CM Insider

A Swedish start-up may have resolved one of the biggest dilemmas facing electric vehicles. Possibly the most serious drawback to the acceptance of electric vehicles is the length of time it takes to recharge the batteries. Most motorists simply wouldn’t accept having to wait for half-an-hour or more to fully charge their vehicle midway through a trip.

Swedish start-up Powerswap AB has come up with a revolutionary solution to the problem: rather than connecting a charge cord and waiting for the vehicle to be charged, why not simply swap the battery? With the help of a robotic device that extracts the spent battery and exchanges it with a fully-charged replacement, this would reduce charging time down to less than three minutes, which is faster than filling up a petrol or diesel car at the pump.

“Our solution will change the way we think about EV charging,” claims Sten Corfitsen, founder of Powerswap. “It is better if we do not have to establish a completely new infrastructure just because we want to use EVS instead of fossil-fuel cars. By installing robotic swap units at fuel stations and parking lots, we will gain a cost-efficient solution for the transition to a dominant electric transport sector.”

Powerswap is very different from earlier battery swap trials, which were based on the principle of building the swap stations, which would be expensive and require the acquiring of new land. Another difference is that the Powerswap system handles the changing of batteries from the side of the vehicle, which is optimal positioning when it comes to automation.

There are other advantages, too. For one, the EV can be sold without a battery, which will reduce the price of the vehicle. The battery would be leased and could simply be renewed or upgraded as enhanced technology becomes available. Also, an infrastructure could be built without the need for hundreds of thousands of public charging poles. Plus, the stress on the battery would be significantly reduced, as well as the draw on the national power grid, because batteries would have a longer amount of time for charging, lowering the peaks in power demand.

“I'm confident we have created something that will lead to faster expansion for EVS,” says Sten. “Taxi companies and other transportation fleets are suitable niches for our introduction because their operations have no time available for prolonged charging. We have already received a Letter of Intent from Taxi Stockholm, the biggest taxi company in Sweden.”

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