and these assholes just lean back and overprice them and make way too few.
we are entering a massive oil shortage crisis and we are fantastically unprepared because of these assholes.
@DanFrederiksen You don't NEED a car, so it can't be overpriced. Food, water, medicines, shelter, these are the things we need, they can be overpriced. Everything else is just stuff we want and the market will decide the price. No one owes you a cheap car.
@XitUp you think this world would function without vehicles? of course not. cars are more needed than medicine. and yes they do owe me and everyone a cost optimized green option. because of global warming and peak oil.
@DanFrederiksen I am looking at the big picture. No, the world can not run on veg oil, I never said that. But if you want a cheap, renewable powered form of transportation it's an option. Most people don't want old cars though.
No, 'they' don't owe you a thing. If you're that bothered you can do something about it yourself, rather than moaning on youtube.
Looks like we (humanity) are finally over the hump and electric vehicles will definitely replace the internal combustion engine in the relatively near future. Take oil rich dictatorships, though somewhere else will find they have the best supply of some resource needed to make the batteries!
Wow, that was a great show Robert, thanks for giving us the run down on all those exciting electric cars, concepts and all! I was wondering if you would do an Electric Cars For Dummies series on this channel for those of us that are very interested but a bit technologically challenged when it comes to electric car stats and tech. PRETTY PLEASE? :D
better place battery swap tech will be obsolete in 5 years at the latest. really just wasted money and time. battery tech soon will make huge jumps in storage capacity and weight just by the stuff we already know is in serious development by IBM and others (Li-Air, Kolibri, etc). in addition, the first cheap multi-kW cold fusion (Rossi) power cells will be available this year commercially, which means, u may soon need to "refill" ur EV maybe once a year or so with just a few grams of H and Ni
@awaken69 I agree there are some potential huge improvements in battery capacity on the horizon. But that won't get you anywhere near what we do with gasoline today - pumping in 300 miles worth of driving in 3 minutes - even if the battery itself could handle it. The charger would have to be a 2 megawatt line. A couple of those used simultaneously would fry any typical urban circuit. I agree the grid will have to improve, both to accommodate EVs, and multiple renewable sources, ...
@zlozlozlo not really. one can only drive so far in one day (i'd say barely more than 600km/day, even when traveling) - and the Kolibri battery recently demonstrated in germany can already do that - even in a rel. light compact car. the charging then always takes place during the night, and not during a driving break, as it is normal with gasoline fueled cars. so, as long as the battery lasts longer than the driver, no fast charging is needed *g*
@awaken69 I once travelled by car from Bratislava, Slovakia to Dubrovnik, Croatia in one day - that's over 1000km.
And what about taxis, one car, 2 shifts, driving almost 24/7. When do they pull over for 8 hours to charge? Or delivery services. Studies of driver behavior clearly show that it's not how far you can go on one charge, but how fast you can refuel/recharge. Most ppl be content with gas cars that only go 100km, as long as they can refuel the car in under 5 minutes.
@zlozlozlo you said it right: "I ONCE traveled.." driving ONCE (or twice) an extreme distance (which wouldn't even be legal for a professional driver for lack of rest times) is not really a good argument for the average car user. however, i agree that battery swapping MAY make sense *initially* for fleets or commercially used (rental, etc), cars. but that's just a small fraction - 95% of future EV users don't want, and don't need to swap batteries.. progress will be much faster than expected
@awaken69 but don't you see? it's all in the psychology. Your average driver will choose his car based on whether or not it will allow him to go on that one uberlong HYPOTHETICAL roadtrip. We got used to the idea that we can go ANYWHERE in our cars thanks to the petrol stations. Your average joe won't settle for anything less. And how will the progress in battery tech go without swapping? Buy our car, because the next battery that comes out in 2 years will be just phenomenal. How's that sound?
