[Omkar]

Since the time EVs were introduced, the biggest drawback has been the charging time. Home charging is usually overnight for a sufficient charge and the “quickest” refill also takes roughly an hour with a DC fast charger. That’s a lot of time for charging and poses a big challenge. The solution is quite simple – swap out the battery for a new one. This is not something that just popped up in my mind right now, but something that people have been working on since the early stages of EV adoption. However, battery swapping never really took off and battery charging was given preference. Let's take a step back and look at the current scenario.

Let’s talk about the electric two-wheelers first as they make for 51.49% of the total EV sales in our country by volume. Recently there was an interesting article in 'The Ken' about how quick commerce giants like Zepto and Zomato are reviving battery swapping in India. We all know how these last-minute delivery apps have risen in India, especially in metro cities. They have multiple ‘dark stores’ and riders ready to zip through the traffic on their EVs to deliver anything you want in 10 minutes. For those who are unaware of the term, a 'dark store' or a 'ghost store' is a warehouse that's not open to the public. A dark store is not used to attract walk-in customers but solely to fulfil online orders. These dark stores or micro warehouses have cropped up everywhere and the riders are currently using EV bikes with swappable batteries.

Image source - ETN News

Zomato recently announced that it intends to double the number of dark stores by 2025 and Zepto wants to add about 10,000 EVs to its fleet by the end of this financial year. While those are the set goals, both Zepto and Zomato have partnered with Battery Smart, a Delhi-based network of battery-swapping stations for electric vehicles. Battery Smart recently inaugurated its 1000th swap station in Delhi. The company has stations across 30 cities in regions like Haryana, NCR, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.

Image source - Mobility Outlook

For companies like Zomato and Zepto, the battery-swapping approach makes a lot of sense for a simple reason - the time to swap out a drained battery for a fully charged one is barely a few minutes. On the other hand, it takes roughly 4 hours for an electric scooter to charge fully on a slow charger. Less downtime is beneficial for everyone in this case. Surely other companies will start adopting this system. In metro cities, slowly and steadily, petrol bikes have been replaced by EVs for their low cost of running. Moreover, if the main issue with charging which is the downtime gets sorted with swappable battery tech, we could see it getting replaced completely at least in the commercial space.

But what about private customers? Some electric bikes are being sold to private customers with swappable batteries like – the Hero Vida 1, Bounce Infinity and Simple One. But the biggest problem here is the fact that the government has been promoting battery charging over swapping. EVs sold with batteries (charging) incur a GST of 5% while those sold without battery (swapping) attract 18% GST. Purchasing a separate Li-ion battery is also costly and taxed separately which further hikes up the price. Then there was the FAME incentive that also focused on building charging infrastructure and nothing for the swappable battery technology. Apart from this, there are some other challenges in battery swapping as well. For instance, the battery is heavy and swapping will be extremely difficult for elderly people. Battery swapping station takes up a lot of space, while an EV charger can be installed at home as well. Here’s a detailed article where Ather CEO shares why battery swapping won’t work in India (Related article).

Image Source

So, will battery swapping work or not? It's still dicey as there are a few things that need to work in favour of battery swapping to become mainstream. Taxation is the primary area of concern to make the EVs more accessible. But come to think of it, the challenges can be addressed and it doesn't seem outlandish for battery swapping to work in India. Things will have to fall in place for both technologies to co-exist as that would give the customers more options and eventually better products to suit their needs.

Changing the perspective a bit, what’s the situation with 4-wheelers? If things seem uncertain with 2-wheelers, they seem impossible for 4-wheelers. There’s still a lot that needs to be worked out before battery-swapping tech is made mainstream in cars. China has had a first wave of battery swapping services and even Tesla tried out building battery swapping stations for the Model S. However, the first wave failed to make any impact. In China, however, a similar second wave seems to be coming with EV maker Nio betting big on battery-swapping tech. It has formed a partnership with brands like Geely, Changan, Jiaghuai Automobile (JAC) and Chery (Source). They’re working on standardizing battery packs across brands to expand the battery-swapping ecosystem.


