Swapping a depleted car battery for a freshly charged one, in a process that takes minutes, is one avenue being explored to ramp up the amount of electric cars on Britain’s roads ahead of the government’s ban on the sale of ICE cars by 2030.
The Battery-as-a-Service (BaaS) model is touted as a potential solution for range anxiety that could give those without a home charging point a means to quickly gain range (up to four minutes to change at a swapping station), and would put less pressure on the charging network – which it could complement rather than replace – with depleted batteries being charged back up at off-peak times, energy research group Cornwall Insight (CI) has told Autocar Business.
As part of a new paper created along with law firm ​​Shoosmiths, the group also claims the model would cut down the price of buying an electric car by up to 30%, with the battery paid for as part of a subscription service and changed at service stations across the country
This would make electric car ownership more accessible, CI’s Dr Matthew Chadwick said, who added that the price of an electric car and the lack of charging infrastructure is hampering the transition from cheaper combustion-powered cars.
“This model brings down those upfront costs and provides a lot more flexibility,” said Dr Chadwick, CI’s lead research analyst. “It has the potential to encourage EV uptake as costs, rather than being all up front, are spread more evenly through a subscription service.”
This proposed subscription service would be similar to that already being used by Chinese EV maker Nio – itself coming to the UK next year with Tesla Model 3-rivalling ET5 (pictured below).
Although more expensive than what is being proposed, Nio’s subscription package – which also includes the price of leasing the car – allows customers to swap out the depleted battery for a fully charged one.
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