@zlozlozlo simple: look how it's done with electronics, TVs, PCs etc today: do you never buy anything because in 2 years it will be 2x as fast and half as expensive? ah, i thought so.. secondly, you forget the huge infrastructure and investment it would need just to set up thousands of battery swapping places all over the world. it's ridiculous and way to expensive, and no guarantee they would be used long enough to be profitable. serial-hybrids are the way to bridge the gap for long distance
@awaken69 cars are not consummer electronics, for most people they are still a huge investment. If you're wealthy enough to buy a new car every 2 years, good for you. The car I drive has been is 16 years old. As for the price of infrastructure - Better Place estimates it to the equivalent of 1 year of oil imports. I suggest you watch some of Shai Agassi's presentation (if you haven't already) where he explains the business model and how separating the battery from the car actually makes the car
@awaken69 cheaper at the point of purchase than an equivalent gas car (not now of course, but once the production scales up) at the same time making the operation cost the same or less than what you pay monthly for gas. He also talks about the 'social contract' an EV must fulfil to be considered a car, for people to even want to buy the car, not for the sake of the enviroment but for superior convenience and price.
@awaken69 anyway, trying to fit into 500 chars is too painful, I keep deleting what I wrote and making these silly typos. So how about we just agree to disagree? If you wish you can contact me at green (dot) airplane (at) gmail, and we can discuss this till the cows come home and plug in their EVs. I have an exam on friday and I need to procrastinate a bit more before I actually start studying.
@zlozlozlo look, i think it's like with smartphones: first, everyone laughed when apple made the iphone which was pretty much the first phone *without* a swappable battery. everyone cried "no one will accept this limitation!". today? no one cares anymore, and no one needs to swap smartphone batteries anymore anyways. it gets charged in the office or at home, period. in 10 years, people will laugh at agassi and his "swapping stations". mark my words ;) (and we didn't even discuss cold fusion..)
@awaken69 I agree. The swappable idea is only really suitable for large fleets,taxis,buses, trucks etc. Once fast chargers become more prevalent within the next 2-3 years and once the battery ranges near the 150-200miles mark within the next 5 years and other advances come along the swapping idea becomes defunct quickly
@eldictator1: sure, it fast charging could be significantly sped up then swapping batteries wouldn't be necessary. But the physics involved make that very unlikely. If you wanted to fast charge cars within lets say 5-10 minutes - and keep in mind this would have to be done with thousands or even millions of vehicles in a particular country - you would put so much strain on the power grid it would simply collapse. You never know what scientists will come up with but it doesn't seem feasible atm
@eldictator1: there already are batteries developed in Japan that can be recharged within 10 seconds so the batteries themselves don't seem to be the problem...the problem is tens of thousands of fast charging spots charging cars/busses/bikes or other means of battery based transport at the same time..the grid just can't handle that. There might be ways to solves this with ultracapacitors, who knows :) atm betterplace's model is what can be done, but the near future might bring better solutions
@ultimazer1 If you google JFE engineering fast charge, you'll find info on theri quick charger that does 70% i think in 5 minutes and less in 3 minutes. I forget the details but they stored electricity from the grid overnight rather than draining all day, so effectively you could probably have a handfull in the country in key areas
@eldictator1: yeah, there are several companies that developed technology like this. Buffering the electricity in batteries or ultracapacitors in the charging stations is the way to go I suppose, so they charging stations themselves are slowly charged but can release the electricity in a "burst" which means the strain is not put on the grid all at once.
@awaken69 but if we were to charge EVs with 2MW lines, we'd have to build new networks with MASSIVE capacity just for the EVs. Swapping has another huge advantage - when those new batteries you're talking about come out, upgrading your current EV with a new high capacity battery will be as easy as visiting a swap station. Same goes for malfunctions and unexpected decrease in capacity. It's not your battery, it's interchangable, you don't bear the risk of the battery breaking down.
Anyway, I strongly suggest you look up the company Better Place, founded by former SAP's product manager Shai Agassi. He basically figured out the right business model and infrastructure model. Here's a vid where he explains it /watch?v=FcoJt2KLC9k
this is no empty talk, they've partnered with Renault-Nissan, got over $1 billion in investor money, and are currently deploying infrastructure in Denmark, Israel, Australia. Next up is Hawaii, SF Bay Area, Ontario.
