China's Answer for Slow EV-Charging Times: Battery Swap Stations

Car drivers around the world have been slow to switch from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles (EV) for their price, the small number of charging stations, and the longer wait times to charge them. China is way in front of finding a fix for two of those problems. It offers EV drivers battery swap stations.      

EV drivers must carefully plan out a route to avoid losing a charge in the middle of nowhere. Some also must wait about at least 20 minutes for a top-up at a fast charging station. Now, some EV drivers can roll into a lot and have their drained batteries switched out with a fully-charged one in a jiffy. At present, China has 3,570 of these stations. It's aiming to open nearly 13,000 more by the end of 2025. 

What about the US? It has at most a dozen stations. Most of them are in the San Francisco region. And they're only used by commercial fleets such as ride-sharing companies.

Now, two Chinese companies have joined with Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL). The group aims to open battery swapping stations across the country.

CATL hopes the added stations will speed up the transition to EVs. That's because battery swaps are faster. 

“As more stations are built, an increasing number of new models will adopt swappable batteries to attract car buyers,” Davis Zhang told the South China Morning Post. Zhang works for battery-supplier Suzhou Hazardtex.

The system does have its drawbacks, though. Among them: high investment costs. Battery swap stations can cost up to $1.5 million each to build. The concept will also need the development of standardized batteries for it to speed up the shift to EVs.   

Reflect: What are some reasons people might hesitate to use EVs, and what could help change their minds?

Photo of an electric vehicle battery displayed at the booth of battery maker CATL from Reuters.