Electric Car Battery Swapping Gains Credence
In EV World Wire, February 1 2010
One of the overlooked elements in Tesla Motors' recent SEC filing for its upcoming IPO is the statement that its next electric car, dubbed the Model S, is being engineering to allow its battery pack to be swapped. Specifically the S1 form states, "The Model S battery pack is also being designed with the capability of being rapidly swapped out at specialized commercial battery pack exchange facilities that we anticipate may be available in the future."
While the idea of swapping batteries is as old as the electric car itself -- early electric taxis more than a century ago used this approach to extend their operations -- for their part, the major carmakers, with the exception of Renault, have dismissed the idea as impractical.
