The running out of charge anxiety

Shreyas Gupta
Ather Energy
Published in
5 min readJul 11, 2017

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“Does the S340 have a swappable battery?” It’s one of the most frequently asked questions during our interactions with future S340 owners. We’ve heard anxiety on the availability of charging points, the debate on whether the batteries can be carried back home and sometimes on the emulation of refueling behaviour by having swappable batteries at prominent public locations. We had debated the right choice for charging on day 1, and many times over, since that day. However it’s not only about the S340 that we are putting together, our view is driven by the ecosystem that will make electric vehicles mainstream in India.

Before we explain our point of view, let’s understand the key options available for charging. Battery swapping and plugged-in charging are the main routes adopted by most nations supporting EVs. Battery swapping involves a battery pack that is removable and once depleted can be replaced with a fully charged one. It can either be swapped at a manned swapping station or can be done at a fully automated station, the way some automobile manufacturers have showcased.

A charging infrastructure, on the other hand, requires a battery to be on the vehicle, while a charging pod or a power outlet allows you to draw power to recharge the battery. It’s a slow process. Charging takes time and the time is unavoidable. With advancement in cell chemistry and technology, some batteries can now be charged to 100% in under an hour, and the charging duration is only going to get shorter as the technology evolves. Countries are also experimenting with wireless charging which lets the user leave a vehicle at a parking spot without any physical effort required to start charging, but that’s definitely some time away from becoming commercially mainstream. Some companies have also tried their hands on a removable battery pack, which allows the user to carry the battery back to their homes, replicating the charging behaviour but without the need of infrastructure. The present battery density makes this a desirable option only for smaller packs with low weights — something that severely impedes the vehicle range.

Between battery swapping and plugged-in charging, can either of these options work seamlessly for the widely segmented automobile industry? In India alone we’re talking about 18.8 million two-wheelers, 3.4 million passenger vehicles and another 1.7 million commercial vehicles, out of which 0.9 million are three-wheelers, that need to adopt the electric journey. (Source: SIAM, TechSci Research) A ‘one size fits all’ seems unlikely to be the most optimized solution for this market and consumers need the one solution that best suits their product. Here’s our view on how it could pan out.

Let’s start with public transport. Buses which travel predetermined routes with a defined destination — the bus depot, or the cab fleet which has a high density of similar make vehicles across the city. What are the priorities for these segments? Low maintenance cost and no time wasted during peak operating hours would be of paramount importance. These vehicles are not highly differentiated in design or performance and standardization seems a distinct possibility. They have to their luxury a designated travel and a wait location with dedicated teams for servicing and maintenance. And finally, there is a robust investment backing from the government to subsidize initial costs and aggregate the demand. Just the right environment for battery swapping to make immense sense.

An initial investment from the government could help build the swapping infrastructure across public locations like bus terminus or depot, parking lots and provide suitable inventory at each location to suffice the mass vehicles requirements. Since the requirements and hence the make of the vehicles are almost similar, it’s easy to standardize the battery capacity and provide aggregated demand to the manufacturers to set shop. You could almost be done with the swap faster than it takes to refuel today. And leave the discharged pack to a dedicated team of maintenance staff to monitor, charge and service. We strongly feel it’s a viable working model for battery swapping. Also, a model which will make the scale lucrative for cell manufacturers to set shop, lower cost of the product for the OEMs, build awareness for the common commuter and accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles.

The other end of the spectrum are the self-owned vehicles. The consumers aren’t on the road all day, which means there are actually long stretches of wait time at locations like homes, offices, cafes, shopping malls, parking lots and so on. Consumers have needs in varied sizes and hence the products that cater to them are optimized for different platforms, from varied manufacturers and for different performance and aesthetic requirements. The product is owned by the individual and exchange of a critical part of the product doesn’t reflect present consumer behaviour. Imagine your warranty conversation with the manufacturer if the mobile phone batteries were to be exchanged on the run!

Personalization drives ownership and you’d probably hate it if every vehicle on the road had the same performance. Frequent model upgrades with better performance will continue to be a consumer expectation — whether electric or gasoline. And the infrastructure for charging cannot come in the way of this intent. All of this points to a ubiquitous network, with an ability to integrate different platforms and not require high initial investments. A plugged-in charging infrastructure with a standardized protocol for interoperability across vehicles is very well poised to be the solution. A good summarization of the case for charging infrastructure for self-owned vehicles is the exhibit below:

S340 charging options

The S340 is no different from other self-owned vehicles and we are underway building a ubiquitous plugged-in charging infrastructure. The S340 is equipped with a powerful on-board charger that lets it draw power from any wall socket. Adding to the functionality of home charging, we are also setting up fast DC charging infrastructure in every city we launch. This will not only let users charge the vehicles at high charging speeds, but will also ensure that everyone has access to charging locations. You’ll hear from us on this when we roll it out.

The government, we understand, is already finalizing plans for building a swapping network for public vehicles and that’s great news. We’re chasing the goal to make every commute electric and the role government plays in spurring demand by obviating the worries on charging infrastructure for all vehicles. Expect an update on our views once the FAME policy is redrafted by NITI Aayog later this year.

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