EV Charging vs Battery Swapping

Using an EV charger is the most common method to charge an electric vehicle. Many companies have worked hard to set up widespread EV charging networks. But EV users often complain about the waiting time while their EVs are being charged. Most people are so used to the quick refuelling habit at petrol pumps that time taken while recharging their vehicles seems frustrating. So, what’s the best way to go about it? What’s the best way to ‘refuel’ an EV?

Well, you might not even need to charge it. There is an alternative to charging your battery, and that is battery swapping.

With battery swapping, you swap out your drained EV battery for a completely charged one, eliminating the need for waiting while the battery is being recharged.

Rather than waiting to fill up a depleted battery, a driver could treat a car more like a TV remote, changing the battery when needed. But it does not involve buying a new battery. This is where the ‘battery-as-a-service’ model takes spotlight. Battery prices make up as much as 50% of an electric vehicle’s cost. Battery-as-a-service model helps customers save money. Customers can pay during every swap or buy battery subscription plans to save even more. Battery swapping is popularly used for smaller vehicles, such as electric two and three-wheelers, which have smaller batteries that are easier to swap. While the battery swapping technology looks feasible and easy, it loses its viability when electric cars and commercial four-wheelers come into picture.

In most battery swapping stations, batteries are placed and removed manually from the individual slots by hand. The stations don’t occupy much space either.

Gogoro: The Global Leader in Battery Swapping

Gogoro is a Taiwan-based battery swapping company. It has a network of battery swapping kiosks. Gogoro’s battery swapping model is easy, fast, safe and accessible. With 14 million scooters for 23 million people, Taiwan is one of the densest two-wheeler markets in the world. Today the company averages more than 250,000 battery swaps a day, with nearly 500,000 subscribers.

The company is in process of spreading its wings in China, India, Indonesia & Israel. In India, Hero MotoCorp has announced a tie-up with Gogoro and the two will open a network of swapping stations.

Battery Swapping and India

Scan the barcode and download the EVJoints app to find 6,000 EV charging stations across various networks.

Click & download the EVJoints app to find 6,000 charging stations.

Apart from Gogoro, homegrown players like Bounce, Yulu & Sun Mobility are also eager to take a share in India’s nascent battery swapping sector. Bounce manufactures electric scooters and Yulu rents out electric mopeds. Both these companies offer battery swapping of their own brands only. This is where standardisation comes in. Currently, battery packs in EVs are not standardised.

Ensuring battery compliance with different vehicle models and standardising the battery packs will enhance its usage even further.

EV Charging vs Battery Swapping: At A Glance

Conclusion

In a country like India, where electric two & three-wheelers account for more than 80% of all electric vehicles, battery swapping can prove critical to accelerate the country’s electric mobility transition.