@zlozlozlo I am very aware of Better Place and the work they are doing, I'm constantly referring people to their work when they ask me in twitter about the swappable battery idea. Eventually I want to look into the system in more depth on Fully Charged, however a lot of manufacturers I've spoken to are skeptical about it. I'm not, I think it's a brilliant idea
@fullychargedshow that's great. I wasn't sure cause I've never heard you mention them. And I feel they're not getting nearly as much attention as they should. Shai actually has two great remarks about car manufacturers: "These are the people who say they're gonna build a car that drives itself, and if you ask them about battery swapping, they tell you it's not possible".
@fullychargedshow the other one is "Whenever a company tells us it's not possible, we go to the F1 team for the company, and they say 7 seconds! Anything you want done on the car we can do in 7 seconds." Personally I think the skepticism is just the executives trying to resist change. After a century of making ICE cars they are very much set in their ways. By now they should have realized that if they don't adapt to the change they're gonna be left in the dust.
@fullychargedshow Originally I was a huge fan of the idea, but I think it's biggest downfall might be when people realise they don't actually need to 'refuel' away from home nearly as much as they think. I'm retargetting my 'instant charge' hopes towards flow batteries with replacable gel, or just until battery tech allows 200-300 miles with sensible weight.
@zlozlozlo I have talked to a project manager of Renault who told me the biggest problem they currently have with their interesting swappable battery idea is the lack of space under the station. This is especially the case in Israel where the underground is composed of very hard rock. Thus, the only current solution would be to have the "battery swapping station" (as opposed to gas station) on top of a small human build hill. And that's a problem because low-end e-cars aren't very powerful.
@MrChrisRab that's a bummer. There are bound to be speedbumps along the way. Let's hope they solve it somehow. Maybe get a more powerful excavator or drill. Of course it's gonna cost more and slow things down, but it's still a question of "when" as opposed to "whether or not" this will happen.
Good to see you're still alive. "every car manufacturer would have to use the same type of battery" - no they wouldn't. Renault currently has two cars with swappable batteries due (among the total of 9 EVs lineup of the Renault-Nissan alliance) and even those two are using different battery packs because their engineering teams couldn't agree on the size and shape.
The whole battery swap system promoted by Renault is actually happening on a large scale in Isreal, Denmark and Australia....it's not a concept it's happening in collaboration with betterplace and the whole system will be available at the end of this year...it is a really smart thing actually from my point of view...swapping batteries is the only practical way to achieve unlimited range (when you need it), as fast charging will always take at least 20mins due to the physics involved.
I wonder how viable an electric car with a tiny petrol engine would be, just enough power to get you were you need to be if the batteries don't quite make it.
Hell Yeah! About time.!!
edstar83 7 months ago
The BMW Active E is an electric 1 series coupe, not a 3 series.
PJCelis 9 months ago
I think battery swapping would work with fleet vehicles. Taxis, local delivery etc.
For private vehicles I don't think it would work. I'd be pretty pissed off if I drove my brand new car in and swapped the battery with one that had done hundreds of cycles.
XitUp 10 months ago
รถรุ้นใหม่ ใหม่ ไม่ใช้นำ้มันแล้วนะครับ
huat99hotmail 11 months ago
2 people are oil barons
TBman256 11 months ago
Amazing - the idea of a replaceable battery and the mechanism in that model is an idea me and my friends have discussed many times as being a great way to mass introduce electric cars now, while the batteries get good enough to not need that.
rjconway 11 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
Everything is nice and beautiful. But I think that the bulk electric cars on the roads there will be no earlier than 2050 or 2060. So even 40 or 50 years will ride on petrol & diesel
vvvovez 11 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
Everything is nice and beautiful. But I think that the bulk electric cars on the roads there will be no earlier than 2050 or 2060. So even 40 or 50 years will ride on petrol & diesel
vvvovez 11 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
Everything is nice and beautiful. But I think that the bulk electric cars on the roads there will be no earlier than 2050 or 2060. So even 40 or 50 years will ride on petrol & diesel
vvvovez 11 months ago
Good to see actual videos. It's amazing the shift in just two years into an electric state of mind. I just wish the manufacturers would try harder, I mean come on the Rolls has just over a hundred miles range and yet tesla can get a 300mile model s. I know the weight involved but why not 200miles
eldictator1 11 months ago
@eldictator1 CdA
XitUp 10 months ago
I vaugly remember watching this video while I was strung out on medication for my wisdom teeth. I kept saying, I remember that, sort of... at different parts =P
bustedsim 11 months ago
Did you get to test drive the Focus? That's the one I would want if I could afford a car right now but since it's not due 'till 2012 (iirc) I might be able to start saving ;)
fenrirloupblanc 11 months ago
Nice report. That looks like an ampheads dream.
