The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) says that a more efficient battery could cut EV costs by up to $4,800 and charging times by a third. Smaller batteries and more efficient EVs could cut demand on the power grid by 20%.
just because EVs are more efficient than their fuel-powered counterparts doesnât mean vehicle efficiency as a whole is now irrelevant. If manufacturers were to put the spotlight more on vehicle efficiency, it could make EVs even cheaper. By a lot, actually.
It will never happen because most consumers are not concerned with efficiency. Just look at the ICE market and ask yourself how often efficiency comes into play in a personâs purchase decision.
The race is on to increase the energy density of the battery packs as well as more efficient EV construction methods. Early on the battery packs were just load. In current Tesla EVs the battery pack is part of the EVâs structure. It joins the front and rear giga castings.
This is why âswappable battery packsâ is never going to catch on. Modern race cars (Indy, F1 for example, and even many junior classes of race cars) have engines that are stressed members of the chassis. And that is exactly what you describe above, the battery being a stressed member of the car. The downside is it is much harder to replace an engine (/ battery) when needed when it is not simply dropped into a chassis.
This is one of the reasons (maybe the most important). But there are other reasons:
battery tech is still an area of rapid improvement
people tend to take better care of something when they own it
swapping means having more batteries than cars â so someone has to pay for that convenience rather than waiting an additional 10-15 minutes. (assume 20-30 minutes for a ~80% fast charge and 10-15 minutes to drive up and get a swap if there is no line)
Batteries sitting waiting canât/shouldnât be kept above 80% SOC with current chemistries
Swap stations would need to have at least several different battery sizes and types. What would you do if they were all out of yours? Have a fast charger backup? $$$
Most likely you need employees 24/7 to operate the swap station or at least 16 hrs/day and fall back to DC fast chargers other times