Then there's the aspect of maintaining a battery-swapping station itself. For starters, the batteries inside the swapping station are connected to the grid for charging and this needs to be monitored continuously. If the system becomes mainstream, the grid should be able to support heavy loads as well. We’re already seeing people complain about the lack of charging ports in certain areas since there are so many EVs. With a swapping station, at any given time, it should have enough fully charged batteries to service the incoming electric vehicles. If fully charged batteries aren't available, it defeats the purpose of a quick refill. The station needs a proper battery management system to monitor the battery levels.

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After this brief overview, let's talk about some of the positives and negatives of battery swapping. This includes both 2-wheelers and 4-wheelers, so feel free to add some more pros and cons that you can think of.

Pros of battery swapping tech

• If standardization of batteries is done, there’s a possibility that EVs can be sold without the battery. And if the cost of the battery isn’t included in the price of the EV, this would make it significantly affordable
• Faster charging times. Replacing a battery would be much quicker than charging from 0-100%
• Can carry extra batteries for added range
• Great for commercial use as the vehicle can run 24x7 with different riders/drivers. Minimal downtime
• You don’t have to worry about battery life or battery-related issues. Can just swap it out for a new one

Cons of battery swapping tech

• Setting up a battery-swapping station can be expensive. It needs plenty of batteries and manpower compared to the charging stations
• Batteries need to be handled safely and precisely for swapping. This isn't possible for everyone. 4 wheelers need extra training for professionals
• Home charging of batteries is another task as you need to carry the heavy battery to the charging point
• Private owners would refrain from sharing their batteries. They might not want a battery that has been abused for commercial use
• Currently, standardization of batteries is a big challenge in 2-wheelers and 4-wheelers. We have seen standardization in EV charging (CCS type), but not in battery swapping

What do you think? Will we see battery swapping become mainstream in India? Would you buy an EV with swappable battery?

[Omkar]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line.

[HillMan]

Voted Yes.
But this will be for a two wheeler where battery can be taken home to recharge. That is because it is convenient to charge the battery inside the house and no dependancy on installing a charging port. A major convenience at apartment complexes. The battery would still be my own and maintained by me.

My vote will be a NO for swapping at public/community infrastructure:
The swappable batteries at public infrastructure may not be well maintained. The leased batteries at charge stations would have varying capacity as per their charge cycle. It is not the same as a full tank of petrol filled at a gas station. Every battery will have a different range.
My answer will be a strict NO for four wheeler also for a similar reason

[Shresth_EV]

Originally Posted by HillMan

The leased batteries at charge stations would have varying capacity as per their charge cycle. It is not the same as a full tank of petrol filled at a gas station. Every battery will have a different range.
My answer will be a strict NO for four wheeler also for a similar reason

Precisely my concern as well, we don’t know whether the previous owner of the battery abused it or babied it. Why should I pay full amount of battery swapping fee for a battery left over by a taxi cab at 78% SoH?

The SoH itself isn’t as much of a problem as what I pay for it. I would rather pay an adjusted fee which accounted for the SoH.

Or else, just put BaaS and sell the vehicle to me at ₹x lakh cheaper, and rent out the battery to me on lease plan. Say, 10swaps per month for ₹2500 (₹1/km 250km range X 10 swaps)

If I exceed my swap limit, then ₹300 for every extra swap over 10. Make tiers based on mix and match of battery size, number of swaps etc.

That way owner is completely detached from what happens to the battery or if they are getting degraded battery or not.

Though battery swapping model may prove more convenient one thing to mention is the requirement to make spare battery packs which may very well spend most of time in a swapping station.

That is a huge carbon cost which can simply be eliminated by better charging times (already possible) and more numerous charging points (after all every potential parking spot is a trickle charge candidate)

[DIY410]

This year all the battery OEMs from china like CATL, BYD, Geely all offer only 2C charge capable batteries as standard for automobile makers. So a EV with 50 kWh battery can charge at 100 kW speed. This is said to bump up to 4C capable batteries as standard in 2026 onwards.

