US electric car battery swap operation Better Place went under earlier this year having ploughed through $850 million of investment funding. The operation was highly dependent upon Renault integrating its battery swapping technology into future electric vehicles after an initial agreement between the two parties. Many believe that it was Renault’s decision not to take on this technology in the longer term which eventually led to the company’s demise.
It is debatable whether or not Renault was right to ditch this battery swapping technology although when you bear in mind the ongoing developments in battery charging technology, and the enormous time reductions, perhaps this is a move which will prove to have been correct.