Are EVs dying out? Not so fast. Experts say the future is still electric as car makers pour billions into new models: “After a record year in 2023, EV sales are expected to set another record in 2024.” @NPR @camilareads https://www.npr.org/2024/02/07/1227707306/ev-electric-vehicles-sales-2024
I’ve seen a few swappable battery concepts but realistically I think a much better direction is just faster charging batteries. Swapping the batteries around seems to be just by side stepping the problem rather than actually solving it
You can only charge a regular chemical battery so fast. There are other ways to store power that you can “charge” faster but that’s basically just fuel cell tech and you can “recharge” faster by just refueling. Those also have their own issues.
Not to mention there is only so fast you can charge something via electricity and still have a regular person be able to safely do it. Megawatt charging stations are being developed but nobody in their right mind is going to let joe schmoe the office window licker handle a megawatt charging cable. And you can only make the electric drive train so efficient (still many times more efficient than an ICE). So for EVs with any decent range there will be a cap on how quickly they can be charged with an electric cable simply because there are practical limits on how much power a safe charger can output and how small a vehicle battery can be.
That’s not to say EVs are a bad idea. We will just need to adapt to the new refueling characteristics. I imagine in the comming years we will start to see trickle chargers poping up basically anywhere people park their cars weather that be curbside or in parking lots/ramps. There will be more opportunities to keep the batteries topped up rather than recharging the whole thing in one sitting like we are currently used to with refueling ICE vehicles.
I’ve seen a few swappable battery concepts but realistically I think a much better direction is just faster charging batteries. Swapping the batteries around seems to be just by side stepping the problem rather than actually solving it
You can only charge a regular chemical battery so fast. There are other ways to store power that you can “charge” faster but that’s basically just fuel cell tech and you can “recharge” faster by just refueling. Those also have their own issues.
Not to mention there is only so fast you can charge something via electricity and still have a regular person be able to safely do it. Megawatt charging stations are being developed but nobody in their right mind is going to let joe schmoe the office window licker handle a megawatt charging cable. And you can only make the electric drive train so efficient (still many times more efficient than an ICE). So for EVs with any decent range there will be a cap on how quickly they can be charged with an electric cable simply because there are practical limits on how much power a safe charger can output and how small a vehicle battery can be.
That’s not to say EVs are a bad idea. We will just need to adapt to the new refueling characteristics. I imagine in the comming years we will start to see trickle chargers poping up basically anywhere people park their cars weather that be curbside or in parking lots/ramps. There will be more opportunities to keep the batteries topped up rather than recharging the whole thing in one sitting like we are currently used to with refueling ICE vehicles.