Featured Vietnam's VinFast Preparing to Sell Electric Crossovers in the U.S.

I think that battery swap went extinct? I don't see it anymore...

I received a survey that revealed more information about the battery lease. They are guaranteeing 70% for life, and they estimate 1 hr for the replacement process.

There is a 10 year warranty on the vehicle. (It wasn't clear what that encompasses)...

I think service is either they come to you, or they pick it up....

Headquarters is/will be here in Los Angeles so nearby, (a plus for us).

As a distraction True Zero opened another H2 station in a nearby city, Baldwin Park, actually where our son was born....

REVVL V+ 5G ?

 

I may be a bit off so don't shoot me if my recollection is wrong K ! I believe the program lasted about a year. With an owner being able to swap out for the same size pack or an upgraded pack size and the machine did the whole job in less than 15 minutes once the car was hooked up. There were obviously terms and conditions and it wasn't cheap, but it got an owner with a near dead pack back on the road with a fully changed pack PDQ (pretty darnm quick).

 

That sounds about correct from what I read/heard. Hey, not gonna get mad, you didn't turn a $2500 reservation into a $10k+ upcharge, (roughly speaking,) after how many years of waiting?! Anyways, been waiting a long time for the Cybertruck as well, but nothing to complain over $100 for that one....

You've reminded me of the guy/video of someone blowing up their (was it Model S) Tesla over the cost to replace it's failed battery. Since battery replacement can be so quick, I wonder how much labor Tesla charges to replace a battery?....

REVVL V+ 5G ?

 

Yes it can be quick, but on the other hand there may be other things that need to be addressed in some car while changing the packs, especially packs with very low SoC. And I'm sure most were plug and play for the robot the way I read it was setup.
Plus since you mentioned the u-tube, my thoughts about the pack swap are that packs can be flogged in a lot of different ways, and how much Tesla might charge to replace a pack that's been seriously flogged might be more than a simpler swapout or upgrade with a decent core. One way of flogging a pack was shown on a u-tube that I stumbled upon a week or two ago. I hope your ready -

 

It took 90 seconds to swap the pack. I assume that is with everything in place for the task. The price was something like $80 at the time; around what an ICE competitor would pay for a tank of premium. This was before the Model 3, so people chose to just wait for free Supercharging.

Getting a flogged or bad pack is an issue all battery swap plans have to address. Tesla's answer was that you had to return to the station and swap your pack back in. Otherwise you would be charged a prorated fee for the pack from the first swap.

Tesla dropped battery swapping, so only the old S and X have packs that can do it, but the shops don't have the robots to drop the pack. The process is very similar to that used for dropping transmissions from other cars. Lift the car up, and use a jack to lower the piece once the connections were removed. The battery pack is bigger and heavier than a transmission, so there are more connections and bolts to deal with, and it might require more jacks for the lowering. Once down, the cell modules are accessed from the top of the pack.

 

I don't remember the 90 second swap or $80 fee being published around the time Tesla was taking reservations for Model 3. I do remember reading about having to return the swapped pack, but that was a gray area, since there was also the pack upgrade availability too. IIRC, it was simply a button push for the robot operator and the robot completed the task. And since I only read about the program I'm certainly not an authority on the details or specifics that a finger on the button technician would have.

 

No battery swap with VinFast, just a guaranteed 70% remaining capacity. Wondering how much the lease pricing is going to be.... Supposedly they are trying to align with the cost of filling (an implied similar vehicle) with gas.

REVVL V+ 5G ?

 

I believe the battery swapping was gone before reservations were taken for. The Model 3 The 3 and Y aren't capable of it;only the old S and X. Tesla only did it for the extra ZEV credits for fast(under 5 minutes) refueling. They closed the only station when CARB rewrote the rules to exclude battery swapping. It likely wouldn't have lasted long anyway, as people were more willing to wait to use the Superchargers at the location than swap a battery.

You could get an upgraded battery pack, but would eventually have to pay for it, minus the trade in value of the original pack, if it wasn't returned.

Battery leases give me pause. Grumpycabbie(I think that's it, he hasn't been here for awhile) had some posts going over the issues of leases back when they were the only option with Renault BEVs. I think it is causing problems for people trying to sell a smart ED with the lease. Resale is where many of the questions come up. A lease to own program would answer many of them, but that isn't what we've seen up to now.

 

Battery swap mostly died because it was a dumb idea

A few companies still hock it




康迪科技公司-智能换电

zhard to link the video

 

NIO has battery swapping as part of their Battery as a Service lease program. They have at least 3000 swap stations in China, and maybe a couple in Norway by now.

 

Every battery in the swap inventory is an EV missing a heart.

Bob Wilson

 

Still, it's good to have choices for those that prefer. Whatever it takes to get The Reluctant into the game.
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If battery shortages limit EV production then why have a bunch of batteries sitting at a swap station?

Mike

 

Because it is a Chinese EV company that apparently has their battery supply already established. They might even make them in house. If not, they have ties to a major battery producer there.

The swap stations will let NIO field test their 150kWh packs on customers.

I think Toyota and others could get more packs beyond what they signed up for, but would have to pay through the nose to get them. Part of the reason Tesla is expanding the availability of Model 3s with LFP is because there is a supply of those packs, but how many orders are for the shorter range RWD model?

 

China needs more parking lot chargers at apartment and work locations. Battery swap provides a service Chinese need more than the USA.

Bob Wilson

 

Maybe China already has them. NIO is an upscale brand. Battery swapping is a perk of their battery lease/service that gives their customers a way to refuel faster than DC charging. It is a business strategy similar to Tesla's initial use of Superchargers.

 

‘Continued’ use of Superchargers. I used two on Tuesday driving to Atlanta and back.

Bob Wilson

 

probable @trollbate was referencing "free" supercharging ..... which pretty much ended around 2017.

 

And Tesla is moving towards opening up Superchargers to all EVs in order to qualify for subsidies.