Hi Fellow Kossacs, AStranger here.

A few days ago I wrote a diary with a nice click-baity title, something about Teslas being bad but which was really all about batteries, Electrical Vehicle (EV) batteries. All of a sudden I had the start of a mini-series where I debate EV battery things.

This series will continue here, rinse/repeat until there is a consensus, an agreement to disagree or till the sun runs out.

It is one of the ways science works. You hammer at it till it stops breaking. If you have friends with bigger hammers, now is the moment to rustle them up. I will wear PPE.

Very, very brief summary of what went before in the previous diaries.

I stated that we make EV-batteries too big, too lasting, to range-y and very brand specific. We should make them modular and universal. I pointed to two examples of how the industry went with USB-C under EU (European Union) pressure and how this will happen with EV’s. The EU mandates sale of gas/diesel engines will be over in the EU past 2035. It does not take a wild imagination to see that standardization will happen. Some commenters pointed out a few problems with this modular/universal approach. I will do my best to address these in this follow up. Everything is as usual open to your best prodding and poking.

How could this modular/universal play out in the future?

I used to be a power tool repair technician(among other) in a previous life. I’ve seen quite a few generations of battery chemistry come and go but one thing was clear. Once ‘my brand’ figured out most things they stuck with the same form factor for the batteries. Old batteries fit on new tools and vice-versa (in as far as the chemistry allows this). The last 4 generations all have the same footprint with keys to protect against faulty match-ups.

I also drive an electric bicycle. Not a fancy branded one with a lot of bells and whistles either. It’s a real workhorse, American made, with an add-on electric motor from China (co-operation is a nice thing). And the batteries are power tool batteries. Just regular old power tool batteries, I have mountains of them.

The bike, a universal box with 2 batteries, a few of my spares and a USB-C clip on charger hiding in plain sight. It took a bit of work with an angle grinder to fit the box but I just happen to own one. Battery powered of course.

Now take your regular old ICE engine with a trunk. There is a gas tank, a muffler and a spare tire that either go, or go elsewhere, we could fit a universal box for two of those big high capacity batteries (as shown on top of the diary) in the trunk of a car. All done with a bit of inspired engineering by the real car guys (obviously not by us amateurs). The box could fit 2 batteries, leave the trunk free and should make it easy to swap batteries. (unless you are a packrat and have your house in your trunk).

Another trick I learned from power tool batteries. They come in different capacities from low capacity but light all the way to really high capacity but also heavy and costly. They all fit in the same footprint, they just become higher. Translated into range this would mean we could have a 25, a 50 and a 100 mile battery that could fit two (3?4?) on the same footprint. We could tailor a car to be fitted with a range from 25 to 200+ miles using universal batteries. And have a 10 mile one under the seat of your car as a ‘spare’ battery. With future chemistries range would go even further.

Next trick. Make these batteries Rent-A-Battery. You don’t own a battery, you rent what you need with a subscription similar to many other things. If you only ever drive a bit and charge at home and work you rent a single 25 mile one. Need a big one for a trip to nowhere? Go rent two 100 mile batteries for the trip. Is 200 miles not enough? It should get you to the next gas/EV station. Since every gas station will adapt or die there will still be plenty of gas/EV swap stations. And for extreme case they could adopt a piggyback system for extra juice. 

What if I can’t charge at home/work. No such problem with modular batteries. With a bit of technology swapping an empty battery for a full one will become as fast as filling up with gas now.

Gas stations? Gas stations will go out of business unless they adapt. But the way they currently adapt with fast chargers will never really work once we all go EV. Charging is either slow or requires a huge grid upgrade. Just imagine the lines you will see once everybody wants to charge at the same time. Change will happen slowly and then all at once. But it will be important to standardize hard and early.

What if you run out of juice in the middle of nowhere and your ‘spare’ happens to be out of juice? Why, with gas you’d walk too. Or you try that trick with a hose and siphon some gas from a Good Samaritan. Good Samaritans will not go out of fashion. We all learn a new universal sign for out of juice and any willing passer by will swap you his spare. Since they are rentals anyhow it’s only a bit of juice. Add 30 seconds with a smartphone to exchange ownership data and you are good to go. And the person you help today will be the one who helps you tomorrow.

How to swap such heave(ish) spare? They teach you in driving school. The Industry is to make sure a spare is not extremely heavy, and has connectors and such that are both easy and fool-proof. At worst there is already a Good Samaritan there busy helping you out.

What if new battery technologies appear? No problem, as long as they fit in the same footprint they go. They will get cheaper, have longer ranges or both but all will fit.

EV/gas stations will need huge inventories of batteries? Yes and no. The change-over will be gradual so inventories will grow with demand. EV-stations won’t stock much more than needed. Inventory management is already a fine art now. A sizable number of inventoried batteries can grow over time to reflect the need.

Another neat trick. Grid balancing. The current path taken with EV’s requires a great number of fast chargers placing undue stress on the grid. With swappable batteries we can do many things :

What about grid balancing at home. They will use the same battery model you use in your car sized to your liking. It would be a good use for ‘car’ batteries that are past their prime. 

What about cost? A limited number of models would do wonders for economies of scale. Unit costs would go down AND you rent the size you need rather than buy something hugely oversized you don’t need, for that single case where you do. With swappable batteries you drive cheap till you need big. Big will last no longer than needed.

What about your battery being stolen? Same as with your phone, they tell you where they are. If a thief steals a battery that thief gets located then zapped by the battery police.

How about recycling? Battery cases could be made very long lasting and repairable. Cell recycling will happen with sufficient volume. It will also be easy, no need to carefully dismantle a car with a can opener, the casing should open like a cookie tin and individual cells should be straightforward too. 

Power tools, they all use different batteries! No need to make the same mistake twice.

What will this do to car design? No idea. I drive an E-bike not a car. I do remember the Ford Model T. We came some way since then.

But it’s just a thought

what went before (read only if you feel like):

the introduction to the debate www.dailykos.com/...

the debate www.dailykos.com/…

more debate www.dailykos.com/...