Although many share the vision of ubiquitous infrastructure to support future fleets of electric vehicles, the concept of battery swapping, frequently championed by Better Place, doesn’t seem to have the same appeal as the fast-charge station. In fact, in the past week, battery swapping has come under a bit of fire from different quarters. On one side of the globe, we have Mercedes’ director of group research and car development, Thomas Weber, telling The Marker that not only is the swapping plan dangerous and could result in electrocution or fire, but that, “The industry has not even resolved matters as basic as the optimum location for an electric car’s battery or the battery type.” Ouch.
Source: autoblogfreen.com
I also do not like battery swapping, the extra weight for holding the batteries in place is not justified. A123 batteries can be bulk charged to 80% in minutes. What I envision is charging stations with large battery packs that charge at nite and then sell the charge during the day for more money. They could charge a pack as fast as the batteries can take the electrons.
Good points. The eventual winners will likely be Coulomb and ChargeBar.