Battery Swapping Technology: Can Battery Swapping Technology Redefine India’s Landscape For EV Charging Infrastructure?
EV Infrastructure is the backbone of the electric vehicle sector. Charging stations and battery swapping stations are integral parts of the EV charging infrastructure. The EV charging station is very popular these days. When your Plug-In EV runs out of charge, all you need to do is head towards an EV charging station and plug your vehicle into a charging setup. On the other hand, we have battery swapping technology as a part of the EV Infrastructure. In this blog, I will be talking about battery swapping technology in brief. I will also be talking about SUN Mobility and its contribution to India’s EV Charging Infrastructure. I will be sharing my learning from Karn Saini’s statements as a panellist at the webinar on India’s Landscape for EV Charging Infrastructure. I will also answer the question of whether battery swapping technology can redefine India’s landscape for charging infrastructure.
Battery Swapping Technology
What Is Battery Swapping Technology?
Battery Swapping is the process of exchanging a drained battery with a fully charged battery from the Battery Swapping Station(BSS). The BSS is a battery repository where a number of batteries are kept in charging and fully charged batteries are made available to EV users.
What Are The Advantages Of Battery Swapping Technology?
Battery swapping technology is quite useful in establishing a strong EV Infrastructure. It is quite advantageous to the EV Sector. The advantages of the battery swapping technology are as follows:
- Reduction Of EV Acquisition Cost: The battery of the EV costs nearly 30% to 40% of the total vehicle cost. With the implementation of a battery swap system, the vehicle can be sold with ownership of the battery with a battery swap station. This can reduce the cost of the EV and therefore increase the number of people moving towards EV transportation.
- No More Long Charging Time: Charging an EV on an AC output or DC Fast Charging Output is very slow as compared to that of the fueling of an IC Engine. Using a battery-swapping station, an EV owner can swap their drained battery for a fully charged battery with few minutes rather than waiting for hours at the charging station to charge the EV battery.
- Reducing Range Anxiety Of The EV Users: Range Anxiety is arguably one of the biggest problems faced by EV owners. A well-established network of BSS can reduce the range of anxiety experienced by EV users.
- Equivalent Infrastructure: The area required to build a charging station is quite large as compared to that of establishing a BSS. A BSS is as good as a small kiosk which requires less site area and so is the investment lesser in the case of a BSS than an EV Charging station.
- Longer Battery Life: The EV batteries can get deteriorated due to the fast charging and charging at high ambient temperatures. The batteries at the BSS are charged slowly and this can prolong the life of the EV Battery.
- Grid Load Management: In a BSS, the battery charging schedule can be controlled. The batteries in the BSS are charged during the night or during off-peak hours. A Battery Swapping Sation(BSS) has many batteries fully charged. During peak hours, the BSS can be used as a backup power source during the peak load conditions during the day.
- Battery Recycling And Disposal: A well-established Battery Swapping Station can support systematic recycling and disposal of the used batteries.
What Are The Challenges With The Battery Swapping Technology?
Despite the advantages of Battery Swapping Technology, there are few challenges that are needed to be overcome. They are as follows:
- Standardisation Of The Battery Packs: Battery packs of various EVs are unique and different. The EV companies do not share their battery design details and maintain high-level confidentiality. To nurture large scale battery swapping, battery packs of all-electric vehicles must be standardized. Standardizing the battery pack design might restrict the company’s innovation and creativity.
- Reliability Of The Leased Battery Packs: There is always a question on the quality of the batteries from the swapping station.
Companies Working On Battery Swapping Technology In India
The EV Revolution in India has been taking momentum over the last 5 years. The companies working on battery swapping technology in India are:
- SUN Mobility
- Lithion
- E-ChargeUp Solution
- VoltUp
- Numocity
- Ola Electric
- ACME
- Estimo
SUN Mobility
Chetan Maini has been passionate about sustainable mobility for nearly 3 decades. He was a part of the University of Michigan Solar Car team that stood first in the race across the US and came 3rd in the World Solar Challenge in Australia. This fueled his interest in making sustainable mobility accessible to all. He launched India’s most affordable electric car, Reva which went on to become one of the world’s best-selling electric car. The Reva Car was sold in 24 countries all across the globe. In the year 2013, Mahendra Reva(previously Reva) was named as one of the Top 50 Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company magazine.
