I think perspective will change as batteries begin needing replacement. I also think that there are a number of different possible business models for how a swap might work, including some that we haven't thought of yet.
Sent from my iPhone > On Mar 17, 2015, at 7:05 PM, Ben Goren via EV <[email protected]> wrote: > >> On Mar 17, 2015, at 3:21 PM, Jorg Brown via EV <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> Fundamentally the problem is economics: in a car you have a $100 tank >> that you're filling up with $50 of fuel. But in an EV, you have a $40,000 >> pack that you're filling up with $5 of fuel. > > That's...that's an excellent observation that puts it in a perspective I've > never thought about before. > > And you're right. Battery swaps likely won't make economic sense until > traction batteries cost as much as today's starter batteries...but, by the > time that comes to pass we'll have long since solved any recharging problems > without resorting to battery swaps. > > Tesla's robot-swappable batteries would make perfect sense for professional > racing. Instead of a pit stop to fill with gas, you have a pit stop to swap > batteries. And, presumably, change tires and whatever else needs to be done. > > It likely also makes the mechanic's job much easier. If they've taken similar > approaches to other major components, they could conceivably use labor with > minimal technical skills (and, of course, this being Tesla, high-powered > people skills) in service stations. Something's worng with the car? Get it to > the official Tesla shop, the mechanic plugs in to read where the problem > is...undoes some fasteners, positions the magic robot, and a few minutes > later the forward motor has been replaced with the defective unit sent to the > factory for overhaul and / or salvage. > > But it's difficult to imagine an economically-effectie model for widespread > adoption of battery swaps, once you realize, as you observed, that you can > practically buy an entire car for the cost of the battery you're swapping. > > b& > -------------- next part -------------- > A non-text attachment was scrubbed... > Name: signature.asc > Type: application/pgp-signature > Size: 801 bytes > Desc: Message signed with OpenPGP using GPGMail > URL: > <http://lists.evdl.org/private.cgi/ev-evdl.org/attachments/20150317/540b9387/attachment.pgp> > _______________________________________________ > 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) > > _______________________________________________ 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)
