Jason ThorneMar 31, 2024
On-street battery-swapping station for electric scooters in Taipei. Rather than plug-in and wait, you can just swap your low battery for a charged one … and go. #climatechange #ev
Show threadMichael GemarMar 31, 2024

@JasonThorne @Tooden Pretty brilliant to have standardized batteries — presumably one could have different firm factors if vehicles (like cargo bikes) all powered by the same system.

The downside is that presumably one doesn’t *own* the battery.

Show threadJaime VisserApr 1, 2024
@michaelgemar @JasonThorne @Tooden not owning the battery also makes your vehicle immune to battery degradation. It's up to the swap service to replace bad batteries in their fleet.
Show threadpartyp00per
@jaimevisser @michaelgemar @JasonThorne @Tooden nothing is free, you would be paying for it via cost of battery rental being higher.
Apr 1, 2024 at 5:06amWeb
Show threadDavid Chisnall (*Now with 50% more sarcasm!*)Apr 1, 2024
@partyp00er @jaimevisser @michaelgemar @JasonThorne @Tooden I would expect it to be more expensive on average, but much more predictable. Batteries don’t wear out evenly. Some will last for ages, some will fail early. I’ve had laptop batteries that were fine for 10 years and others that died after six months. With a rental scheme, that’s factored in: when a battery stops holding charge, it’s sent for recycling and everyone pays a markup relative to the average cost. If you buy, you may be very lucky, very unlucky, or somewhere in the middle.