[TusharK]

Sun Mobility, co-founded by Chetan Maini (the founder of Reva) has launched an interoperable smart mobility solution for two and 3-wheeler electric vehicles in Bangalore. It comprises of modular smart batteries and quick interchange stations connected via a Smart Network.



The modular smart batteries can be used on different vehicle types. These batteries automatically customize their output depending on the vehicle's energy requirement. Multiple batteries can be paired together for high performance applications and longer range.

The company plans to set up quick interchange stations at various locations where customers will be able swap batteries for fully charged ones on a pay-as-you-go basis. According to the company, swapping out the modular batteries takes a few minutes unlike conventional recharging stations where customers have to wait for hours to get the batteries fully charged. The quick interchange stations are expected to have the required infrastructure to recharge a large number of batteries. These are modular and can be installed on demand anywhere in India.

The smart network monitors battery and station status and provides real-time feedback to customers and fleet owners through a mobile app. It detects the battery's state of charge and automatically locates the closest quick interchange station. It uses a digital payment system and customers have to pay only for the energy used.

Sun Mobility plans to collaborate with multiple OEMs in India. The company has already entered in to a strategic partnership with Ashok Leyland. Meanwhile, quick interchange stations are expected to be set up across various cities in a phased manner.

Link to Team-BHP News

[parth.jain]

This is a really interesting and viable idea for EVs. This eliminates the hassles of charging the batteries and also increases the range on the go.

I met a guy few weeks ago at a party who was working on something similar to this. His project was to retrofit cars with electric motors and remove the ICE. His project also uses similar interchangeable smart batteries which can be swapped at interchange stations without wasting time for charging the batteries.

I don't remember the name of the company, but I remember he was starting in in Lucknow. Will post more details about the company if I come to know about.

[Bhatman510]

Kymco and another Taiwanese company, Gogoro already are doing/planning this same battery swapping concept for EVs on scooters.

Kymco:

http://www.motorcycle.com/mini-featu...announced.html

Gogoro:

https://www.gogoro.com/smart-energy/

[GTO]

He's going to focus on battery swaps for Commercial Vehicles too. Here's an interview where he talks about it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8sAzE6WepI

[Bh.P]

Good idea, but very capital intensive. Having a large number of batteries that can be swapped on demand will need heavy investment. This could mean the swap facility will charge a higher price than what a normal recharging would cost. So we need to see how acceptable this is from a pricing perspective.

Then there is also the issue of how reliable a fully charged battery is. As batteries age, their range reduces. So, if I swap with a fully charged battery, say 3 years old, will it give me the promised range. If not, how will the pricing be adjusted. There are so many variables. Guess they would have thought through these, but curious how they solved these problems.

[frewper]

Originally Posted by TusharK

The company plans to set up quick interchange stations at various locations where customers will be able swap batteries for fully charged ones on a pay-as-you-go basis.

Well this is what is needed at this stage. I still dont understand why there is so less competition in this space, even when its a sure thing that these kind of stations will be needed in the future.

According to the company, swapping out the modular batteries takes a few minutes unlike conventional recharging stations where customers have to wait for hours to get the batteries fully charged.

Swapping was tried by Tesla and they had a good demonstration of the product as well. Seems very promising at first, but for some reason there wasn't much acceptance from the public and the project is now discontinued. And this would be even more difficult from a logistics point of view when dealing with batteries from different manufacturers.

A concept that has been tried before and failed, should we be trying to implement that? or should we just stick to recharging stations. Think of it this way. How many times do we like to go to a tyre shop or get our car servicing done. We don't generally like doing that stuff. We just want our cars to run smoothly all the time. Going to a station and swapping batteries is going to be pretty much the same experience. And let's be honest its not gonna be so smooth that it will be over in a matter of mins. We can easily expect a wait time of 15-20 mins.

And it will be wrong to assume that recharging of car batteries is gonna take more than an hour. A recharge time of 20 mins is enough to give us juice for the rest of the day. Then why would I want to charge my car for an hour outside when I know I will be paying a premium.

[ksameer1234]

I am not very convinced with this. The beauty about charging of EVs is that it can be done virtually everywhere. Wherever a car is parked, it can be plugged in. This way, one need not even charge from 0% and hence charging time will be considerably less. With battery swapping, one is again looking at driving to a dedicated place like petrol-pumps. Come to think of it, out on a highway, it will be easier to find a nice food outlet offering charging capabilities than finding a battery-swapping station offering good food.

[Bhatman510]

Originally Posted by frewper

Swapping was tried by Tesla and they had a good demonstration of the product as well. Seems very promising at first, but for some reason there wasn't much acceptance from the public and the project is now discontinued. And this would be even more difficult from a logistics point of view when dealing with batteries from different manufacturers.

And it will be wrong to assume that recharging of car batteries is gonna take more than an hour. A recharge time of 20 mins is enough to give us juice for the rest of the day. Then why would I want to charge my car for an hour outside when I know I will be paying a premium.

