Battery Swapping: The Next Big Trend in the EV Space
The Electric Vehicles (EV) sector is still evolving in our country and both Government and EV manufacturers are making rigorous efforts to accelerate mass EV adoption. With a good mix of progressive policies and disruptive tech, India is surely on its way to mass e-mobility. One such recent trend that is set to be a gamechanger in the EV ecosystem is ‘Battery Swapping’. In this blog, we will explore what battery swapping exactly is, what steps Government and private players have taken to leverage it and how is battery swapping technology going to be the next big trend in the EV space.
What is battery swapping?
All EVs are powered by batteries that account for a major part of both the upfront and the maintenance cost of the finished product. This has posed to be a major deterrent in mass EV adoption in India where the consumers are extremely conscious of the upfront cost. Another bottleneck was the dilemma of charging EVs. The absence of charging facilities near residential and commercial neighborhoods also spelled inconvenience for customers and increased range anxiety. Enter Battery Swapping!
Battery Swapping is the simple process of exchanging a discharged battery with a fully charged one. If one owns an EV with a removable battery feature, they no longer have to go through the trouble of searching for charging facilities. They can simply go to their nearest battery-swapping station where they can remove near-empty batteries from their vehicles and swap them for a charged battery of the same configuration. This simple exchange is an effective and efficient method to solve all battery-related issues for EVs. Enabling battery swapping as a service will also reduce costs and enhance convenience for users thereby encouraging more people to switch to EVs.
Government’s battery swapping policy
In the 2022 Budget announcement, our Honorable Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman announced the Government’s plan to introduce an EV battery swapping policy along with interoperability standards. This is a progressive step towards standardizing battery swapping in the country and indicates the Government’s approach for making EVs more mainstream on Indian roads.
For private players who are either into EV manufacturing or the charging space, this policy is excellent news! It encourages the development of sustainable and tech-forward business models to offer ‘Battery as a Service. It also recognizes how revolutionary battery swapping could be to improve the overall efficiency of the EV ecosystem. Currently, we only have approximately 1000 public charging stations in India, and setting up battery swapping stations would be an efficient solution to fill the gap in the EV infrastructure. A single battery swapping center can effectively cater to a larger number of electric vehicles at an affordable cost. When these stations are available for consumers at strategic locations, they can address issues like range anxiety, availability of charging space, and long charging lines. Once the battery swapping policy comes into effect, it will transform both public and private transportation.
Bounce’s battery swapping innovation
At Bounce, we recognize the critical issues related to EV batteries and the absence of charging infrastructure in India. To address this very issue, we launched our latest e-scooter: the Bounce Infinity E1 with a removable battery. The thought behind this innovation was to allow consumers the freedom to choose the way they want to own their e-scooters. When customers buy the E1, they can either buy it with the battery or without it. To support our customers who choose the second option, we introduced the battery as a service model. With this, customers can say goodbye to all battery and charging hassles by simply swapping batteries at our battery swapping stations.
With Infinity E1, our goal is to propagate affordable mobility and by removing the battery out of the equation we have significantly brought down our e-scooter cost. Customers can purchase the Bounce Infinity E1 for as low as INR 45,099 (ex-showroom Delhi). Additionally, they can subscribe to our battery as a service model at a monthly subscription of INR 1,249 or just pay INR 35 for every swap they make. Along with affordability, we are also offering convenience to our customers. They can locate their nearest battery swapping stations on the Bounce app and can easily exchange their discharged batteries. At Bounce, we are close to achieving a milestone of 1 million battery swaps across our current network of 100+ swapping stations.
Bounce is proud to be a pioneer in the battery swapping space and we have plans to grow our network of battery swapping stations. With an investment of USD 100 million, over the next 12 months, we will continue to set up swapping stations across India to fast-track EV adoption.
