To increase the range of a Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV), a lot of ideas have been proposed. A prominent one among them is the Battery swapping methodology or Rapid Battery Interchange (RBI), where standardized batteries can easily be removed from the BEV and replaced with recharged batteries quickly. The feasibility of this methodology has been highly debated and contested.
This paper studies the feasibility of a very popular distribution and maintenance network currently used for LPG distribution in India, to be applied to battery distribution used across different makes and models of BEVs.
In India, 33.6 million households subscribe to LPG Cylinders for domestic cooking usage. These standard sized (14.2Kg) cylinders are refilled and redistributed via multiple public sector and private companies. The paper also focuses on another advantage that can be borrowed from this system, which is the ability of the government to subsidies this resource, allowing quick mass-outreach of the facility, aligning it with the Indian Government’s FAME (Fast Adoption and Manufacture of Electric & Hybrid Vehicles) plan.
LPG distribution model also has challenges common with Battery swapping. The distributer is responsible for safety, installation, supply, maintenance and regulations.
The research focuses on drawing parallels with the existing LPG Cylinder manufacture, distribution and maintenance and finds appropriate applications to a Battery Swapping network.