Idea for hot-pluggable battery

[undata]

Dear dreamers,

Have you heard any talk about refilling stations for electric cars, which could replace the "guts" of some sort of battery system in seconds? Do you think it's possible, and if so, with what battery type?

The electric vehicle would pull in to the station, swap the discharged battery core for a charged one, and zoom away. Recharging at home would then become like changing your own oil: possible, but the hard way to go.

[Smurf]

Interesting concept. However, remember how long the world fought to get a standard cell phone charging port? Now try to get the top 10 vehicle manufacturers to agree on a battery format, size, connections, etc.

I would imagine it would be similar to battery powered forklifts. We would limp the forklifts into a battery room, flip the seat backwards, unplug the connector, connect the overhead lift to the battery and swap them out. The batteries were massive, my 5-year-old memories want to say 4'x3'x3'.

But, making a standard trunk design that flips in a way to allow cargo but also swapping the battery... I could see it as being possible.

[Daox]

Yep, there are a few companies that have ideas. Nobody has products out there to do it though, and no compatable OEM vehicles.

[Ryland]

It's going to be as easy to get electric car makers to make a standard size and shape of battery as it would be to get gasoline auto makers to all use the same engine in all of their vehicles.

as for swapping out the "guts" there are very few batteries that use a liquid that could be pumped in and out that also work well and are cheap enough to use in a vehicle, with lithium batteries it would be like taking a book and scraping the print off the pages and putting new print on and if you get a spec of moisture in there you fail.
also the electrical connections become a fussy point as well, 60,000 to 100,000 watts of power is a lot to have going threw a plug on a battery pack.

best option is slow charging at night at home and when you want a long trip, take the train or fly or rent a diesel car.

[Flakbadger]

The version I had read about dealt with charging electrolytes in a solution in an underground tank. Then you simply pump out the old, uncharged electrolytes from the car's battery, and pump in charged ones.
I'm not a chemist but it sounds awful fishy to me. I think it's a pipe dream.

[baldlobo]

this idea reminds me of demolition man; and the capacitance gel.

[oil pan 4]

You need oil pan 4's electric vehicle tow and charge service till then.

The manufactures that are building electric and hybrid vehicles all use different battery chemistry and voltages.
All bets are off till they at least start using a few different standardized voltages.
Kind of like 24, 36 and 48 volt lead acid systems found in about 99% of all floor scrubbers, fork lifts and warehouse tugs.

[ksa8907]

what happens if the battery you get has had a rough life and after paying for 100kw worth of battery, you only get 50kw useable energy? it is a good idea around the electric range, but im not confident it would work. hydrogen fuel cells are the future.

[oil pan 4]

Hydrogen fuel cells might be the distant future.

[thomason2wheels]

Originally Posted by ksa8907

what happens if the battery you get has had a rough life and after paying for 100kw worth of battery, you only get 50kw useable energy? it is a good idea around the electric range, but im not confident it would work. hydrogen fuel cells are the future.

Hydrogen fuel cells are so far out of reason cost wise that i cant imagine the costs can be reigned in in less than 10 or 20 years, certainly not enough for the average joe to afford one. Ill be dead by then :-)