Would it be plausible to have battery recharging stations instead of gas stations?.?

Question

If cars were made so all batterys were the same size ; pull in swap batterys pay 5 or 10 dollars and be on your way.

Answer 1

It may become a reality in the future.

Batteries may become a single universal standard, ie all the same. (just like USB ports on a computer)

Answer 2

Yes, charging stations exist around the UK, however, you just plug in and charge, some vehicles can charge in superfast times. In London there is a charging stations at about 60 locations across the city (most of which are free).

Due to the variation in vehicle types, designs, battery size and capablities, scooters to cars I don't think it would be plausible for a battery swap. Even if it was it would be difficult to work as batteries only have specific charge life, ie 500 charges, if you went in an swapped your new battery for an older one, which died the next week you wouldn't be too happy. The only way round this would be a national company, with large station base, which offered to continually replace the batteries this would then be reflected in the price you pay for the service, and would most likely have to become a subscription service. Otherwise I might go along with my 499 charges battery and swap it for another battery which has maybe been charged 250, travel around again and repeat when I need a new battery.

The UK government offers grants of up to 60% towards the cost of installing charging stations for electric cars / scooters. With this incentive it is likely that more will be installed throughout the country, especially at airports, major cities, businesses and car parks.

More information can be found at the Energy Saving Trust website.

http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/flee...

Energy Saver

http://howtosaveenergy.blogspot.com

Answer 3

every home, office and roadside cafe is an electric recharging station. Especially in countries where standard outlets are 240V 13-16A.

Higher speed chargers can charge modern battery packs in 10 minutes, www.phoenixmotors.com.

I think swappable batteries would be a good idea for specialist uses, like electric race cars.

One problem with recharging ponts in California was they couldn't standardise the plugs & sockets; so not much hope standardising batteries.

Battery packs are heavy & difficult to swap in & out. The best place for the battery is under the floor to keep the centre of gravity low, www.commutercars.com.

There is a problem with reliable contacts that can cope with plugging large batteries in and out due to the high current demand.

Answer 4

Good question and an interesting concept... I have to admit I don't know much about it.  But it is good to read a question that has actual merit and is not intended to insult...

Good Luck

Answer 5

I thought about that idea too, but just getting enough electric cars on the road will be tough enough, let alone standardizing their batteries.

Also, what happens when there are advances in battery technology and they have to change how the batteries are designed? Doesn't the entire infrastructure then become obsolete? The costs would be enormous.

Answer 6

That is a very good idea, gas stations should think about this to diversify.  They need to change in order to keep up in an ever changing market.

I can see hotels offering recharging outlets in the parking lots.

Answer 7

What a great idea!

The major downfall of electric cars is the limited range and the long charging times.  You can fast charge, but it extremely depreciates the life of the battery.

A battery "swap" is a great idea.  If you could get an EV company to "warrany" battery packs for 10 years or something or just let you trade them in if they go bad for a fresh pack, so if your swap gives you a crappy pack of used batteries, you could get a new set and they could remanufacture the plates and fill with fresh electrolyte and reswap those to another user with crappy batteries.

You are definitely on to something here!

Answer 8

Actually, we now have the technology to charge car batteries in under 5 minutes. This, in my opinion is more reasonable. The reason for this is that swapping batteries would require no different gas (or battery) stations. (ie Shell vs Mobil) But the concept behind your question is reasonable. A similar program would make sense.

Answer 9

That is a good idea! Never thought about that. We could also recycle the batteries once they are old.

Answer 10

The Size of the batteries would be the obstacle, for a battery to power the car long enough they would have  to be quite large, and weigh a lot. so the equipment needed to change them would be expensive. It might work though.

Batteries for a Forklift can run around 2,000 pounds and a forklift is much smaller than a car.

Getting the auto industry to standardize the battery size would be another problem.

Answer 11

Yes, in fact these recharging stations already exist. In California there are many of these stations along the interstate of Las Angeles.

There are also battery stations in Tokyo.

These already exist friend, look them up. If only we could get more people to use them...

Answer 12

It would be hella beter than keeping oil companies rich as h**l...

Answer 13

I think that would be a marvelous ideal cause we would not spend so much money and the pollution of the gas would not be dangerous to our health. I wish the government would enact your theory and award you some money for your thought of invention.

Answer 14

Charging your battery on the go would consume time. So it would depend on how much time might be be involved in recharging. If we could find a way to allow a battery to charge in 5 to 10 minutes it might work. I know that I'm usually in such a big hurry that I don't even want to take the few minutes to stop and fill up my gas tank. However, I am sure for the sake of the environment I could spare the time involved in charging a battery.