The one major issue that has kept electric cars from becoming a common sight throughout the world is their slow recharge time. Once you reach the end of an electric car’s range, you need to recharge the battery. Even with the fast chargers some EV makers sell, it takes a few hours to fully charge an electric car’s battery. That makes long trips impossible in an electric car.
There is a solution to that problem that could make electric vehicles convenient and practical for every day use. The Better Place electric vehicle battery switching station allows drivers to pull into a switching bay and pull out with a new, freshly charged battery. The EV battery switching process is completely automated and takes just a few minutes.
Watch the video of Better Place’s electric vehicle battery switching station here.
Renault-Nissan will team up with Better Place to make zero emissions travel a reality in Israel by 2011. To do that, Better Place will need to build enough charging stations that Israelis can find one easily when they get low on juice. Nissan-Renault will provide vehicles that are adapted to be battery-switchable.
Battery switching stations are a definite necessity if electric vehicles are ever going to become commonplace. Hopefully makers of EVs will get together soon and come up with a universal battery so that switching stations can become a reality.
