Battery Swap vs Fast Charging_ VHS vs Betamax for Electric Cars

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Better Place Battery S witching Test, Yokohama

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To battery swap or fastcharge? Thats the question

facing automakers worldwide as they decide on the

best standard to adopt to charge the latest

generation of electric cars.

But just like the early days of video cassettes, a

standard war is waging in which there can only be one

winner. And despite the quicker, fully automated

world of battery swapping the technology backed by

RenaultNissan and Better Place is facing an uphill

struggle to become the accepted technology for

charging electric car batteries for long distance trips.

Theoretically Perfect in a Perfect World

Just like the Betamax, BetterPlaces fast charge

solution looks great on paper. It avoids the need for

long charging stops and theoretically cuts down the

time taken to replenish an electric vehicles range

from the 30 or so minutes taken to fast charge a 2011

Nissan Leaf to well under 5 minutes.

In order to achieve this however, the battery swap

station has to have no queues and a fresh battery

pack of the correct type waiting. It charges the

batteries to full every time and ensures a full tested

battery pack that will be of a guaranteed health.

Its also better for the batteries: continued fastcharging eventually prematurely ages a lithiumion

battery pack. Battery swapping, with stations

charging spent packs over hours rather than minutes

helps reduce wear and tear but only in a perfect

world of unlimited space, unlimited resources and

fully integrated telematics between cars, batteries

and swap stations.

And thats the point. Just like Betamax, Battery swap stations are great: in a perfect world.

Battery Homogeneity or Port Homogeneity?

Sadly, the world isnt perfect. Nor is it one where cooperation is de facto.

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better place battery switch station 006

better place battery switch station 005

In order to make full use of battery swap stations,

there has to be consensus on battery pack design,

not just the design of the power inlet used to charge

the car. In asking the automakers to work together

on a standardized battery pack, car design becomes

centered around the battery pack, not the function

of the car.

In turn, that centralized design process makes it

difficult to design cars with longer ranges or specific

purposes.

In contrast, fast charging can be applied to any

vehicle with a standardized inlet: power is

transferred to an onboard battery pack which can

take any shape and software controls power

transfer.

Port or inlet homogeneity means it is possible for

battery packs to come in a variety of sizes and shapes

and the design of the battery pack can be put

wherever the cars designers feel there is space.

Less Convenience, Less Space

Creating a fastcharge network is less expensive than

a battery swap station. It also requires less space,

meaning a fast charge station can be put anywhere a

parking lot exists. Battery swap stations require a

dedicated space to remove, store and charge as many

batteries as are needed to satisfy a continuos stream

of battery swaps.

Battery swapping 0. Fast Charging 2?

Kind of. But the time taken to recharge using a fast

charging station is much longer than the time it takes

to replace a battery in a battery swap facility. It also

doesnt actually recharge a battery to full, charging a

battery to about 80% of its full capacity. These two

factors give battery swap stations a major advantage

over fast charge points.

The Final Nail

But the ultimate nail in BetterPlaces coffin is the ubiquity of plugging in and the way that we, the

consumers, already know how to do it.

Theres no specialised equipment necessary for daily mileages of less than 100 miles in cars like the 2011

Nissan Leaf. In fact, charging at night eliminates the need for recharging during the day at all.

Sometimes, the more basic solution wins out, even if it isnt quite as good for our cars as the

alternative could be.

Without a doubt, fast charging is like VHS: technically flawed and not quite as versatile as it could be.

For now though, BetterPlace looks confined to places where it does work: large fleets and small

islands.

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Michael ThwaitePosted: 3/7/2011 9:37am PST

I think Better Place is absolutely perfect for fleets of vehicles; City Taxi's, Post office delivery vehicles...

It's how they did it at the turn of the 19th century. Worked then,I guess we lost out way.


