Currently, Taiwanese electric scooter manufacturer Gogoro operates the largest battery swap network for electric mopeds, with nearly 11,000 GoStations in Taiwan, and 250 in Mainland China.[2][3][4] Chinese luxury carmaker Nio is the only major operator of automobile battery swapping stations for the public. The company has built around 2250 battery swap stations around China and Europe, and the process takes three minutes from start to finish.[5][6] Previously, Renault and Tesla attempted to make their vehicles capable of swapping batteries.
History
The SunRay and Caballito on their way to Micronesia for a conference on global warming.
The concept of an exchangeable battery service was proposed as early as 1896. It was first offered between 1910 and 1924, by Hartford Electric Light Company, through the GeVeCo battery service, serving electric trucks. The vehicle owner purchased the vehicle, without a battery, from General Vehicle Company (GeVeCo), part-owned by General Electric.[7] The power was purchased from Hartford Electric in the form of an exchangeable battery. The vehicles and batteries were designed to facilitate a fast exchange. The owner paid a variable per-mile charge and a monthly service fee to cover truck maintenance and storage. These vehicles covered more than 6 million miles.
Beginning in 1917 and lasting a few years, a similar service operated in Chicago for owners of Milburn Electric cars.[8]
In 1993, Suntera developed a two-seat 3-wheel electric vehicle called the SUNRAY, which came with a battery cartridge that swapped out in minutes at a battery-swap station.[9] In 1995, Suntera added a motor scooter.[10] The company was later renamed Personal Electric Transports[11](P.E.T.). After 2000 the company developed an electric bus. In 2004, the company's 3-wheel stand-up EV won 1st place at the 5-day long American Tour de Sol electric vehicle race,[12] before closing in 2006.
A rapid battery replacement system was implemented to service 50 electric buses at the 2008 Summer Olympics.[13]
Some smaller schemes have attempted to popularize battery swapping with individual cities. Zotye Auto built a fleet 15 of M300 EV hatchbacks for a taxi fleet in Hangzhou, China. In 2011, one of these vehicles caught on fire after the battery pack in the trunk caught fire. An investigation later found that battery in question, as well as the connecting electronics in the truck, had become worn out form repeated loading and unloading of charged battery packs. The electric scheme was halted following the incident.[14]
A Zotye M300 EV having its batteries replaced.
The batteries of a Zotye M300 EV being charged before being swapped.
Wear and tear in the battery compartment of a Zotye M300 EV, located in the trunk.
The Better Place network was the first modern attempt at making the battery switching model mainstream. The Renault Fluence Z.E. was the first car enabled to adopt the approach and was offered in several countries, including those where no battery swap stations had been planned.[15]
Better Place launched its first battery-swapping station in Israel, in Kiryat Ekron, near Rehovot in March 2011. The exchange process took five minutes.[16][17] Subsequent battery swap stations were built in Denmark. Better Place filed for bankruptcy in Israel in May 2013.[18][19]
In 2012, Tesla started building a proprietary fast-charging Tesla Supercharger network.[20] A year later, in June 2013, Tesla announced its plan to offer battery swapping. Tesla showed that a battery swap with the Model S took just over 90 seconds.[21][22]Elon Musk said the service would be offered at around US$60 to US$80 at June 2013 prices. The vehicle purchase included one battery pack. After a swap, the owner could later return and receive their battery pack fully charged. A second option would be to keep the swapped battery and receive/pay the difference in value between the original and the replacement. Pricing was not announced.[21] In 2015 the company abandoned its sole swapping station, built at Harris Ranch, for lack of customer interest.[23]
Other battery swapping service providers include Gogoro, Delta Electronics, BattSwap,[citation needed], Voltia, and Swap & Go.[24][25][26] By early 2022, Nio had built more than 850 swap stations in China,[27] up from 131 in 2020.[28] A station can cost $772,000 in China. A 90 kWh battery is charged at 60kW and can be swapped in 6 minutes.[27] China operates cement trucks where the heavy battery is swapped.[29] A battery swap system with a 2MWh battery in each 20-foot (6.1 m) shipping container powering a converted canal barge began operating in the Netherlands in 2021.[30][31]
In France, companies like ZEWAY have implemented a battery swapping system for their electric scooters, enabling instant recharging in just 50 seconds through a network of battery swapping stations. This approach is gaining ground, especially in urban areas, as it promotes sustainable transportation while addressing the limitations of traditional battery charging methods. In 2024, ZEWAY reached 1,000,000 swaps and became the European leader in battery swapping.
Gallery
Battery Swap Station for light commercial vehicles in Slovakia.
Battery swapping solutions were criticized as proprietary. By creating a monopoly regarding the ownership of the batteries and the patent-protected technologies the companies split up the market and decrease the chances of wider usage of battery swapping.[32]
Related Research Articles
The Fiat Multipla is a six-seater car produced by Italian automaker Fiat from 1998 to 2010. Based on the Bravo/Brava, the Multipla was shorter and wider than its rivals. It had two rows of three seats, where its compact MPV competitors had two across front seating. The Multipla is shorter than the three-door Bravo/Brava on which it was based, yet it offered increased seating and cargo volume. Sales commenced in Italy in November 1998.
