Changing batteries for 5 minutes – swap stations for heavy duty EVs (VIDEO)

Western automakers have yet to embrace battery swapping technologies but over in China, many local companies are going all-in on battery swapping. Pioneering the technology is Nio and more recently, Geely, has also jumped on the bandwagon, announcing plans to establish 5,000 battery swapping stations across China by 2025.

While the majority of these battery swap stations will be designed for Geely’s consumer-oriented electric vehicles, the company hasn’t forgotten about large trucks used in construction and logistics services, recently establishing a large swapping station for cement mixers.

There are a few key differences between a battery swap station for a cement mixer and one for a small SUV. For example, Geely’s normal stations lift up a car and proceed to remove the battery pack from the floor. By comparison, the battery pack of the cement trucks produced by Geely is positioned directly behind the cab and can be easily picked up and removed once the truck rolls into the station. Given that the battery itself weighs 3.2 tonnes and offers 280 kWh of capacity, seeing the system in action is quite a sight to behold.

Truckers using the service simply need to use wheel guides to ensure the truck is located correctly in the station. They then present a QR code before the service starts. It takes just 5 minutes for the old battery to be removed and replaced with a new one.

It is understood that a single one of these stations stores 8 battery packs at a time and as soon as they are removed, they are recharged to 100 per cent in just 1 hour. A station like this can apparently support up to 50 trucks.

Source: carscoops.com

Photo: PrintScreen (YouTube/ChinaUNCUT)