Tesla's 90-second battery swap coming this year

[oil pan 4]

I think this is a far better idea than their epic fail "solar powered super charging stations".

If you don't have a tesla S and don't live between sanfran and LA (as 99.99999% of people do) then your best bet is a liquid fueled generator trailer pulled behind your EV.
Or if you have an EV pickup, put the gen in the bed, if the bed space is not needed.

[Xist]

Their previous idea is already an "epic fail?"

[wdb]

Originally Posted by brucey

What happened to the super charging tech they demo'ed before?

That's the free alternative. This alternative (battery swap) is going to cost money.

I have concerns about the real-world practicality of the battery swap. Tesla engineers aren't dummies, and perhaps they've thought them all out, but here they are anyway:

• battery pack condition - what if I swap my brand new battery pack for a 4 year old pack?
• varying battery pack capacities (already mentioned in this thread)
• inclement weather - I've worked under cars in wintertime, they can be an ice-clogged, dripping, awful mess
• other environmental variables - after all, this swap is taking place under a car

[oil pan 4]

Originally Posted by wdb

That's the free alternative. This alternative (battery swap) is going to cost money.

I have concerns about the real-world practicality of the battery swap. Tesla engineers aren't dummies, and perhaps they've thought them all out, but here they are anyway:

• battery pack condition - what if I swap my brand new battery pack for a 4 year old pack?
• varying battery pack capacities (already mentioned in this thread)
• inclement weather - I've worked under cars in wintertime, they can be an ice-clogged, dripping, awful mess
• other environmental variables - after all, this swap is taking place under a car

It seems the more time and money they put into electric vehicles the more they restrict them to perfect weather places where people seem to have tons of money, like california.

You are right at the under the car variables, I don't think many people realize how dirty the underside of a car gets.

[NeilBlanchard]

Tesla answers questions about battery swap announcement

Question: Are the batteries at the stations all brand-new?

Answer: They will be brand-new at first. But as owners use them, they will obviously have recharging cycles on them. Each will be monitored for optimal performance, so the customer won't have to worry about that.

Question: How much does it cost to upgrade a charging station to allow battery swapping?

Answer: It costs about $500,000 per site, and that includes digging the pit, construction and hardware. The electrical capacity is already on site (supplying energy to the Superchargers).