Electric motorcycles and scooters are plug-in electric vehicles with two or three wheels. Power is supplied by a rechargeable battery that drives one or more electric motors. Electric scooters are distinguished from motorcycles by having a step-through frame, instead of being straddled. Electric bicycles are similar vehicles, distinguished by retaining the ability to be propelled by the rider pedaling in addition to battery propulsion.
A charging station, also known as a charge point, chargepoint, or electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE), is a power supply device that supplies electrical power for recharging plug-in electric vehicles.
Better Place was a venture-backed international company that developed and sold battery charging and battery switching services for electric cars. It was formally based in Palo Alto, California, but the bulk of its planning and operations were steered from Israel, where both its founder Shai Agassi and its chief investors resided.
An electric vehicle battery is a rechargeable battery used to power the electric motors of a battery electric vehicle (BEV) or hybrid electric vehicle (HEV).
An electric car or electric vehicle (EV) is a passenger automobile that is propelled by an electric traction motor, using electrical energy as the primary source of propulsion. The term normally refers to a plug-in electric vehicle, typically a battery electric vehicle (BEV), which only uses energy stored in on-board battery packs, but broadly may also include plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), range-extended electric vehicle (REEV) and fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV), which can convert electric power from other fuels via a generator or a fuel cell.
Zotye Auto is a privately owned Chinese automobile manufacturer based in Yongkang, Zhejiang, China. It is owned by Zotye Holding Group and was established in 2005.
The Renault Fluence Z.E. is an electric version of the Renault Fluence compact sedan, part of the Renault Z.E. program of battery electric vehicles. It was unveiled by Renault at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show. The Fluence Z.E. is outfitted with a 22 kWh lithium-ion battery which allows a total all-electric range of 185 km (115 mi) measured on the NEDC combined cycle, with speeds up to 135 km/h (84 mph).
Range anxiety is the driver's fear that a vehicle has insufficient energy storage to cover the road distance needed to reach its intended destination, and would thus strand the vehicle's occupants mid-way. The term, which is now primarily used in reference to the practical driving range of battery electric vehicles (BEVs), is considered to be one of the major psychological barriers to large-scale public adoption of electric cars.
Numerous plug-in electric vehicle (EV) fire incidents have taken place since the introduction of mass-production plug-in electric vehicles. As a result of these incidents, the United States Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) conducted a study in 2017 to establish whether lithium-ion batteries in plug-electric vehicles pose an exceptional fire hazard. The research looked at whether the high-voltage batteries can cause fires when they are being charged, and when the vehicles are involved in an accident.
Regarding the risk of electrochemical failure, [this] report concludes that the propensity and severity of fires and explosions from the accidental ignition of flammable electrolytic solvents used in Li-ion battery systems are anticipated to be somewhat comparable to or perhaps slightly less than those for gasoline or diesel vehicular fuels. The overall consequences for Li-ion batteries are expected to be less because of the much smaller amounts of flammable solvent released and burning in a catastrophic failure situation.
Gogoro Inc. is a Taiwanese company that developed a battery-swapping refueling platform for urban electric two-wheel scooters, mopeds and motorcycles. It also develops its own line of electric scooters and offers its own vehicle innovations to vehicle maker partners like Yamaha, Aeon Motor, PGO, eReady, and eMOVING. Gogoro also operates GoShare, a rideshare service, in Taiwan and Ishigaki Island in Japan.
The Gogoro Smartscooter is a series of electric scooters developed by Gogoro and marketed starting in 2015, using an aluminum chassis and a liquid cooled permanent magnet synchronous traction motor. It uses a battery swapping scheme, branded Gogoro Network, to recharge its traction batteries; users pay a monthly subscription fee, the exact value of which depends on their expected usage, to gain access to the company's GoStation public battery dispensing machines. Although at-home charging is possible, starting with the 2 Series scooters released in 2017, owners still are required to pay a monthly subscription fee for Gogoro Network access.
Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL) is a Chinese battery manufacturer and technology company founded in 2011 that specializes in the manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and energy storage systems, as well as battery management systems (BMS). The company is the biggest EV and energy storage battery manufacturer in the world, with a global market share of around 37% and 40% respectively in 2023. The company is headquartered in the city of Ningde in China's Fujian province.
Nio Inc. is a Chinese multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Shanghai, specializing in designing and developing electric vehicles. The company was established in 2014, and adopted its current name in 2016. In 2018, Nio filed for an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange. The company expanded its sales to the European market in 2021. As of 2023, Nio has two manufacturing plants in Hefei, Anhui Province, China, in collaboration with state-owned vehicle manufacturer JAC Group.
The Nio ES6 is a battery-powered mid-size luxury crossover SUV manufactured by Chinese electric car company Nio.
Founded in 2006, ProLogium Technology is a Taiwanese solid-state battery developer and manufacturer.
The manufacture, sale, and adoption of electric vehicles in Thailand is supported by the Thai government, in order to reduce carbon emissions and air pollution. Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha appointed the National Electric Vehicle Policy Committee in February 2020 to set targets for zero emission vehicle adoption. The government has announced aims for 30% of automobiles produced in 2030 to be electric, and to become a regional hub for electric vehicle manufacturing.
The Tesla battery station was a demonstration site at Harris Ranch where Tesla performed traction motor battery swapping as an alternative to recharging its vehicles. The site opened in March 2015 and operated by appointment only but showed little demand by June 2015; it was closed permanently before November 2016.
Zeekr Power builds and operates a fast charging network for electric cars from Zeekr.
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