Sun Mobility is the leading provider of universal energy infrastructure and services to accelerate mass electric vehicle usage. In the year 2017, Uday Khemka, promoter of SUN Group and Chetan joined hands to realize their common vision of making electric mobility affordable and accessible to the masses and formed SUN Mobility. They are predominantly working on battery swapping stations catering to all types of electric vehicles.
In the year 2017, SUN Mobility entered into a strategic collaboration with the Ashok Leyland, flagship of the Hinduja Group to develop the Circuit S, an electric bus that works on SUN Mobility’s battery swapping technology. In June 2018, they joined hands with Microsoft to develop a Smart Network to connect their Smart Batteries and Quick Interchange Stations (QIS) with the end-users through a mobile application. In November 2018, they joined hands with SmartE which is India’s largest electric vehicle fleet operator to incorporate their battery swapping technology in SmartE’s Electric Three-Wheeler Fleet. In June 2019, they joined hands with UBER with an ambitious goal of powering 10 lakh EVs by 2025 for shared mobility. In December 2019, they joined hands with Piaggio to launch Piaggio’s Ape eCity which is India’s 1st electric passenger Autorickshaw with swappable batteries. The Piaggo’s Ape eCity uses SUN Mobility’s battery swapping technology. In June 2020, they joined hands with the IndianOil Corporation Limited (IOCL) to establish Battery Swapping Stations in their gas stations catering to the electric 2 & 3 wheelers. In September 2020, Bosch acquired a 26% stake in SUN Mobility, through its investment vehicle Robert Bosch Investment Nederland B.V which would allow SUN Mobility to continue to develop and deploy its battery swapping technology in various parts of India and the globe. On 19th March 2021, they have collaborated with Zyngo, a hyperlocal 3 PL company to provide them with SUN Mobility’s battery swapping technology to cater to the last-mile & middle-mile delivery sector. On 25th March 2021, they joined hands with one of India’s leading power distribution utility, Tata-DDL to set up a vast network of Swap Point across Delhi as a part of the “Switch Delhi” campaign.SUN Mobility has established Swap Points in 14 cities across India.
A Summary Of Karn Saini’s Statements At The Webinar On India’s Landscape for EV Charging Infrastructure
On 15th May 2021, MASS Foundation organized a webinar. The webinar was on India’s Landscape for EV Charging Infrastructure. Karn Saini who is a part of the CEO’s Office At Sun Mobility was a panellist at the webinar. I got a chance to watch the recording of Karn Saini’s statements as a panellist at the webinar on LinkedIn. I really like the way he presented the facts to the audience.
He said that it's important that we make EV charging infrastructure affordable to all like electricity and also overcome the challenges existing in the EV Charging infrastructure. During the introduction, he quoted a statement by Thomas Alva Edison in the year 1879 on electricity which goes as follows
We will make electricity so cheap that only the rich will burn candles.
In order to explain the challenges in the EV Infrastructure, he split the main topic into three subtopics. They are as follows:
- Use-Case Dilemma
- Incumbent-Led Disruption
- The Gap To Ubiquity
Use Case Dilemma
Karn Saini started off by explaining the Use-Case Dilemma by saying that in a country like India, there are a lot of choices available for the consumer to procure an automobile. The primary factors while selecting an automobile is cost and the needs of the consumer. The fuel required to run these automobiles are abundantly available in every nook and corner of the country. In order to reach the ambitious goal of 100% electrification in the transportation system, we must strive to make the charging infrastructure must be easily available to all without any hindrance. A lot of emphases must be paid to implementing the leading charging technology like battery swapping, slow charging, fast charging and flash charging.
