Yup. And the depleted batteries could be re-charged during off-peak periods - flattening the grid demand. The design and maintenance of the connection terminals might be a bit of a hurdle - safety and durability - under often-challenging road & weather conditions. I've seen large banks of lead acid batteries with terminal corrosion in climate controlled indoor locations with semi-annual maintenance programs .. John T.
Why not 2 x 500 pound units ? under the pop-in pop-out model. The exchange depots would be like an automated car-wash. Robots doing all the work while the car owner has a coffee and reads the paper. John T.
If it's not practical, how is it a good idea?
Why? How often do you drive more than 315 miles in a day?
90% of car owners drive less than 40 miles a day, per AAA"The first-year results of the American Driving Survey revealed that: Motorists age 16 years and older drive, on average, 29.2 miles per day or 10,658 miles per year. Women take more driving trips, but men spend 25 percent more time behind the wheel and drive 35 percent more miles than women."
Renting a vehicle for the one trip a year where you drive more than 350 miles a day, and you don't don't have access to any charging infrastructure, is far less expensive than owning a second car (particularly an ICE car with the associated storage and maintenance costs).
I guess they could break down the batteries in to smaller units. Where I worked there were some battery powered hand trucks that had batteries of about 250 pounds. We changed those once a day.
ONe problem is the car must be designed to do that. Sometimes the engineers and the designers for looks get into a problem . Looks good but the people that build the cars and work on them have a hard time. Even changing the spark plugs can be a long time job on some cars.
You'd have a better chance of being struck by lightning while buying the winning Powerball Lottery ticket while engaging in your favorite erotic fantasy!!!!
For most drivers a PIHEV would be more than adequate. The professor next door used less than a tank of gas in his Prius betwwn March and September. In the winter he uses a little more fuel because he likes to be earm.
The way some are built an oil change can be a challenge - - - - definitely changing a light bulb (headlight, parking/signal light, dash board illumination bulbs - - - - -On my brother's Fusion the parking light bulb replacement flat rate was over an hour ?????
Indeed. For various reasons (handling, internal space) the battery packs are built into the chassis itself. Consider it as a flat platform with motors and wheels upon which the cabin rests.
Perhaps one could just lift the body off one chassis and drop it on another. Easy way to update the body style, too.
However, that all leaves aside the fact that such battery swaps would only be useful to a small percentage of travellers which wouldn't justify the design investment or the infrastructure investment required to support it. Most EV owners will be able to survive just fine on their overnight level 1 charger given their daily 40 miles of driving.
I was looking on the internet the other week and I think it was Toyota that made amajor step back on the oil change because of the 'greenies'. Have to remove the shroud on the bottom, then hook up some kind of bottle and adapter to the oil filter to drian the oil out. They used a replaceable element instead of just the screw off kind.
Right now, with EVs so much more expensive than hybrid or gas only cars, they are largely owned by rich people who can afford homes with their own private garages and chargers. I don't think that group (high income) is consistent with the vision to make the majority of vehicles on the road EVs. Even higher income folks, especially as they age or choose to livev in larger metropolitan areas tend to live in high rise multi-family condos, co-ops, or apartments. Land in those areas is too expensive for developers not to build high rise buildings.
With the length of time it takes to charge with a level 1 charger, you would need to have a charger at almost every parking space in shared garages. The cost of purchase, installation and maintenance of all those chargers would be prohibitive for the "average" resident in terms of pass-along charges via homeowner's association fees or rent.
The goal should be a recharging time short enough for the vehicles not to need to be at a recharger much longer than it presently takes to fill a tank with gasoline. Unless there's a major breakthrough with power storage chemistry, battery swapping may be the most achievable solution. At present, the current shortage of charging facilities and the electrical generation and transmission infrastructure to support it, widespread adoption of EVs isn't feasible. And, at present, there isn't enough green energy production to exploit the clean aspect of the EV because you still would need to burn fossil fuels to generate the required power. I suspect that the EV will remain a niche product for a while and it will be decades before EVs become the predominant "family car" on the road.
Depends on the family. I haven't driven much more than 100 miles in a day since 2016.
If I owned an electric car and wanted to take a road trip, I'd rent one.
Cindy Hamilton
Really? A Nissan Leaf starts at $27,400. That's a lot of money for a small car, but I could afford it. I'll be retired in a couple of months.
And, yes, I own a home with a private garage and I could have a charger installed.
Do you live in some large city where the cost of housing is high?
Cindy Hamilton
I mentioned before that I have no problem with trend towards EV's and evolution would probably take decades.
My problem is with them being forced upon us by governments and the severe disruption it causes. The bulk of current inflation was not only caused by Biden shutting down pipelines and exploration like ANWR but oil companies holding back production because demand is being artificially pushed down.
I see the Leaf costs about $5,000 more than my Subaru Crosstrek. Even with AWD I'm running 30 mpg around town and have seen 40 with all highway. Crosstrek hybrid was reviewed by Consumer Reports and they advised it was not worth the extra cost for a few mpg more.
Only way I would buy an EV is if it were cheaper.
Scotty Kilmer, who I follow, says if you want one, buy used, because resale value drops like a rock.
I did read that in Asia they are doing that with some of the Nissan Leaf. It is a fairly simple design and they would all be the same.
With so many other variations and the way they are built I don't see it happening.
I wonder what the applicable local law says about that.
Most states have laws that say (more or less):
State Name: prohibits leaving pets unattended in a standing or parked vehicle in a manner that endangers the health or safety of such animal.
Some states mention "with proper ventilation" or words to that effect.
Some county and local laws are stricter than that.
We left our dog in our van on 60° day, with the moon roof cracked and all 4 windows down about an inch. We stopped at a farm market, out in the sticks, just to pick up a few veggies. It was a big market, so we were out of sight of our vehicle for about a 1/2 hour.
When we got back, there was a pick-up truck parked behind our vehicle blocking us in. Apparently our dog had chosen this trip to bark at everyone that walked by, so someone reported us to the farm market staff. They called the police and prevented us from leaving until the police showed up.
I opened the van, it was comfortably cool inside (as expected) and our dog was fine and as happy as heck to see us. I even sat in the van, as is, didn't change a thing. Within a few minutes, the cops showed up and I got out. One of the cops pulled out his thermal gun, pointed it at the tinted window and said "Look at that, it's almost 90 degrees. In a very short time it's going to be much hatter in there."
I calmly opened the back hatch of my van and asked him to test the interior. Mid-sixties. He kept trying various spots and couldn't get anything different. Eventually, he just said something like "It's not safe to leave animals alone, don't do it again", etc.
We packed up our stuff and headed out, making sure we stayed within the speed limit until we were very far away. ;-)
May work for some but not all. For me, about 16 days a year. 800 on day one, 400 on day two. Then I repeat on the way home 10 to 16 days later. To rent, it would be 4 times a year for 2 to 3 weeks at a time.
I checked with Enterprise and it is about $1600 per trip for a decent car. So my four trips a year would be $6400+ just so I can have an EV the rest of the time.
Perhaps in five or ten years the range will be longer and the charge times less.
...and it's not just the cost to rent. You have to get and get rid of the rental.
I guess Enterprise will still pick you up, but I don't know about driving you home after a return. Plus I typically get better rates elsewhere through different rental programs - but no free rides.
The pick-up and drop-off is always my most hated part of renting, even when they try to make as easy as possible. It's still a big waste of time and the logistics (parking costs, getting rides from others, Uber, etc.) all add to (subtract from?) the overall experience.
Not to mention the car itself. I bought a nice, well equipped car with features that make long driving easier. SiriusXM radio, navigation Auto cruise control, etc. Any beater can get me to the grocery store a mile away, I want comfort on long drives. That would add considerably to the rental.
There are a _slew_ of variables when it comes to "normal" car ownership < car shopping > . When EV and hybrid are added to the mix - - I can imagine that it would be quite the exercise ! What I see in my little rural corner of the world is : 1. pick-up trucks - big expensive ones only - lots of them. 2. family movers - mini vans, large Utes & the newer XL Utes < Atlas ; Teluride ; Palisade ; etc >
... ie : let the rest of the world solve climate change - I got mine Jack - f u - .. John T.
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