It's an impressive stunt, but you don't have to think it through too much to see the likely real-world problems. Here are some obvious ones:
1. Will ALL Teslas use the same mechanical layout for the battery pack? Clearly not, meaning each new model must consider the existing infrastructure for battery swaps. Development engineers don't need more restrictions. 2. Will this allow seamless upgrades to new battery technology? Interesting thought, but think it through and you see a potential rat's nest of software and hardware incompatibilities. 3. I'm guessing if you run some numbers you might be stunned at the amount of inventory needed at each Tesla station and how it increases exponentially with different models and pack capacities. This ain't as easy as it seems. I think the key to this demo is captured in Musk's words from the video: "...what this is about, it's convincing the people who are skeptics. There are some people ... they take a lot of convincing." This is not so much about a practical solution. It's about winning hearts and minds. When you think about it, that's Musk's singular key to success. All of us here are deep in the tech, but Musk knows he has to win people over whether the means make any sense or not. Get them on your side first - making sense will come later. Does anyone here really believe 265 miles of range is really necessary? Of course not. But Jared the high-roller techie hipster does, so you give Jared what he wants. By doing so you put EVs on the map in a very big way. I for one am willing to put up with what I see as silliness if it gets more people thinking positively about EVs. Making sense will come. Chris On Sat, Jun 22, 2013 at 4:50 AM, Martin WINLOW <[email protected]> wrote: > When I watched the video the thought occurred to me that unlike BeP, to > provide the technology to do the swapping, all Tesla has to do is reproduce > the already well-proven battery insertion robot technology used in their > factory as - apparently - there is no whizzo clamping system etc - it just > undoes the bolts used to bolt the battery into place in the factory. > > That alone (if true) will save a serious amount of money. > > My issue is this:- Would you, as the careful owner of a relatively low > miles 85kW Model S be entirely happy to swap your cherished and pampered > battery for Lord-knows-what at a 'Tesla Station'? > > I, too, hope Mr Musk has something clever in mind to make this idea work. > I do like the 'fast or free' idea, though. On its own that might just > swing it. > > MW > > > On 21 Jun 2013, at 19:49, Chris Tromley wrote: > > > I have tremendous respect for Tesla, but I think they've taken a > seriously > > wrong turn here. Swapping has been debated ad nauseum. It's an enticing > > concept, but there are far too many ways it can fail in the real world. > > Elon better have something very clever up his sleeve or this will likely > > turn into a very visible failure. Hopefully it just disappears quietly. > > > > Chris > > On Jun 21, 2013 8:17 AM, "Cor van de Water" <[email protected]> wrote: > > > >> The Tesla video shows them swapping a Tesla pack on-stage in 90 secs > >> flat > >> from driving onto the swapping unit until driving off. > >> > >> While they swap the packs in 2 Teslas, they have a parallel video > >> of someone filling his gas tank as fast as he could - which takes approx > >> 4 minutes (at the fastest station they could find nearby), so they > >> actually have to wait for him to complete the fillup after the second > >> Tesla S has left the swapping station... > >> > >> The comment: now you can choose between free and fast. > >> (The fast-charging of Tesla is free, the fast-swapping apparently costs > >> about the same as a fillup - they show the end result of the fillup at > >> $99 so that may be an indication of the price, I did not catch how much > >> a swap actually is going to cost. > >> > >> http://www.teslamotors.com/batteryswap > >> > >> > >> Cor van de Water > > > > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: < > http://lists.evdl.org/private.cgi/ev-evdl.org/attachments/20130622/07a99004/attachment.htm > > > _______________________________________________ > UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub > http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org > For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA ( > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA) > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://lists.evdl.org/private.cgi/ev-evdl.org/attachments/20130622/7f05f6e1/attachment.htm> _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
