Kai And Hyundai are looking to put batteries into the structural components of EVs which would potentially increase range significantly but might reduce repairability. This repairability problem can be mitigated in any one of three non-exclusive ways.
Agreed broadly, but I want to nitpick the phone comparison. I had spare batteries for my smartphone for events like all-day conferences/conventions to swap batteries in the afternoon. I could see battery swapping making sense in urban areas for mopeds and ebikes or even delivery vehicles, but there aren’t use cases for personal cars that make sense to me.
I think the “swapping” may be a different use case the author is talking about. I don’t think the author was referring to an end-user executed swap to simply put in a charged battery.
This would be a service center option where a mechanic would have to take tools and removed panels and connectors to make the swap. Something done maybe only a few times, if ever, for a car during its life.
A structural battery pack is constructed to not be serviced in parts. The author calls this out with his comments on “replacing a single bad cell”. He’s right that this is a concern for structural battery packs. Here’s a Tesla structural battery pack when it was attempted to be disassembled:
There was more of that pink foam wrapping around the cells now exposed. All of that pink foam is needed for strength and its thermal properties because the battery pack is part of the structure of the vehicle carrying load forces.
Clearly replacing a bank of cells would be difficult to do if there was a cell failure, and no wear near cost effective for a consumer to have done on their car. The author is suggesting having some of THIS type of battery, but also another part of the battery in the standard hard plastic modular cases where the whole module could be removed and replaced (“swapped”)
The author is suggesting SOME of the battery be the pink foam type that is unserviceable, and SOME of the battery be behind panels in cases that a technician can swap at a service center when the module has reached the end of its life.
Sure, but how often are you going to all-day conferences. Once a year? Twice? Is it worth having the possibly 20% less battery capacity the other 363 days a year for that swapability?
Taxies and other service vehicles too. They constantly complain about basically an unpaid break where they have to charge their cars.