I’ve been a busy boy over at Green Car Reports again with another article. This one compares the Better Place battery switch idea with the only other system in the world today: “rapid” charging. I say rapid, but really it’s between 15 and 30 minutes to get your battery up to probably around 80% of it’s capacity. Below is just the introduction, head to Green Car Reports for the full comparison.
Fast Charging Vs Battery Switching: Better Place Customer Compares
By far the most reasonable use for electric cars charged at home is for a regular commute. If the return journey is less than the range of the car, electric cars make complete sense.
Battery topping up using Level 2 chargers in public areas is a bonus, but rarely make an impossible journey possible.
If an electric-car owner with no other vehicles also has to make occasional longer trips that exceed the range of the battery, there are two options today: DC fast charging en route or battery switching.
Battery switching is within weeks of being a reality for private electric-car drivers in Israel who are also Better Place customers. Hundreds of fast-charging facilities exist in Japan, and they are being rolled out in selected areas of North America and Europe.
I’m now working on calculating what the impact would be on the grid of mass adoption of either fast charging or switching would be.
