Pit stops are not just for F1. In Norway, a facility owned by Chinese electric car maker Nio, instead of a new nose box wrapped in rain tires and automated robots, it takes at least three minutes to replace an empty battery with a freshly charged one.
While these exchange shops are widespread in China, the recently opened power exchange station south of Oslo is Europe’s first and only specialized business. So is battery replacement the future of electric vehicles?
Nio’s subscription service certainly has its advantages. Batteries are still the most expensive electrical component, so removing this value from your car purchase and replacing it with a monthly fee can save a few cents for electric car users. The subscriber battery replacement model also means your car always uses the latest battery technology.
Accessibility is also an issue. For some electric vehicle users, the possibility of changing the battery at a gas station is very attractive when there is no parking in the driveway or on the street in a place where the home charger is inaccessible.
On the other hand, installing battery replacement infrastructure is more expensive than maintaining existing charging point infrastructure in the UK. Currently, there are about 42,000 charging points in more than 15,000 locations nationwide, not just gas stations.
Julian Skidmore, Senior Software Engineer at Versinetic’s electric vehicle charging consultant, says another widely used issue is the lack of battery standardization and regulation in the UK or EU. Without this, users can replace the battery at a service station where their vehicle may not be manufactured.
“The service station needs to supply some kind of battery and constantly recharge it,” he says. That’s impossible, they must all be the same. The EU has already started the process of regulating electric vehicle batteries for recycling, but I still don’t like battery replacement.
However, one of the main attractions of replacing an EV battery is the charging time. According to RAC, electric vehicle charging can range from 15 minutes with a 350 kW ultra-fast charger to 24 hours with an internal plug. In any case, the winner is a 3-minute pit stop.
Faster charging times and higher operating charges In reality, no attempt has been made by the electrical industry to charge points. According to Skidmore, the more times an electric vehicle driver travels down the road, the more attention they should pay.
“Because it supplies a few megawatts, there is a limit to the total capacity that can be supplied to the charging station. [ultra-rapid super chargers at 150kW up to 350kW] It will be very expensive, he says.
If more people are charging, it is assumed that more than one person will be charged at a time, since we need to limit everyone’s charge to stay within the delivery range.
However, in the case of a battery charging station, the average charging speed will be slower because it can be charged when no one is at the station. [and not pushing the limits]”He says.
Such efficiency is one of the factors that activate the engine of the exchange service station. Are you tired or tired? Time shows us.
Another problem facing battery standardization.
Battery Boom or Battery Fail?
The laser-guided keyboard, where you loosen the screws and lower the battery once, is like the world of tomorrow, but battery-replacement technology isn’t a new idea.
Founded in 2007, Israel-based BetterPlace promised a robotic service station to replace the battery, but failed to get enough investment. Even when Tesla insisted on that idea.
Nio has realized its long-standing dream of providing up to 240 batteries per day at one of its service stations. The carmakers are also planning another 20 such stations in Norway.
Source: Metro
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