Incumbent-Led Disruption
While explaining the sub-topic Incumbent-Led Disruption, Karn Saini said,
The change comes from the innovators and disruptors.
The terms startup and innovator have become buzzwords in India. Despite having an idea that can disrupt the market, these innovators and startups need a lot of anchor funding, mentorship and real estate space. The financial value of such startups is always way too less as compared to the leading companies. The very first step is to leverage the incumbency between the existing companies and the innovators. In the case of startups and innovators working in the EV Infrastructure sector, there are Government PSUs (HPCL, BPCL, IOCL etc), Government-run electricity boards(KSEEB, Delhi Power and others) and Private Companies(Adani Group, Tata Power and so on) which are leading stakeholders in the electricity and energy sector. These leading stakeholders are present in every nook and corner of the country. The private-public partnership between startups working in the EV Charging Infrastructure and these leading stakeholders would play a vital role in reaching India’s goal of 100% electrification. The vast experience and omnipresence of leading stakeholders in the energy and electricity sector in collaboration with the innovation of the startups working in the EV Charging Infrastructure is vital for India’s dream to lead the global EV space. Scalability of such EV Charging Infrastructure is the key to growth. Startups must initially start with a pilot project and understand the scalability aspect before venturing into a full-fledged project.
The Gap To Ubiquity
While explaining the aspect of The Gap To Ubiquity, in a deep voice Karn Saini said,
In India, we only have 2% to 3% of EVs in the country’s transportation system.
For a country, we must not just aim for a mere 20% to 30% of electrification in the transportation sector but rather aim for 100% electrification in the transportation sector. In order to reach India’s ambitious goal of 100% electrification in the transportation sector, the EV Charging Infrastructure must be at par with gas station in terms of versatility and convenience. Gas stations are easily available in every nook and corner of the country. The EV charging infrastructure must be omnipresent. A clear cut market analysis is required while establishing the EV Charging Infrastructure in urban areas. Rapid urbanization has caused a deficit in the availability of parking spaces with charging facilities. Public charging and battery swapping stations must be established at various places like apartments, offices, malls, gas stations and so on. The term “mass” in the context of the EV charging infrastructure must not just be based on numbers but also the affordability. Along with scalability, profitability is the key aspect of the EV charging infrastructure.
My Learnings From Karn Saini’s Statements At The Webinar On India’s Landscape for EV Charging Infrastructure
Being a sustainable mobility enthusiast, I agree with the statements made by Karn Saini’s Statements At The Webinar On India’s Landscape for EV Charging Infrastructure. If I were to procure an EV for my daily use, one of the major concerns which I would be facing is the lack of charging stations. I might find many gas stations around me but finding a charging station near me is not feasible. The lack of charging stations can dent India’s ambitious dream of achieving 100% electrification in the transportation sector. I truly believe that a versatile and convenient EV charging infrastructure is the key to the growth of the Electric Vehicle sector in any country all across the globe. EV Charging Infrastructure is the backbone of the EV Sector. Affordability, scalability and profitability are the three key aspects of the EV charging infrastructure.
Can Battery Swapping Technology Redefine India’s Landscape For EV Charging Infrastructure?
As a concluding remark, I would like to answer the question of whether battery swapping technology can redefine India’s landscape for charging infrastructure. I strongly believe that battery swapping can redefine the landscape for EV charging infrastructure in India. Battery swapping technology is quite new in India. In the year 2015, companies like Tesla and Better Place tried working on the battery swapping technology but could not achieve success. Gogoro launched its scooters with swappable batteries in Taiwan and it was a grand success. The term Charging Infrastructure of EVs in India reminds us of only the plugin type charging system and not Battery Swapping Technology. There is a need for awareness of Battery Swapping Technology in India. Standardization of the battery packs is the first step towards bringing more EVs to the swapping station. Establishing an organized network of Battery Swapping Stations(BSS) can tremendously reduce the range anxiety. The BSS can be a suitable backup to the charging stations.