marshgre 11 months ago
Morgan 3 wheeler ftw.
quwers 11 months ago
I like your enthusiasm and optimism Robby but I'm afraid it's till quite misplaced. yes a lot has changed but the bastard carmakers are still much too comfortable with making a lot of electric concept cars and then changing them to ICE drive for production. the germans are especially nasty at that.
we have the overpriced iMiev, the overpriced Leaf and the rather expensive Tesla. everything else is vapor except the Ford which will also be overpriced when it comes in a year. no real solutions yet
DanFrederiksen 11 months ago
@DanFrederiksen It's not really fair to say they're overpriced since they're easily selling out of the ones they produce.
ninjabob2456 11 months ago
@ninjabob2456 yes it's fair to say because it's true. supply and demand has no inherent merit.
same as aids medicine can be overpriced.
you are thinking soulless hellbound business logic. I'm thinking truth
people buy them at hugely inflated prices because they really want those cars and these assholes just lean back and overprice them and make way too few.
we are entering a massive oil shortage crisis and we are fantastically unprepared because of these assholes.
DanFrederiksen 11 months ago
@DanFrederiksen You don't NEED a car, so it can't be overpriced. Food, water, medicines, shelter, these are the things we need, they can be overpriced. Everything else is just stuff we want and the market will decide the price. No one owes you a cheap car.
XitUp 10 months ago
@XitUp you think this world would function without vehicles? of course not. cars are more needed than medicine. and yes they do owe me and everyone a cost optimized green option. because of global warming and peak oil.
DanFrederiksen 10 months ago
@DanFrederiksen Yes, I think the world would function. Would our model of society and economy function? No, of course not. But we would survive.
I like being able to drive as it makes my life a lot easier, but I could ride my bike to work if I needed to.
Would I like a cheap electric/range extended/hybrid vehicle? Of course I would, but no one owes me these things.
You could go out today and buy an old diesel merc to run on used veg oil with a few mods. It would only cost you a couple of grand.
XitUp 10 months ago
@XitUp you're not looking at the big picture. the world can't run on used vegetable oil..
and yes they owe us super efficient cars, same as politicians owes us the truth and cooks owe us not to spit in our food. stop being so dense
DanFrederiksen 10 months ago
@DanFrederiksen I am looking at the big picture. No, the world can not run on veg oil, I never said that. But if you want a cheap, renewable powered form of transportation it's an option. Most people don't want old cars though.
No, 'they' don't owe you a thing. If you're that bothered you can do something about it yourself, rather than moaning on youtube.
Also, no need to personal insults, cuntychops.
XitUp 10 months ago
hi robert, have you heard anything about the aptera 2e? I think that's another car you'd like to drive ;)
TBman256 11 months ago
Wow! :)
TheHolySpirit 11 months ago
ford focus ev FTW :)
TBman256 11 months ago
Awesome Mia, TownPod, VW, and Ampera! AND!!!! You shaved! :) Great report!
wlchase 11 months ago
Please review as many compact 'affordable' (so very relative) cars as you can.
ENGLISHBL0KE 11 months ago
Why's Opel called Vauxhall in the UK?
IconOfSin88 11 months ago
@IconOfSin88 Why's Vauxhall called Opel outside the UK?
Seamaster73 11 months ago
@Seamaster73 Vauxhall was a british company, Opel was a German one. They both got bought by GM.
XitUp 10 months ago
Looks like we (humanity) are finally over the hump and electric vehicles will definitely replace the internal combustion engine in the relatively near future. Take oil rich dictatorships, though somewhere else will find they have the best supply of some resource needed to make the batteries!
retread01 11 months ago
Wow, that was a great show Robert, thanks for giving us the run down on all those exciting electric cars, concepts and all! I was wondering if you would do an Electric Cars For Dummies series on this channel for those of us that are very interested but a bit technologically challenged when it comes to electric car stats and tech. PRETTY PLEASE? :D
dismutased 11 months ago
Wireless stations,EMP shielded cars,communication is outside,above the car.
