Lets face it: wrapping your head around EV charging infrastructure can be confusing.
And actuallywaitingwhile your car gets filled with juice?
But what if you didnt have to charge your vehicle at all?
What if there was another way?
And what if that way was battery swap stations?
It switched its strategy, focused on the Supercharger connection, and declared that battery swapping was a dead-end.
But is it really?
How do battery swap stations work?
The idea is simple.
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Thats a full charge in less time than it takes to drink an espresso.
What are the pros?
Plus, you wouldnt have to worry about battery degradation or warranties.
Similarly, swapping makes it possible toalways have the latest battery tech installed in your vehicle.
And the cons?
For starters,manufacturers would need to produce compatible batteries for all brands.
This means that the battery pack would need a very specific universal design.
Whats more, wed need a greater number of batteries to power the same number of EVs.
Not to mention the changes required for an entirely new infrastructure.
In December, NIOreached 700 stationsacross the country, having provided 5.3 million swaps to NIO car owners.
Its swap stations are fully automated and can do the job in three minutes.
It plans to expand to other US cities, Europe, and Japan.
Amples battery swap station (Credit: Ample)
So can battery swap stations really take off?
Maybe in some parts of the world, or well, China.
But thats not the case for western countries.
The EV market is only now starting to catch up and, along with it, conventional charging infrastructure.
But even if they take off, my guess is that they wont replace good ol chargers.
At best, theyll coexist.
Story byIoanna Lykiardopoulou
Ioanna is a writer at TNW.
With a background in the humanities, she has a soft spot for social impact-enabling technologies.
