Standardisation in Battery Swapping: Balancing Innovation and Interoperability

As EVs rise in popularity, battery-swapping technology is the need of the hour to solve some of the major issues of EV adoption, like range anxiety, long charging times, and higher upfront TCO. 

Battery Swapping allows drivers to replace a depleted battery with a fully charged one in mere minutes. This reduces the downtime by a huge percentage compared to traditional charging. In India, the EV market is still in its infancy. The success of the battery-swapping network depends on Standardisation. Along with innovation in battery technology, compatibility or interoperability across vehicles and battery swapping stations is also crucial for widespread adoption. 

The total E2W sold in 2023–24 were 910,930 units of electric two-wheelers. Therefore, the infrastructure to support this growth must be in tandem. As mentioned, one of the biggest issues of EV adoption is range anxiety. Traditional charging methods, even with fast chargers, can take up to 30 minutes to several hours, which is inconvenient for individual users and results in loss of business for gig workers. Battery swapping offers a respite from this issue by enabling quick changes at the swapping station. As per research, with battery swapping gig workers can earn up to INR 200-300 more per day. 

Battery swapping also mitigates issues such as high upfront costs for EV buyers, especially fleet owners. Instead of purchasing the battery, the buyers can subscribe to Battery-as-a-Service. This reduces the initial TCO by approximately 40%. So, it is evident that battery swapping is the knight in shining armour for the EV sector. However, the absence of Standardisation is creating roadblocks in rolling out this module at a larger scale. 

The conflict between innovation and interoperability:
Innovation in battery technology is the need of the hour, especially to improve EV performance, cost, and safety. Different brands are working actively on battery innovations and BMS. However, this has also resulted in the lack of uniformity. A battery for one brand may not be compatible with other brands, which will eventually lead to inefficiencies in battery swapping infrastructure. 

Whereas, interoperability, which means the ability of a single battery type to be used across various EV brand models, is important for the economic viability of battery swapping stations. Without this compatibility, swapping stations would need to stock multiple types of batteries. This will lead to operational inefficiencies, complexity, and increased cost. 

Therefore, global Standardisation keeping both innovation and interoperability in mind is important. Here’s why:

1. Physical dimensions and connection: If manufacturers work on universal battery sizes and connection points, different EVs could use the same battery, which is a huge win for battery swapping. 

2. BMS: Battery Management Systems are the lifelines of batteries. A uniform communication protocol between batteries and EV systems can ensure that batteries are efficiently managed across different platforms. 

3. Battery Performance: Standardisation is the need of the hour. While full standardisation of battery chemistry may not be possible in the short term as it is still a new sector, and there is an emphasis on innovation. However, in the long run, some kind of standardisation around battery performance is important for safety standards.

Challenges in industry standardisation:
While standardisation is the way forward for the future of e-mobility, it is still a slightly tall order. As an industry, EVs are still in the nascent stage. There are a few hurdles that need to be taken care of before standardisation in battery swapping:

1. Technology ownership: The idea of developing new tech begets the IP. Manufacturers may be hesitant to adopt uniform standards as they might miss out on the competitive advantages or a differentiating factor from proprietary battery designs. 

2. Regulatory hurdle: Battery swapping standardisation will need governments and regulatory bodies worldwide to work in tandem and align their policies. 

3. Cost of Retrofitting: Many existing EV models are not built for battery swapping, and these would need significant retrofitting to comply with new standards. This adds costs that manufacturers might be reluctant to bear.

Collaboration between technology providers, automakers, and governments is crucial to achieving the necessary balance between innovation and standardisation in battery swapping. Policymakers need to lead efforts to establish global standards, while manufacturers need to view interoperability as an opportunity rather than a limitation.

- Pritesh Talwar, President, Mooving