We already have batteries that go up to 5C in production cars in china or about 500km real world range in 12min of charging.

By the end of this decade, (already achieved in lab) we will see even more faster charging speeds, dropping to 6 min charge time for 500km real world range and with ever decreasing volumetric weight, it will allow cars to also have bigger capacity battery pack (2x capacity) without weight and size penalty.

Swappable battery also takes a toll on the connectors, a good number of EV battery that fails in floods or heavy water logged roads are due to the water ingress in the connectors, which short out the electronics.

[Cry0gen]

Battery swap is akin to filling up fuel in a normal fossil fuel car. The idea is to cut out the avg. recharge time of an EV to curb the overall travel time and enable run of the mill EVs to do cross country, without any worry of sorts. However, whether the same will go mainstream will solely depend on how the charging tech pans out. If the tech so evolves that an EV battery can be topped up in a matter of mere minutes, then I think this swap tech is a no brainer, given the huge investment required to upkeep a huge number of physical batteries. They may however be useful in situations where remoteness hinders charging tech.

[TorqueAddict007]

Voted No because I feel any and all investment that goes into battery swapping tech is better utilised for improving battery chemistry, charging times as well as improving charging infrastructure, especially for four wheelers.

The cons of battery swapping are just too negative compared to the pros they offer, the infrastructure and skilled labour requirements are much higher than compared to setting up a set of ultra fast DC chargers. With how complicated the diagram looked, it seems like it would honestly be more economical and easier to set up charging stations where the overall DC fast charging capacities to be around 1.5 MW. Have a few 250 kW fast chargers, some 150 kW ones, a few 50kW ones to cater to the different charging speeds supported by EVs, enforce hefty fines for anybody who uses a charging speed higher than what their car can support, so that a situation where owners of cars that support only upto 50 kW fast chargers don't hog 250 kW fast chargers doesn't arise. I feel it's much easier to set up multiple of such charging stations 200-250 kms apart than it is to set up a single battery swapping station and maintain that infrastructure along with getting the skilled labour to run the swapping station.

Plus, charging speeds as well as battery capacities have evolved so much now that we see how easy it is to add 150-200 kms of charge in more expensive EVs in something like 20 minutes, when using higher capacity chargers. Battery swapping is never going to be as fast as filling up fuel, so if such charging speeds and chargers become more mainstream, will it really make sense to put in all that additional money, effort to meet the safety and regulatory compliances to not just build battery swapping stations but to also standardise that across an entire industry of EVs, just to save 10-20 mins? And when solid state batteries become economical, the entire idea of battery swapping is going to become redundant. So I don't think it's really going to be as viable a strategy as just chasing better battery chemistries and better charging infrastructure is.

Nio's ideas are certainly very novel and they have done a good job at battery swapping, but they are also running quite hefty losses and are far from profitability. Coming up with a disruptive strategy is not very difficult, but making that strategy profitable is what separates the companies that swim from those that sink.

[RGK]

Voted Yes. Recharge times will be saved.

The car should be sold without the battery and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠if the battery needs to be purchased new externally (from battery manufacturers or rental companies), I would opt for a battery that can be easily swapped out.

The true disclosure of the replacement battery's condition and quality is essential.

[1.2TSI7DSG]

I would say until I am trusting the battery health & the structural integrity, I will not opt for it. Especially when any misses can lead to my trip interruption or worse a fire...

[shamanth]

Provided Vehicle is sold without battery, bringing down that cost Owning EV vehicle considerably and then user will opt for subscription service from battery swapping company, like using Honda battery or Yamaha battery, battery company of my choice, allowing me to change to subscription if i don't like service of battery company. I guess Govt should bring in standard for battery for 2 wheeler and 4 wheeler and allow only one or two size batteries.

