Tesla Model S does battery swap in 90 seconds

Tesla has finally demonstrated battery swap on a Model S and are rolling it out across their supercharge EV stations in the US. Takes 90 seconds.

The Tesla Model S was built from the start to offer battery swap as an alternative to a recharge. And now it’s become a reality.

When Better Place revealed their plans – in conjunction with Renault – to offer Battery Swap technology we applauded it as a sensible way to make electric cars a more sensible mainstream option.

Unfortunately, the roll out of EVs took too long for Better Place to make their vision a reality, and they recently went bust. But now Tesla are introducing battery swap for the Model S and have demonstrated how effective it is.

Tesla has shown (video below) that a full battery swap takes 90 seconds – around half the time it takes to fill up an empty petrol tank on a similar sized ICE car – and are rolling out the swapping tech across their supercharger network in the US.

As Elon Musk says, the choice is now between quick or free, with a recharge at the Supercharger stations costing nothing and a battery swap about the same as a tank of petrol (in the US at least). Tesla plan to install the battery swap facilities across its busiest Supercharger stations initially.

It’s a clever move by Tesla to make the EV a viable mainstream option.