A few comments:
1.) Managing a fleet of rental packs and owned packs:
One way to easily ensure you get your own original pack back would be to
make your first stop on a road trip be at a local swapping station. There
you could swap your say 60 kWh pack for an 85 kWh or larger pack and pay
the pack rental/usage fee. Tesla would store your original pack until your
return, or until you informed Tesla you now planned to keep the rental pack
(convert to owned), thereby releasing the owned pack into the rental pack
fleet.
This model might also be able to support repeated swaps of the rental pack
at no additional fee or a nominal fee. A daily pack rental fee with
unlimited swaps might work. This would be like a daily car rental fee with
no miles limit.
Another approach would be the per-swap fee, and a daily pack storage fee
(for your original pack). Daily storage fee would end when you picked up
original pack or chose to keep new pack.
2.) Pack size/disparity between 60 kWh and 85 kWh Model S owners:
It has been suggested that it may not be 'fair' for the 60 kWh owners, or
even the grandfathered 40 kWh owners, to be able to get access to larger
than original packs. Appropriate pack swap/rental pricing should be able to
mitigate this. If pack limits are programmable within the packs, perhaps
they could be set during the rental process, with lower fees for swapping
in smaller packs. Tesla could actually build all the packs as the same
capacity and program in the usable capacity based on the rental choice. An
85 kWh pack programmed to 60 kWh could see an extended life as it would
only have 71% of it's official capacity used on a given charge/discharge
cycle. FWIW, Tesla has announced that the 40 kWh Model S is software
limited, but actually has a 60 kWh pack in it.
3.) Pack return logistics:
If an original pack is dropped off at a swap station where the owner is not
likely to return to, the owner could ask that it be transported to a nearby
station he will be going to. This return logistic component might be
handled via a fleet of Tesla pack transport trucks (long distance EV
trucks, nonetheless, running off the packs being transported). The
transport trucks would also provide a supply/demand balancing solution in
case some stations are doing more swaps than others and are running low on
rental packs or storage space for owned packs.
Or if Tesla can get route information from other Tesla drivers, it might
even be possible have these other drivers perform the transport function as
long as they understand the pack must be swapped at the next swap station
or at a particular swap station on their route. This return logistics
option might offer drivers a free or reduced cost pack swap in exchange for
them dropping off the pack as-agreed.
4.) Pack sizing/form factor:
The stakeboard chassis design could allow for a pack that has a swappable
component and a nonswappable component. Swappable piece would be common
sized across multiple models, and would be good for a significant range.
The nonswappable piece would permanently remain with the vehicle, and could
be placed in vehicle niches that would be unsuitable for swapping. Charging
would fill the nonswappable piece first; discharging would take from the
swappable piece first. Charge shuttling from swappable to nonswappable
might also be used. A mix of swappable and nonswappable components might
allow for both a small car and a large car to use the same swappable pack;
the large car would just have a larger nonswappable section. Or if the
swappable components were smaller units, a large car might use 3 swappable
units and a small car use 2 units.
On Jun 23 2013, Steve Clunn wrote:
From: Jukka J?rvinen <[email protected]>
<The battery cells are not that big issue in the Tesla packs. Tesla will
not
pay more than $100/kWh for their cells in the near future.>
I wonder if Tesla has thought about selling these battery packs to
people doing conversions?
The future of converting regular cars could hinge on this. It
probably would not be too difficult to incorporate their swapable pack
into a DIY Conversion. Making swapable or not swapable depending in
the customer. Of course there are two things that need to happen, a
lot more conversions to make it worth while and Tesla seeing this as
an opportunity to Sell lots of Batteries, BMS' and chargers.
I saw ROYBI has a ELECTRIC DRILL battery pack that fits lots of
different tools, their ONE+ system. If a bicycle company came up
with an electric Bike that could run on their batteries wouldn't this
be good for the company even though they don't make money on the
bicycles. They could sell more batteries and charger.
STEVE CLUNN
--
Steve Clunn
Merging the best of the past with
the best of the future.
www.Greenshedconversions.com
<
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