Battery swapping or battery-as-a-service allows EV owners to replace the discharged batteries with charged ones at the swap stations. When the battery is discharged, the owner can change it with a fully charged one.
Battery Swapping can help EV owners save the cost of purchasing a battery by separating battery ownership. It reduces down-time and acquisition cost of a vehicle as the customer pays only for the energy. The service is less time consuming and takes only a few minutes compared to charging at a battery station which could take hours. It also requires minimum infrastructure. Also it reduces risks arising from attempted charging of EVs / batteries at home or in uncontrolled environments. Thus providing a pathway to accelerate the “Vision for Electric Mobility”. It is expected that battery swapping can drive additional 30% EV adoption and reduce carbon emission by 38 million tons through 2030. Hence helping in achieving India’s Net-Zero goals.
Lastly it provides a way to reduce Lithium and Oil Imports. Battery swapping increases asset utilisation and encourages use of long-life batteries. By supporting 12 million EVs, the battery swap model could reduce oil imports by $36 Bn. The combination of 2x increase in utilisation of the battery and 3x increase in battery life by the battery swap model could give a 6x reduction in lithium import.