Tesla's Model S Electric Sedan Is Designed for Quick Battery Swaps, Executive Says

Tesla Motors' forthcoming all-electric Model S sedan (pictured) has been designed so that its battery pack can be switched with a fresh battery pack in five minutes or less, the company's outgoing director of vehicle engineering and manufacturing said in an interview today.

Speaking with Green Car Advisor shortly after his resignation was announced, Michael Donoughe said the plug-in electric vehicle has been designed in such a way that its lithium-ion battery pack can be removed and replaced with another one in the amount of time it takes to fill the gas tank of a standard automobile.

"When you install the battery pack for vehicle assembly and when you're running at line speed, you have to do it in a fairly quick fashion," Donoughe said. "So you design for manufacturing and assembly, and as long as you're designing for manufacturing and assembly you can also design for manufacturing, assembly and swap. That's basically what we're looking to do."

Telsa, he said, is looking to ramp up quickly once the zero-emissions Model S enters production, which is still on target for late 2011. Six months from assembly of the first Model S, Tesla expects to be producing 400 a week, or roughly 20,000 annually, he said.

Tesla spokeswoman Rachel Konrad said today that the company has already received more than 1,600 reservations for the Model S, including one from Donoughe.

Due to the equipment required, Donoughe said the company does not envision Model S owners performing battery swaps themselves, but rather the company foresees an infrastructure that permits it.

An infrastructure of charging stations such as the one advocated by Shai Agassi, founder and CEO of Better Place, we asked, referring to the Palo Alto, California, company that has contracts with governments around the world to build and operate battery-swapping stations for electric vehicles.

"It's not at all wedded to Better Place," Donoughe said of the Model S battery pack. "That's not to say it can't be, but it's not necessarily done with them in mind."

Agassi had previously told Green Car Advisor that he's met with Tesla personnel about his battery-swapping business, and Tesla's decision to design the Model S for quick battery swaps might well be the result of those discussions.

Clearly, Tesla is concerned about how it's going to sell its plug-in electric vehicles in volume if there isn't an infrastructure in place to allow EV owners to charge their vehicles away from  home. Making cars that are amenable to battery swaps partially addresses that concern.

A charger that allows the installed battery pack to be fully charged rapidly is another partial solution, and clearly Tesla is aware of it. Donoughe said the Model S, which will have a range of 300 miles between charges, can be charged in as little as 45 minutes using a 480-volt system.

Like the battery-swap system, this one is not intended for home use but rather for rapid refilling elsewhere. The car will also be chargeable using 110-volt and 240-volt systems.

As Donoughe put it, which comes first, the chicken or the egg -- electric vehicles or the infrastructure that supports them?

Clearly, Tesla's engineers and designers are taking steps so that the owner and prospective owner of a Tesla electric vehicle doesn't feel that he has only one egg in the basket when it comes to refueling options.

Posted by

Scott Doggett September 24, 2009, 2:30 PM

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Batteries, Emissions, Fuel Economy, Plug-ins and Electric, Tesla

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