I don’t think a subscription would quite work for this. Somebody traveling 10k a month isn’t going to consume the same amount of batteries as someone who’s commuting 1 mile away each day. I certainly wouldn’t want to pay the same amount. Kind of an all you can eat shrimp situation, if you will
Comment on EV battery swaps will be tested with the Fiat 500e in 2024
OldWoodFrame@lemm.ee 9 months agoHas to be a subscription or a per-swap fee. Probably subscription to account for the degradation point.
But, you essentially have a subscription for car energy now, you probably pay weekly for gasoline. If they can make it competitive to that I think they have a shot. Say $50/week in gas, means $200/month…seems like that could be profitable. And at least some of the money goes all to the car company, not a million different GA stations, which is a good incentive for them to try to make it work.
alphapuggle@programming.dev 9 months ago
DreadPotato@sopuli.xyz 9 months ago
$200/month to drive an EV is really expensive though. I drive 35.000km/year and pay around $70/month in electricity for the car.
Blackmist@feddit.uk 9 months ago
I assume they wouldn’t have as big an upfront cost on the car though, since they never actually buy the batteries.
DreadPotato@sopuli.xyz 9 months ago
If you look at prices for something like the Nio cars without the battery here in Europe, they’re hardly competitive with regular EVs. The price saving is substantially less than a battery replacement.
Blackmist@feddit.uk 9 months ago
Yeah, I mean I don’t think it’s a particularly viable plan overall. A lease for a Nissan Leaf is what? £300 a month?
But Americans seem convinced that they drive coast to coast on a regular basis, so an electric car will never do. I can see who they’re trying to appeal to, although 99% of electric car use would be covered by a charger at home.