000vortex 11 months ago
Thanks, great episode. Lot's of cars that i want :)
braqoon 11 months ago
better place battery swap tech will be obsolete in 5 years at the latest. really just wasted money and time. battery tech soon will make huge jumps in storage capacity and weight just by the stuff we already know is in serious development by IBM and others (Li-Air, Kolibri, etc). in addition, the first cheap multi-kW cold fusion (Rossi) power cells will be available this year commercially, which means, u may soon need to "refill" ur EV maybe once a year or so with just a few grams of H and Ni
awaken69 11 months ago
@awaken69 I agree there are some potential huge improvements in battery capacity on the horizon. But that won't get you anywhere near what we do with gasoline today - pumping in 300 miles worth of driving in 3 minutes - even if the battery itself could handle it. The charger would have to be a 2 megawatt line. A couple of those used simultaneously would fry any typical urban circuit. I agree the grid will have to improve, both to accommodate EVs, and multiple renewable sources, ...
zlozlozlo 11 months ago
@zlozlozlo not really. one can only drive so far in one day (i'd say barely more than 600km/day, even when traveling) - and the Kolibri battery recently demonstrated in germany can already do that - even in a rel. light compact car. the charging then always takes place during the night, and not during a driving break, as it is normal with gasoline fueled cars. so, as long as the battery lasts longer than the driver, no fast charging is needed *g*
awaken69 11 months ago
@awaken69 I once travelled by car from Bratislava, Slovakia to Dubrovnik, Croatia in one day - that's over 1000km.
And what about taxis, one car, 2 shifts, driving almost 24/7. When do they pull over for 8 hours to charge? Or delivery services. Studies of driver behavior clearly show that it's not how far you can go on one charge, but how fast you can refuel/recharge. Most ppl be content with gas cars that only go 100km, as long as they can refuel the car in under 5 minutes.
zlozlozlo 11 months ago
@zlozlozlo you said it right: "I ONCE traveled.." driving ONCE (or twice) an extreme distance (which wouldn't even be legal for a professional driver for lack of rest times) is not really a good argument for the average car user. however, i agree that battery swapping MAY make sense *initially* for fleets or commercially used (rental, etc), cars. but that's just a small fraction - 95% of future EV users don't want, and don't need to swap batteries.. progress will be much faster than expected
awaken69 11 months ago
@awaken69 but don't you see? it's all in the psychology. Your average driver will choose his car based on whether or not it will allow him to go on that one uberlong HYPOTHETICAL roadtrip. We got used to the idea that we can go ANYWHERE in our cars thanks to the petrol stations. Your average joe won't settle for anything less. And how will the progress in battery tech go without swapping? Buy our car, because the next battery that comes out in 2 years will be just phenomenal. How's that sound?
zlozlozlo 11 months ago
@zlozlozlo simple: look how it's done with electronics, TVs, PCs etc today: do you never buy anything because in 2 years it will be 2x as fast and half as expensive? ah, i thought so.. secondly, you forget the huge infrastructure and investment it would need just to set up thousands of battery swapping places all over the world. it's ridiculous and way to expensive, and no guarantee they would be used long enough to be profitable. serial-hybrids are the way to bridge the gap for long distance
awaken69 11 months ago
@awaken69 cars are not consummer electronics, for most people they are still a huge investment. If you're wealthy enough to buy a new car every 2 years, good for you. The car I drive has been is 16 years old. As for the price of infrastructure - Better Place estimates it to the equivalent of 1 year of oil imports. I suggest you watch some of Shai Agassi's presentation (if you haven't already) where he explains the business model and how separating the battery from the car actually makes the car
zlozlozlo 11 months ago
@awaken69 cheaper at the point of purchase than an equivalent gas car (not now of course, but once the production scales up) at the same time making the operation cost the same or less than what you pay monthly for gas. He also talks about the 'social contract' an EV must fulfil to be considered a car, for people to even want to buy the car, not for the sake of the enviroment but for superior convenience and price.
