Tesla's 90-second battery swap coming this year
 

Tesla's 90-second battery swap coming this year | Fox News

Pretty cool. I hope these guys have overwhelming success...that is if they are able to avoid being killed by big oil mafia.

http://www.teslamotors.com/batteryswap

That's funny.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shdHVGYQonQ

2 Model S cars get pack swaps in the time it takes to fill up an Audi A8.

I'm glad Tesla decided to refine the ForkenSwift hot swap process. The royalties are welcome!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yfQcihsvE0

But:

(A) what is the co$t of that swap?

(B) is that only like-for-like or could it also include battery upgrading?

Good question! Could you theoretically "own" a smaller capacity pack, but swap in a large cap pack for a highway trip?

I think the cost will be more than the electricity costs, for sure, but probably less than it costs to fill up the A8? My guess is about $40?

"Sorry to keep you waiting"...just like owning any rechargeable electric device/equipment have TWO battery packs, one in use and one in standby charging reserve.

Well, if you can afford a Tesla, hopefully you can afford a battery backup.

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

I think a better way they could deal with long highway trips could be to add a booster battery pack to feed the main battery pack. Much like they have for cell phones. Like a "juice pack" cell phones use for recharging on the go. Kind of like how hybrid owners extend their ev only range with an engineer battery pack. You could rent the range exender for trips and just change it out at each recharge station. This way your own battery stays with the car and in place. You wouldn't have to go back later to pick it up. You just drop off the range extending pack at wich ever station you want near you destination.

...if you have to ask how much, you can't afford it.

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.

Their previous idea is already an "epic fail?"

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.

Tesla answers questions about battery swap announcement