What Is Battery Swapping?

Battery swapping is a method of recharging electric vehicles by exchanging a depleted battery for a fully charged one. The idea is to deliver a convenient “refueling” experience for electric vehicle drivers, comparable to a quick stop at a gas station. Battery swapping only takes a few minutes, making it significantly faster than traditional EV charging methods, which can take anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours.

Why Is Battery Swapping Important?

With rising interest in all-electric and hybrid cars, new technologies — like battery swapping — are being developed to help ease drivers through this transition.

In addition to reducing a vehicle’s downtime, battery swapping promotes widespread EV adoption by addressing concerns related to slow charging speeds, range anxiety and enhancing overall battery maintenance.

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How Does Battery Swapping Work?

Automated battery-swapping stations are made to service four-wheeled electric passenger cars; manual stations are designated for two- and three-wheeled electric vehicles, like scooters, mopeds and rickshaws.

Automated Battery Swapping

1. Drivers pulls their electric vehicle into a designated swapping bay, where an automated system checks the model for compatibility with its battery inventory.
2. Once the vehicle is positioned in alignment, the underlying platform mechanically lifts a few feet.
3. A robot arm then locates the depleted car battery in the vehicle’s underbody, unlocks the battery compartment, removes the depleted battery and installs a fully charged one in just a few minutes.
4. The vehicle is lowered, and the dead battery is put on charge at the station for future use.

Manual Battery Swapping

1. Drivers park in a designated swapping bay and check in, either manually with a station attendant or via a digital app or kiosk. 
2. The station staff or system verifies the condition of the depleted battery, and checks the EV’s compatibility with the available batteries.
3. The depleted battery is removed from the vehicle and plugged in to charge. 
4. A compatible, fully charged battery is pulled from a wall of battery slots, then manually installed.

For both systems, drivers can choose to pay-per-swap or sign up for a battery-as-a-service subscription membership on a recurring basis.

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Benefits of Battery Swapping

Battery swapping has sparked interest over the past couple decades for the following reasons.

Fast Charging Speed

Battery swapping stations cut EV charging times from hours to a matter of three to five minutes — and with advanced infrastructure, that could be reduced even further. Take for example Beijing, where there are more than 250 active battery swapping stations, which completes a battery swap service in an average of 1.5 minutes. And in San Fransisco, startup Ample has halved the time it takes to swap out a battery from 10 to five minutes with its next generation of battery swapping hubs.

More Convenience

Battery swapping stations eliminate the long wait times of traditional recharging, bringing drivers back to the familiar experience of making a quick pit stop to refuel. At automated stations, the entire process is so seamless that drivers remain in their cars from start to finish, similar to an oil change. China-based EV car manufacturer NIO claims that it delivers a fully charged battery pack almost every second, completing about 79,000 battery swaps per day — 50 million cumulative swap in total — across its network of stations. 

Reduces Range Anxiety

Even though there are about 140,000 public charging stations nationwide, the fear of being stranded because of insufficient battery storage — known as “range anxiety” — is one of the foremost barriers to widespread adoption of electric vehicles. With more swapping stations, drivers would be able to confidently commute longer distances without having to track down charging points or add hour-long detours to their trips in order to recharge.

Energy Efficient

Centralizing EV charging at battery swapping stations allows batteries to be charged uniformly, at a slower pace, which extends their lifespan and reduces electronic waste. It also enables stations to limit charging to off-peak hours, or dynamically adjust energy consumption based on demand during peak periods to reduce strain on the local power grid, especially if locations are strategically selected. 

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Challenges of Battery Swapping

As with every new technology, there comes a range of potential drawbacks.

Lack of Standardization

EV manufacturers do not standardize their car batteries, making universal compatibility difficult. With varying designs, sizes and configurations, the scalability of swapping stations may be limited to a certain capacity as each would need to stock their inventory with multiple battery types from different generations, increasing costs and complexity.

Infrastructure Setbacks

Today, battery swapping stations are sparse. Aside from some notable traction in China and India, the infrastructure for these networks remain underdeveloped in most parts of the world. EV charging stations are also becoming more efficient, casting doubt on the demand for battery swap stations at all.

High Cost

The average cost to build a passenger car battery swap station is around $500,000, according to CNBC. That’s significantly higher than the cost of installing a two-port charging station, which typically range from $200,000 to $300,000.

Battery Ownership Concerns

Battery swapping requires consumers to relinquish ownership of their car batteries, which may deter those who prefer full ownership of their vehicle from participating. Drivers may also worry about receiving older or degraded batteries from a swap, potentially affecting the performance of their car and overall resale value.

Frequently Asked Questions