3 Wheelar Battery Swapping System

Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) or charging equipment are prerequisite for electric vehicle (EV) adoption by vehicle owners. Various countries adopted different approaches and business models for creation of EVSE ecosystem with mixed results. As India is gearing up to unleash an EV revolution, few key questions related to EVSE continues to haunt the stakeholders in the EV space:

Battery Swapping Stations (BSS)

Batetry swapping System

After backtracking from an audacious goal of having 100% electric mobility by 2030, India’s view point is now gravitating towards attaining the target of having at least 70% of its two-wheeler /three-wheeler and public transportation stock to be in EV segment by 2030. This implies that as a nation, our focus should be on this larger segment of electric mobility which is for public good. However, to solve the charging conundrum battery swapping could be a viable option.
A type of charging infrastructure is emerging based on the premise of battery swapping. Disadvantages of conductive charging like, longer time and battery degradation in lieu of fast charging can be mitigated by using the battery swapping stations.




The adoption of EVs are hindered due to high cost of ownership. By taking out of the battery from the equation the cost can be reduce. A third party will have the ownership of the battery and will be liable for replacing the drained batteries with fresh, charged and standard ones.
Battery Swapping Stations acts as a battery aggregator and has enough clout to participate in markets for electrical energy and reserve. The BSS can maximize its profits by providing services to the system, such as voltage support, regulation reserves, or energy arbitrage. However, battery swapping model has not fully succeeded globally due to techno-commercial dynamics. As is known, the main issues are around standardization, commercial viability and reliability.

Standardization of EV Lithium Ion Battery Packs

3-Wheelar Battery Swapping System

has not happened globally. The probability of this happening in India is questionable. This is so because, majority of the auto OEMs preferring to control their design strategies for battery packs as their core technology.
Commercially Viable Business Models, since Indian government is eschewing subsidies to create a viable non-subsidized commercially sound model is extremely important.
Reliability of Leased/Rented Battery Packs gets accentuated in India. In quest of achieving profitability, if battery providers short change the customer and therefore causing a potential breach may lead to a serious disaster of swapping business and can create larger controversies as well.




Concept of Battery Swapping Station


A battery swapping and charging station is an energy refueling station, where, a. EV with depleted batteries can swap them with fully charged batteries,
b. The depleted swapped batteries are charged.
A strategically planned BSS can ensure fast swapping and extend the travel range.
To fully utilize the potential of BSS, the EV batteries should be easily replaceable and accessible to one and all. For this, there would be one most important requirement: Consistent Standardization of Batteries of various EV’s. Therefore, the best model for EV will be one where batteries will be leased by the owner from the company. The most prominent feature of this approach would be that the price of EV will drastically reduce as the cost of battery is deducted from the total vehicle cost.

Benefits of Battery Swapping System

Power system Perspective

The above figure depicts the mutual interaction with all players involved, not limited to EV owner, Station owner, Power System. This inherent interdependence of the BSS and power system is significant. Following, issues related to BSS and its associated benefits are shown in with each one perspective: