{"id":4906,"date":"2023-08-11T15:26:48","date_gmt":"2023-08-11T20:26:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/?p=4906"},"modified":"2023-08-11T15:26:49","modified_gmt":"2023-08-11T20:26:49","slug":"could-ev-battery-swapping-be-a-solution-to-charging-station-shortages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/?p=4906","title":{"rendered":"Could EV battery swapping be a solution to charging station shortages?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As the electric vehicle (EV) revolution gains momentum, one of the primary challenges has been the scarcity of charging stations<\/a> to cater to the rapidly increasing number of EV users. To ease the burden on battery charging infrastructure<\/a>, a Northern California-based startup called Ample has been exploring battery swapping methods<\/a> that have proved successful elsewhere in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Biden administration has funded financial initiatives<\/a> aimed at spurring the growth of EV charging stations in the United States. However, experts are concerned that the build-out of charging stations might not keep up with the soaring demand from EV users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The White House\u2019s ambitious goal of having\u00a0half of all vehicles sold<\/a>\u00a0in the U.S. be electric by 2030 necessitates\u00a0over a million charging stations<\/a>, which is approximately\u00a020 times<\/a>\u00a0the current number available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consumers are already experiencing the impact of the charging station deficit, with a study by J.D. Power<\/a> revealing that the rate of EV adoption is nearly double that of charger installation growth. The research also found that one-fifth of American EV drivers reported experiencing problems with public charging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPublic charging is by far the least satisfying aspect of owning an electric vehicle,\u201d said Brent Gruber, executive director of global automotive research for J.D. Power. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ample is aiming to revolutionize the charging process<\/a> with its battery swapping technology<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vehicles can drive into an Ample station where automated robots replace the depleted battery with a fully charged one. The entire process takes only five minutes,<\/a> significantly faster than the half-hour required <\/a>for even the fastest traditional EV chargers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re making a major transition, a third of human consumption of energy is moving from one form to another,\u201d Ample co-founder and CEO Khaled Hassounah said. \u201cAnd any time we make that kind of change, we have to step back and rethink things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company has also said its stations can be set up within three days and consume less energy from the power grid compared to some conventional charging stations. Ample\u2019s goal is to make its battery swapping system 20% cheaper than using gasoline<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently, Amply primarily serves vehicle-fleet owners<\/a> and commercial operators, such as Uber drivers, at its 12 stations in the San Francisco Bay Area. Although this technology is not yet available for privately-owned vehicles, China, which boasts the most EVs in circulation worldwide<\/a>, has already adopted similar battery swapping systems<\/a> successfully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[Battery swapping] is too convenient, too economical and too logical for this not to happen at scale in Europe and the United States,\u201d said Levi Tillemann, head of policy and international business at Ample. \u201cIt\u2019s a sort of magical thinking to imagine that this is a uniquely Chinese phenomenon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A crucial factor contributing to China\u2019s success<\/a> is that its manufacturers have designed their EV models around a common battery pack format. In contrast, the U.S. lacks such a standardized approach, requiring Ample to collaborate with automakers<\/a> to integrate its battery swapping system into various vehicle models.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe economics of swapping don\u2019t really work if you have to support a lot of different pack formats,\u201d said Sam Abuelsamid, principal research analyst for Guidehouse Insights. \u201cWithout battery standardization, the market just isn\u2019t there for swapping. Standardization isn\u2019t going to happen while battery technology is still evolving.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is why Ample\u2019s work has been focused on fleets of vehicles so far, as having a large number of the same vehicles with the same battery packs makes the company\u2019s business model easier. However, the company has indicated that negotiations with more automotive partners<\/a> are already underway, which suggests the potential for expanding its services in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve worked on cementing some partnerships so that we\u2019ll be able to scale it across the U.S., across Europe, across Asia, since we\u2019re ready for prime time,\u201d Hassounah said. \u201cWe can really get people to move to electric very quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Original Article: https:\/\/straightarrownews.com\/cc\/could-ev-battery-swapping-be-a-solution-to-charging-station-shortages\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the electric vehicle (EV) revolution gains momentum, one of the primary challenges has been the scarcity of charging stations to cater to the rapidly increasing number of EV users. To ease the burden on battery charging infrastructure, a Northern California-based startup called Ample has been exploring battery swapping methods that have proved successful elsewhere in the world. The Biden administration has funded financial initiatives aimed at spurring the growth of EV charging stations in the United States. However, experts are concerned that the build-out of charging […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":69,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-woke-agenda"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/69"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4906"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4906\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4907,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4906\/revisions\/4907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}