what happens down the line with battery improvements?

K

kavade

New Member
I'd be interested to hear any opinions about battery tech improving. Not just "Will it?" but mostly I'm wondering if
replacing batteries made recently with improved batteries that seem sure to show up in the near future, would be
possible. I read an article about the Chevy Equinox EV in which a company exec said that replacing the battery
system in that vehicle would be easy when tech improves. If I buy an Equinox now, with a 300 mile range, if a battery comes
along in the future with a 500 mile range, would replacement be possible ? I suppose it would depend on the future battery
configuration, and business rights, but in general does that look doable?

Any opinions out there? I'm at sea when it comes to things like this so would appreciate any educated input.
 
There's a lot of considerations with new potential battery tech. let's take a look at lead-acid vs lithium ion as an example of the past upgrade/update.

The charging voltages are different
The drain/consumption curve is way different, voltage-wise
the float and maintenance of the battery is different.
the bms is different (or non existent)

So, assuming it's just a battery bank, those controllers and monitors and charging kit needs to match with any potential technology change.
If it's truly hot-swappable, all that kit would need to either be backwards-compatible or the entire assembly would need to be swapped, and that means significantly higher costs, but would mean higher compatibility.
 
I am not a battery expert, however, I have watched a lot of pack replacements and disassemblies on Youtube, so yes it is possible. Whether it would be more cost effective than simply trading in the vehicle for the desired pack capabilities, is a different question.

+1 on the response from @brianc35. My understanding is that the degree of difficulty is much lower to replace a pack with another one from the same manufacturer so the size, communications with the vehicle display, interactions with the inverters and control modules (different systems are used by different manufacturers), etc. are more likely to be compatible, that said the Ultium battery in the Equinox is very different from the battery in the Silverado. If one is looking for examples, a Chevrolet example would be the Bolt EV recall that simply replaced a 60 kWh battery pack with a 66 kWh battery pack as documented on the newscoulomb Youtube channel (link to the first on many of his videos on the topic) The Out of Spec Renew Youtube channel has replaced Tesla 85 kWh packs with a Tesla 100 kWh pack in an older model S (link here) .
 
The traction battery pack consists of cells, battery management, and technical interface bus. Although I have no doubt there will be better chemistry and cells in the future, the battery pack is the assembled system.

My only hope is today’s cell elements will have a future as recycled, material. Just the 2019 NCA chemistry was known to age to an end of life state.

Bob Wilson
 
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