The first public trial of a system that “refills” electric cars in minutes will be launched this month. The Californian company Better Place will test its automated battery-swap stations in Tokyo.
It is the latest element in the company's ambitious plans to build the world's first infrastructure networks for electric cars by the start of next year.
Globally, road vehicles generate around a fifth of carbon dioxide emissions. The figure is the same for the U.K. According to a study for the country's Department for Transport, widespread adoption of electric vehicles with a range of 48 km or more could halve road transport emissions.
One of the biggest challenges, however, to the large-scale implementation of electric cars is the problem of infrastructure for recharging.
Better Place has come up with a model which involves building networks of charging points and battery-switch stations. At these a robotic mechanism will swap the empty battery in a car for a fully charged one. This means electric cars can be “refilled” in minutes, rather than taking several hours to charge their batteries.
On April 26 in Tokyo, Better Place will begin the first public trial of its battery-switching stations.— © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2010
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