zlozlozlo 11 months ago
@awaken69 anyway, trying to fit into 500 chars is too painful, I keep deleting what I wrote and making these silly typos. So how about we just agree to disagree? If you wish you can contact me at green (dot) airplane (at) gmail, and we can discuss this till the cows come home and plug in their EVs. I have an exam on friday and I need to procrastinate a bit more before I actually start studying.
zlozlozlo 11 months ago
@zlozlozlo look, i think it's like with smartphones: first, everyone laughed when apple made the iphone which was pretty much the first phone *without* a swappable battery. everyone cried "no one will accept this limitation!". today? no one cares anymore, and no one needs to swap smartphone batteries anymore anyways. it gets charged in the office or at home, period. in 10 years, people will laugh at agassi and his "swapping stations". mark my words ;) (and we didn't even discuss cold fusion..)
awaken69 11 months ago
@awaken69 I agree. The swappable idea is only really suitable for large fleets,taxis,buses, trucks etc. Once fast chargers become more prevalent within the next 2-3 years and once the battery ranges near the 150-200miles mark within the next 5 years and other advances come along the swapping idea becomes defunct quickly
eldictator1 11 months ago
@eldictator1: sure, it fast charging could be significantly sped up then swapping batteries wouldn't be necessary. But the physics involved make that very unlikely. If you wanted to fast charge cars within lets say 5-10 minutes - and keep in mind this would have to be done with thousands or even millions of vehicles in a particular country - you would put so much strain on the power grid it would simply collapse. You never know what scientists will come up with but it doesn't seem feasible atm
ultimazer1 11 months ago
@eldictator1: there already are batteries developed in Japan that can be recharged within 10 seconds so the batteries themselves don't seem to be the problem...the problem is tens of thousands of fast charging spots charging cars/busses/bikes or other means of battery based transport at the same time..the grid just can't handle that. There might be ways to solves this with ultracapacitors, who knows :) atm betterplace's model is what can be done, but the near future might bring better solutions
ultimazer1 11 months ago
@ultimazer1 If you google JFE engineering fast charge, you'll find info on theri quick charger that does 70% i think in 5 minutes and less in 3 minutes. I forget the details but they stored electricity from the grid overnight rather than draining all day, so effectively you could probably have a handfull in the country in key areas
eldictator1 11 months ago
@eldictator1: yeah, there are several companies that developed technology like this. Buffering the electricity in batteries or ultracapacitors in the charging stations is the way to go I suppose, so they charging stations themselves are slowly charged but can release the electricity in a "burst" which means the strain is not put on the grid all at once.
ultimazer1 11 months ago
@zlozlozlo If you search for "better place tokyo taxi", there is an interesting video
eldictator1 11 months ago
@eldictator1 believe me, I've seen every better place video there is :-)
zlozlozlo 11 months ago
@awaken69 but if we were to charge EVs with 2MW lines, we'd have to build new networks with MASSIVE capacity just for the EVs. Swapping has another huge advantage - when those new batteries you're talking about come out, upgrading your current EV with a new high capacity battery will be as easy as visiting a swap station. Same goes for malfunctions and unexpected decrease in capacity. It's not your battery, it's interchangable, you don't bear the risk of the battery breaking down.
zlozlozlo 11 months ago
Anyway, I strongly suggest you look up the company Better Place, founded by former SAP's product manager Shai Agassi. He basically figured out the right business model and infrastructure model. Here's a vid where he explains it /watch?v=FcoJt2KLC9k
this is no empty talk, they've partnered with Renault-Nissan, got over $1 billion in investor money, and are currently deploying infrastructure in Denmark, Israel, Australia. Next up is Hawaii, SF Bay Area, Ontario.
zlozlozlo 11 months ago 2
@zlozlozlo I am very aware of Better Place and the work they are doing, I'm constantly referring people to their work when they ask me in twitter about the swappable battery idea. Eventually I want to look into the system in more depth on Fully Charged, however a lot of manufacturers I've spoken to are skeptical about it. I'm not, I think it's a brilliant idea
fullychargedshow 11 months ago 3
@fullychargedshow that's great. I wasn't sure cause I've never heard you mention them. And I feel they're not getting nearly as much attention as they should. Shai actually has two great remarks about car manufacturers: "These are the people who say they're gonna build a car that drives itself, and if you ask them about battery swapping, they tell you it's not possible".