Kent BeuchertPosted: 3/7/2011 11:02am PST

I disagree that BetterPlace makes any sense, anywhere. Right now BYD is running a fleet of taxis and

can recharge to a substantial battery capacity in 10 minutes, plenty fast enough. And as batteries get

cheaper, the need for frequent recharge grows correspondingly less. It's hard to imagine any need

whatsoever to artificially assist the 300 mile Model S. Even long trips are no problem with that range

combined with a negligible 45 minute recharge. It will have no need whatsoever for away from home

recharges except during trips. BetterPlace makes sense only when batteries are extemely expensive,

very slow charging, and leased t o the owner and

standardized by all the automakers. Absolutely none of those conditions now exist, nor does the

rationale for BetterPlace.

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Lucjan WilczekPosted: 3/7/2011 12:43pm PST

I work for a Private Ambulance company around Chicago land area, I want to say we easily put 100 +

Miles on an ambulance in a day, the battery swapping technology would be perfect for that...


By Alex BesogonovPosted: 3/7/2011 1:01pm PST

This analysis is flawed.

"Creating a fastcharge network is less expensive than a battery swap station. It also requires less

space, meaning a fast charge st ation can be put anywhere a parking lot exists"

That's totally not true. Not a lot of existing parking lots have enough power for fastcharging more

than a handful (at best!) cars. You'll need about 20 kWt*hr of charge for 100 miles, that works out to

stunning 40kWt (80Aat 500V!) for a SINGLE car. So a modest 30cars parking lot will require stunning

1.2MWt of power! So forget about fastcharging on any parking lot (though slow charging will probably

be ubiquitous).

In future, probably _both_ fast/slow charging and battery swapping will be used.


By Kevin SharpePosted: 3/7/2011 3:12pm PST

Lucjan do you think this will be true when you have a 200 mile battery? IMO battery swap will only be

useful while we wait for longer range batteries at an affordable price (in 5 to 10 years).


By Kevin SharpePosted: 3/7/2011 3:18pm PST

Alex, why not simply trickle charge a local storage system? You don't have to take all 40kWt or

whatever from the grid on demand.

I also doubt that fast charge will be required 24/7, during the night the system could revert to Level 2

service while trickle charging the fast charge storage.


Paul E.AppletonPosted: 3/7/2011 4:14pm PST

Our nation is a fleet since we bought GM and our neighborhoods are many islands, coalesced.....thanks

for making the BP argument!!


By Alex Besogonov

Posted: 3/8/2011 2:59am PST

"Alex, why not simply trickle charge a local storage system? You don't have to tak e all 40kWt or

whatever from the grid on demand."

Sure, it's one probable solution. But then you'll need to have a lot of local storage and batteries are

expensive. So by the time you've finished your parking lot won't be cheaper than a battery swap

station.

By Tom BassettPosted: 3/8/2011 10:49am PST

Looking at a 30 car fastcharging parking lot from a utilitie's perspective is fairly straight forward. Install


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2011 Green Car Reports. All Rights Reserved. Green Car Reports is published by High Gear Media. Send us feedback. Stock photography by Homestar, LLC.


a standard 750 KVA 3phase padmount transformer, t ypically 13.2kv to 277/480Y. Diversity and thermal

capacity of OISC xfrmr easily handles duty. Could use a 1000 KVA pad to be conservative.

Most utilities keep a few of these in their own local stock. Less than 53 amps primary current if all 30

cars charging (unlikely). Piece of cake for typical urban distribution network.

Transformer footprint would be about 6' X 4' or about 1/2 a parking space.


Christopher FilePosted: 3/8/2011 3:59pm PST

Is there any reason they ca n't be both? It would be nice to have them fast charge yet have easy removal

whenever the battery lifecycle has ended.


By BretPosted: 3/8/2011 5:08pm PST

There are two obvious reasons why I believe battery swapping is D.O.A. for consumers.

1. There's no way anyone is going to swap their $10K battery pack and risk getting one that is older or

potentially defective. I definitely wouldn't if I had a new EV.

2. The battery pack should be an integral part of the car and add structural rigidity. Having a r emovable

pack seems like it would add weight, reduce interior room and affect h andling.

It makes more sense for fleet customers, where they own all of the batteries and use van type vehicles.

But, they would still have to buy a lot of extra batteries and a swap station. That's a lot of money

compared to buying a couple quick chargers.


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