About a year ago, Tesla teased customers with an innovative idea regarding charging stations – they wanted to make the process more streamlined and intuitive, removing the long waiting times traditionally associated with electric vehicle charging. The idea was actually quite simple – treat car batteries like their smaller counterparts, and allow users to easily swap their car’s battery for a freshly charged one, which will be provided at designated stations.
And starting next week, Tesla has announced that they’re launching a pilot program for the new stations, targeted at Model S owners. According to the company, the initial model of the new charging (or swapping) stations, which will be featured in the pilot test, allows users to swap a battery completely in under three minutes. However, this is still not as low as the company is aiming for, apparently, as they want to bring the time down even further. Tesla seem convinced that the total swapping time can be brought down to under 90 seconds, but that would require changes to the design of the cars themselves.
The concept sounds great, however the current implementation isn’t as straightforward as some users might be hoping. In the beginning at least, it won’t be possible to just drive up to a charging station and swap out the car’s battery – an appointment has to be made in advance, and the swapping procedure itself will reportedly cost in the $50 – $100 price range.
Tesla are aiming to both test their new system with the pilot program, but also to gauge interest for it, which will reportedly drive their future decisions regarding their charging stations. It’s worth noting that interest in this particular program might not be as high as it would be if Tesla were to offer the new charging stations on demand, but it’s understandable why they might want to limit access for now.
This type of technology is still quite new after all, and it’s expected that various experiments like this one will have to be made before some standardized solution is discovered, that works well enough for everyone. And if anyone has the potential to really get that done, it’s exactly Tesla. The company has shown multiple times that they have what it takes to innovate in this market and push it forward, and the fact that the Model S is one of the hottest talks in the auto world (not just in the niche of electric cars) should speak enough for the company’s popularity. If the Model S launches properly and takes off the ground as well as the company is expecting, buyers can expect to see some even more attractive (and accessible) offers from the company in the future.