Main reason for the swapping tech not really working with Tesla was the battery tech going up in quarters than years. When the pack swap robots were made Teslas biggest car was a 75kW vehicle that could go 200mi. Then that all changed with the 100kW packs and the 2170s that are being used for future Tesla battery packs.

Fast chargers for two wheelers work better. If your pack can handle the current load (Tesla already proved that with the Gen 1 Supercharger) putting DC Fast Chargers across major cities will be huge.

[T1000]

Why cant electric cars have swappable batteries?

A car takes 30 mins to charge
A charging station handles 10 cars at a time.
In 8hrs(peak business hours) it can charge 160 cars.

Revenue from 160 cars isn't enough to run a charging station
A city can have 300 stations, only 48000 cars can be charged

Advantages of swappable batteries
Technology:
Allows battery technology to evolve independent of the car, Now the car has to be replaced with a new technology

Operations:
It takes few mins to swap a battery. A charging station can serve 1000's of cars like a petrol pump.

Finance
High capital cost of cars(> 8Lakhs) discourages early adopters.
A car without a battery will significantly reduce the capital cost.
Rented batteries can spread the financial burden, distributing the cost & risk to the ecosystem.

User behavior
No change,when i run out of charge, i go to a nearest charging station and swap the batteries.

Business scalability:
New business opportunities. Anyone can invest in batteries and start a charging station. Solar panels can reduce input cost.
------------
Evolution of electric vehicles in the current format is not scalable.

Any thoughts?

[akshaymahajan]

You mean like this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5V0vL3nnHY

[pkulkarni.2106]

Here's a similar thread: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...-vehicles.html

Key points:

• Two-wheelers, three-wheelers and non-air-conditioned city buses made by automobile companies in India will be sold without batteries as part of the plan, thus slashing prices by as much as 70%.

• The batteries will be leased at a specified cost and can be swiftly swapped with recharged ones at stations

• It will take just two-and-half minutes to replace auto batteries and can be done in 10 minutes when city buses rest after about a 30-km trip. The model, however, will not work for AC cars and AC buses

[T1000]

Originally Posted by akshaymahajan

You mean like this?

https://www.Youtube.com/watch?v=H5V0vL3nnHY

Yes, something similar with a new business model.

Sell electric cars without batteries to reduce initial cost.
Charged batteries can be rented.
Whenever the technology improves, replace batteries and the charging circuit inside the car.
The replacement cost is borne by the ecosystem of manufacturers, government, charging stations.

The present setup penalises car owners only.
Why would anyone buy?

This will help early adoption.

[wheelguy]

Battery swapping model is initially targeted at commercial vehicles such as e-autos, e-rickshaws and electric two-wheelers and EVs that are either factory fitted or retrofitted.

The battery swapping facility, which is known as the Quick Interchange Station, was inaugurated by Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and VP Singh Badnore, Governor of Punjab & Administrator of UT-Chandigarh, at IndianOil’s fuel pump in Chandigarh. While lauding the efforts of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoP&NG) and IndianOil towards improving the environment and economic needs via a series of green initiatives, Badnore said: “battery-swapping technology is one such initiative that offers the best alternative among electric mobility solutions.”

Speaking on the occasion, Pradhan appreciated the efforts of IndianOil and SUN Mobility in pursuing the innovative, clean energy solution, thereby contributing to the Govt. of India objective of reducing vehicular emissions. The Minister also hoped that the tie-up would energize the EV markets in India. The EV opportunity is so big that every player in the eco-system will benefit from it, Pradhan said.

The Minister further added electric mobility can help India meet its Paris Agreement commitment of reducing carbon emission intensity (emission per unit of GDP) by 33 to 35 per cent of 2005 level over 15 years. Thus, India can save 64 per cent of the anticipated passenger road-based mobility-related energy demand and 37 per cent of carbon emissions in 2030 by pursuing a shared, electric and connected mobility future.

During the event, Sanjiv Singh, chairman of IndianOil, revealed the organization's plans and said it will begin with a pilot of battery swapping at one of its outlets in Chandigarh and gradually scale it up to 20 stations.

He also said that battery swapping technology offers the best alternative to slow charging and help drivers to make optimum use of the operational hours.

https://youtu.be/9AcqlDAHopU

Source

[Mortis]

Ive always felt that electric cars should come with one medium sized built in battery and have 2 or 4 standardized hot swappable packs like these acting like range extenders.

[MMV]

The pilot project of Quick Interchange Stations (QIS), is proposed across NCR, Chandigarh and Bangalore. The success depends on adoption by cars, E rickshaws will mostly use it. Don't think current crop of e-cars (Nexons, Veritos etc) have swappable batteries. Also as previously pointed out, improvements in battery tech/charging capacity will result in compatibility issues.
Overall with IOC supporting this is a welcome initiative as a quick charging solution is inevitable for success of e-cars.