Battery Swapping Stations

EV! EV! EV! Why so much hype is there for Electric vehicles (EV) now of a sudden? It’s just a vehicle like other ICE vehicles! Also in India, it costs more than an ICE vehicle. Just because it doesn’t contribute to the air pollution doesn’t mean I’ll buy it? After all, cars are not bought every day, right? It has its own limitation like limited range in one charge, Charging Infrastructure, long charging time. What if I have to travel to another town to visit my parents? What if I have to go on a long drive on vacation with my friends or family? What if there is an emergency at night and I have to take any of my family members to the hospital or somewhere urgently? What if I have a travel plan of visiting multiple towns on a round trip, how will I manage the time of travel if I have to keep charging my vehicles for 5-6 hrs after every 300-400 km?

 

The above are some of the questions that come into the mind of most people like us when someone suggests considering an Electric vehicle instead, right?

What if I told you that there is already a solution available in the market for all the worries and anxieties mentioned above? Will we consider buying an EV then? I’ll let this question open to answer for later once you finished reading this article then answer this in the comments.

 The difference between an EV and an ICE vehicle is that EVs are powered by a battery while ICEs are powered by petrol. Refilling petrol tanks takes around 2-5 minutes while refueling (recharging) an EV takes at least an hour in fast charging and 5-6 hours for normal charging. This charging time is one of the major issues. So, If we address this issue then EVs will be as par as the ICE vehicles, so can we really?

Yes! We can. We have another refueling option as that is practical and economic – Battery swapping.

 

We will do a 5W2H analysis of this battery swapping process for a better understanding of this technique.

 

What is battery swapping?

Battery swapping is a technique in which the discharged battery of an electric vehicle is replaced with a charged battery. Discharged Battery packs are disconnected and removed by the battery swapping station operator and charged one is inserted and connected in the slot. Battery swapping stations will be just like today's petrol pumps where one can go and get their discharged battery swapped and pay for the cost involved.

Why battery swapping?To date, there is no such battery that can be charged in less than 10 minutes and is being commercially mass-produced. A normal EV li-ion battery charge time is 5-6 hrs and it is precious especially for commercial vehicles driver. So, to match the timing took in petrol refill we had to think of another innovative way to charge the battery. Also, to eradicate the range anxiety for long-distance travel battery swapping can be a fix to the problem. Also, the battery of an EV itself costs 40-50% of the total vehicle ownership cost. So, if we separate the battery business or also known as the energy business then it will significantly reduce the cost of ownership below than an ICE vehicle of the same class and comfort. The absence of charging infrastructure is also a restraining factor and the battery swapping technique will reduce the financial burden on building the charging stations. How it will reduce the burden will be discussed in the where part of this article.

 

Where it will be done?

Well, one option is to build such infrastructure that can store and charge the batteries as well as can swap the batteries easily. This can be done by private business owners and will open a market of consumer benefited competition for better services at low cost. Another option is if all the oil distributing companies either be government-owned or private, like IOCL, BPCL, etc. starts doing this. They already have the infrastructure as petrol pumps and gas filling stations as well as workforce to execute this may be after a little training. They can easily start doing this without investing much and just revamping the petrol pump area. This will reduce the financial burden of setting up a new infrastructure from scratch. Indian oil had already started in this direction by collaborating with Sun Mobility for installing battery swapping stations across the country.

 

When it will be done?

It will be done whenever the battery gets discharged or in some cases almost discharged. The whole process will take less than 5 minutes. The innovations in the swapping process will definitively be going to happen really quickly once it starts to operate which will reduce the time taken and cost of the process.

 

Who will do it?

As mentioned, it might be done by privately owned energy operators or government-owned organizations. Some privately-owned organizations will have to either rent or establish the infrastructure for the swapping stations while some like Reliance Industries and Essar oil already have the gas station infrastructure. While government-owned organizations like IOCL, BPCL, HPCL, etc. also have an established infrastructure in from of petrol pumps or gas stations, with a little revamping they can operate battery swapping stations on the same spot. The existing manpower will need a little training in process and safety, just like any petrol pump operator needs and can handle the job smoothly. There are already some privately owned batteries swapping solution providers in India like ChargeUp, Ola Electric, Sun mobility, Lithium Power.

How it will be done?

The process is pretty simple, the discharged vehicle will visit the nearest battery-swapping station and the discharged battery will be disconnected and connecting cables/cords will be plug out from the discharged battery and the battery will be pulled out of the battery slot. A charged battery will be inserted in the battery slot and cables will be connected. There is a second scenario in which if a person is stuck in a jam or due to any other reasons his/her EV got discharged far from a battery-swapping station then the energy service provider will be called and swapping will be done on the spot immediately. Whether it’s a 2-Wheller, 3-Wheeler, 4-Wheeler, or any commercial heavy electric vehicle, it would not take more than 5 minutes to complete the process. In 2-Wheeler right now it takes only about 90 seconds.

 

How much will it cost?

If we separate EV business from battery or energy operator business, the cost of the EV comes down significantly. As the cost of the battery itself costs 40-50% of the total cost of the EV, so if we separate the battery business then the cost will be pretty affordable for the majority of the Indian consumers and it will also promote the EV market. Now the energy operator can set up a model for revenue generation based on battery lifecycle, charging cost (unit cost), and resource cost. If we compare the per km cost in the long period, EV per km cost will be less than that of an ICE vehicle. The energy business can create a commercially viable business model like done in the insurance sector. Just like them, they can charge a premium per month and with limited numbers of free emergency onsite battery-swapping. This way users can choose from which service provider they wish to get serviced and a healthy competitive environment will be open creating an ecosystem.

Conclusion:

 So, from the 5W2H analysis, this battery swapping technique would have been quite clear now. But there are some limitations or hindrance that is in its way for swapping to be made possible on a large scale, like: battery packs need to be standardized whether in terms of size, shape, energy density, etc. just like any our shoes or tires and many things you can easily spot around you. Standardization of the battery pack will make this swapping process feasible. Also, there will be limitations of the number of charge and discharge cycles of the battery pack and the issue of reliability when we will lease a charged battery. But all of this can be handled easily sooner or later as we start doing this.