Japan: Robot Battery Swap Station Demo

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Many have wondered what Better Place's vaunted automated battery changing stations might look like. So the company, a would-be pioneer in electric cars and their attendant infrastructure, has released a

showing how it's done at a demonstration site in Yokohama, Japan.

Swapping out the discharged battery from an electric Nissan SUV for a fully charged one took slightly more than a minute, according to the video, or less time than it might take you to gas up your car. And you wouldn't even have to get out (talk about full service).

The trick, of course, would be doing this hundreds or thousands of times a day without the automation breaking down. And, of course, they'd first have to make all those batteries and electric vehicles, plus build out the massive infrastructure of swapping stations all over the world.

But the company plans to begin rolling out real stations as soon as 2011 in Israel and soon thereafter in Australia, California, Denmark, Hawaii, Ontario and other places. For now, however, founder Shai Agassi will have to content himself with this six-month trial run in Japan.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-...ap-r-2009-05-13

[natty bumppo 297]

The energizer bunny doesn't need this many changes ...

Previously posted

[GaryC 7]

I kind of like that idea. Make it like your BBQ gas grill tank and just exchange the batteries rather than plugging them in. They could be charged during off peak hours and save the hassle of finding a plug in. I could see this working for cities and urban areas. It would also relieve the owner of the cost of replacing the batteries when they wear out. Just incorporate the cost of that in the service and spread out the costs.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

I kind of like that idea. Make it like your BBQ gas grill tank and just exchange the batteries rather than plugging them in. They could be charged during off peak hours and save the hassle of finding a plug in. I could see this working for cities and urban areas. It would also relieve the owner of the cost of replacing the batteries when they wear out. Just incorporate the cost of that in the service and spread out the costs.

gary's a hippie now

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I kind of like that idea. Make it like your BBQ gas grill tank and just exchange the batteries rather than plugging them in. They could be charged during off peak hours and save the hassle of finding a plug in. I could see this working for cities and urban areas. It would also relieve the owner of the cost of replacing the batteries when they wear out. Just incorporate the cost of that in the service and spread out the costs.

...especially if there could a standardization among the different car manufacturers so that a battery pack would work for different car models.