This will also eliminate the questions people are asking, why should i swap my new battery and use old batteries..

[Raskolnikov.R]

I remember coming across Sun Mobility, an EV battery-swapping company founded by Chetan Maini. What struck me most is the convenience it affords commercial EVs.

I believe we do need battery swapping, but it must be limited to commercial delivery vehicles and, in the case of privately registered ones, exclusive to small-capacity batteries for the not-too-fast e-scooters. In my opinion, e-scooters above 2.5 KW must not warrant battery swapping.

Why?

The larger the battery, the heavier it becomes. I do know of a friend's driver who runs a Bounce and carries the battery inside the office to charge. I pray and hope Ather, TVS, and River DO NOT go down that road for their e-scooters.

It isn't that expensive to install the wiring for a charging station in your residence. Charge the vehicle once a day, and you are done.

Battery swaps work best when the vehicle is not owned by an individual. Then, you don't have to worry about the battery's health.

For all others, be it the guys from Swiggy and Zomato, or those transporting gas cylinders, or delivering local groceries, a swappable battery ensures maximum return on investment, especially when the battery cost is decoupled from the vehicle cost, as the OP has mentioned.

Nio, I believe, is the only China-based manufacturer that has been able to roll out a nationwide network of swappable facilities.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/05/chin...fra-edge-.html

However, I must mention that Nio's success is likely to be exclusive to China. Other nations are far behind in EV adoption, and in investing the recharging infrastructure.

For me, every drop counts. Be it charging or swapping stations, let's have more of them.

PS: For the last three weeks, I've been charging my River Indie at my workplace. It allows me to ride in Rush mode most of the time, without having to fear about having enough juice to return home or visit a friend after work.

[maddy42]

Voted - No

Will work well for fleet operators but will not catch the fancies of private car buyers.

Another strong reason why - Company called Exponent energy has a tie up with a couple of 3 wheeler load carrying autos of Logisitics firms. They can charge a vehicle to 100% capacity in 15 mins and has a tie up coming up with even a bus operator.

https://www.exponent.energy/

I have seen this being operated outside their office at HSR and its truly impressive.

[srh]

Voted no. Conceptually sounds a great thing that we have swappable batteriy EVs.For me, two considerations come up -
- Total cost of ownership - as of now, no decent manufacturer of battery swapping EVs offers a good enough financial deal which trumps battery integrated EVs

- I am not comfortable with a swapping center which is shared with commerical vehicle drivers. Biggest issue being abuse of the batteries as well as the swapping stations. The whole ambience of some of these near my house leave a lot to be desired. In a way, it is the difference between going to a Citibank ATM Vs SBI ATM.

[JayPrashanth]

1. An electric car's battery weighs a few hundred kilos.

2. Most new electric cars use skateboard platforms that have the battery as an integral part of the chassis, requiring high end assembly. Standardizing tech across vehicle platforms is going to be extremely challenging if not infeasible/impossible.

3. Clearly, battery swapping will be limited to the two wheeler space. Two wheelers typically run for less than 100 kms per day, making battery swapping unnecessary for most private buyer applications.

4. Battery swap may work only for commercial operators. Example: Tata Ace EV/Switch Dost EV range of under 100 kms is rubbish, and unusable for most operators. They'll love swapping tech but robots will have to handle this as the battery pack will easily be a couple of hundred kilos heavy.

Under such circumstances, battery swapping tech is more or less pointless for private car/2 wheeler owners.

A better option would be some kind of revolutionary fast charging tech that can recharge a vehicle in say 1-2 minutes.

This will make EVs similar to ICEs in terms of refueling time taken.

Cheers,

Jay

[shamanth]

Originally Posted by Raskolnikov.R

It isn't that expensive to install the wiring for a charging station in your residence. Charge the vehicle once a day, and you are done.

Most of the Old apartments wont allow putting any wiring for charging station at your parking, due to fire safety issue, then only option is to charge outside or take your scooter in cargo lift inside your home and charge.