Anicet Mbida 06:54, February 10, 2022

Every day, Anicet Mbida makes us discover an innovation that could well change the way we consume.

This Thursday, he is interested in a solution that could facilitate the transition to electric vehicles.

The startup Zeway offers to exchange its battery rather than recharging it, a considerable time saver for users.

A small idea is making its way to simplify life when you have an electric vehicle: swapping your battery rather than recharging it.

It's stupid: instead of waiting 4 to 6 hours to recharge the battery.

We come to a milestone.

We remove our empty batteries, replace them with new full ones, and we leave.

It takes less than five minutes, as fast as filling up a gas tank.

This system already works in several countries for electric scooters.

In Paris, for example, it is the startup Zeway that offers it.

It has installed battery exchange terminals in a whole series of local shops (supermarkets, shops, service stations, etc.).

Simply slide the empty battery into the terminal to retrieve a full one.

Which, in the city, is more practical than depending on charging stations.

This is interesting on a scooter where the battery is quite small.

But I guess it's harder to imagine on a car...

It's true.

But only because car batteries are not standardized.

On motorcycles, for example, the biggest manufacturers (Honda, Yamaha, Piaggio, etc.) have just agreed on a common battery format.

In particular to be able to exchange them more easily.

The same principle could be imagined on bicycles.

As for cars, you should know that Tesla offered a battery exchange service a few years ago.

But he preferred to develop his network of superchargers.

Today, startups like Ample or CATL are taking over.

We drive the car into an automated station.

And a robotic system will remove the empty batteries and replace them with full batteries.

But, for the moment, this remains limited to a few specific models, precisely because the batteries are all different.

Could we imagine a standardization like on scooters?

I do not think so.

Because, on the latest cars, the battery is directly integrated into the chassis.

On the other hand, one could imagine a small removable battery (on the principle of the spare wheel), which would provide about fifty kilometers of autonomy.

This one could then easily be exchanged.