zlozlozlo 11 months ago
@fullychargedshow the other one is "Whenever a company tells us it's not possible, we go to the F1 team for the company, and they say 7 seconds! Anything you want done on the car we can do in 7 seconds." Personally I think the skepticism is just the executives trying to resist change. After a century of making ICE cars they are very much set in their ways. By now they should have realized that if they don't adapt to the change they're gonna be left in the dust.
zlozlozlo 11 months ago
@fullychargedshow Originally I was a huge fan of the idea, but I think it's biggest downfall might be when people realise they don't actually need to 'refuel' away from home nearly as much as they think. I'm retargetting my 'instant charge' hopes towards flow batteries with replacable gel, or just until battery tech allows 200-300 miles with sensible weight.
...or a Mr Fusion, which ever comes first ;)
Octamed 11 months ago
@zlozlozlo I have talked to a project manager of Renault who told me the biggest problem they currently have with their interesting swappable battery idea is the lack of space under the station. This is especially the case in Israel where the underground is composed of very hard rock. Thus, the only current solution would be to have the "battery swapping station" (as opposed to gas station) on top of a small human build hill. And that's a problem because low-end e-cars aren't very powerful.
MrChrisRab 11 months ago
@MrChrisRab that's a bummer. There are bound to be speedbumps along the way. Let's hope they solve it somehow. Maybe get a more powerful excavator or drill. Of course it's gonna cost more and slow things down, but it's still a question of "when" as opposed to "whether or not" this will happen.
zlozlozlo 11 months ago
Good to see you're still alive. "every car manufacturer would have to use the same type of battery" - no they wouldn't. Renault currently has two cars with swappable batteries due (among the total of 9 EVs lineup of the Renault-Nissan alliance) and even those two are using different battery packs because their engineering teams couldn't agree on the size and shape.
zlozlozlo 11 months ago
really nice report. i can't understand why you don't get more viewers. this could be on TV. and maybe next year there will be more you can buy :P
qpoon 11 months ago
It is not a moment too soon to see these cars coming... Thanks Robert for giving us some real hope.
c33r0k33 11 months ago
Electric this, electric that... Excellent indeed.
bored1980 11 months ago
Nice coverage (imo) Robert.
Thank you.
McRocket 11 months ago
nice reporting Rob
disposable157 11 months ago
nice coverage Robert - keep up the good work.
twistylikethat 11 months ago
The whole battery swap system promoted by Renault is actually happening on a large scale in Isreal, Denmark and Australia....it's not a concept it's happening in collaboration with betterplace and the whole system will be available at the end of this year...it is a really smart thing actually from my point of view...swapping batteries is the only practical way to achieve unlimited range (when you need it), as fast charging will always take at least 20mins due to the physics involved.
ultimazer1 11 months ago
@ultimazer1: and yepp, it does support different types of batteries and form factors
ultimazer1 11 months ago
I wonder how viable an electric car with a tiny petrol engine would be, just enough power to get you were you need to be if the batteries don't quite make it.
Pook365 11 months ago
@Pook365 That would be a series hybrid. Like the GM Volt / Ampera. Not a true electric.
marshgre 11 months ago
I really do like the look of that Nissan TownPod, it manages to look different and quirky without looking silly.
Pook365 11 months ago
When are you going to try the Volt?
vicbel 11 months ago
Great video.
The Ampera is just a rebadged Volt. GM junk.
idontcare80 11 months ago
lol @ the
"weeeeeeeeeee"
: P
rainbowsalads 11 months ago
why didnt you stop by the tesla >>> the model s and roadster were there too why was that ??
bonds911 11 months ago
what a great video Bobby !!! : )
rainbowsalads 11 months ago
i hope in god that my next car is electric ...
bonds911 11 months ago
I know theres not much hope, but i really hope they bring the Mia to HK....if anyones listening.
nikku13 11 months ago
We have a Mini E and would like to get an ActiveE. We just wish BMW would actually sell the cars to us, not just lease them.
giantquesadilla 11 months ago