New Delhi: It will take years for swappable batteries to become a widely-used option for electric vehicles till such vehicles are built on dedicated platforms, especially passenger vehicles, believes Shailesh Chandra, president of electric mobility business at Tata Motors Ltd.
A dedicated platform for an electric vehicle is when these vehicles are built on their own platforms and not transformed from petrol-engine platform vehicle.
Currently, electric vehicles that are offered by automakers such as Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd's eVerito, or Tata Motors' Tiago, Tigor and new Nexon EV are all transformed from their ICE engine platforms.
In swappable batteries, Chandra said, the connectors will have to be plugged and connected again, therefore, there is durability and safety issue.
"When we transition to dedicated electric vehicles, there might be a possibility, but I don't see that coming in for another four to five years," he said.
This comes at a time when some stake holders believe that swappable batteries will drastically cut the time needed to charge the batteries and will enable faster adoption of electric vehicles.
Some companies that are working towards swappable batteries are Bengaluru-based Sun Mobility, Gurgaon-based Exicom Power Solutions and 22 Kymco, an alliance between startup Twenty Two Motors Pvt Ltd and Taiwan's Kymco Global.
