FORD should get into the battery leasing business

If Ford can design into their new cars, a standard docking system, allowing for easy removal and replacement of battery packs, and works out a deal with participating service stations. This allows for fast cross country travel. Imagine being able to use an EV with existing lithium ion battery pack, and drive it all the way across the country.

New cars purchased by drivers will have a lease agreement and include in their monthly payments a leasing cost, then the cost of the car can go down significantly. FORD will have to first build an inventory of these batteries to seed participating service stations with enough of them to provide their traveling customers with a replacement.

Scenario.... a motorist, with an almost-dead battery pulls into a service station... the attendants drop the battery pack, replaces it with a new one, driver pays a reasonable fee, and drives off. The dead battery is taken back and connected to a solar array, steam generator (powered by the sun), and charged up for the next motorist that comes in for a replacement.

I do not know how easy it is to replace existing batteries in the new ford ALL electric car, but the next model should have a standard docking system...

In fact, FORD should sponsor an EV summit - invite other car makers to get together and agree on the size, dimensions, and other physical characteristics for this "docking" system.... all new cars should be mandated to fit in standard battery packs. It is too bad this mandate wasn't part of the conditions of the Stimulus.

OK, so if this seems unreachable (which I disagree), then FORD should contact http://fastcapsystems.com, and work with these people on their new ultra-capacitor storage system.... you can charge these babies in less time it takes to fill up with that nasty stuff called gasoline. These people expect to have one of these ready in a few years time. FORD should wake up and contact these guys. By the time the new EV is ready, these guys will have a system working that can power it for more then 300 miles, and charge it in less time to fill a normal car....

But then, will the oil companies allow this? That is the question.... how much freedom does FORD have?

Regards
John
http://ecoviso.com <-- site not up yet.

What is EcoViso.com exactly?

There is a company talking about swapping battery packs in smaller countires, but here in the US it seems hard to manage - you need a swapping station every 100 miles along every stretch of highway for the Ford Focus Electric to get a new pack swapped in! That's no small feat!

In Israel, Better Place is attempting this, but it's a small country without many long stretches of highway without cities on it.

But think about this: If everyone that drove a Ford Focus Electric happened to drive the same stretch of highway and need a battery pack, the swapping station would need hundreds of packs charged and ready to go. That's unrealistic. Instead, maybe they would have 10, 20, or maybe even 30 packs in their cycle. However, then there's no gaurantee as a Ford Focus Electric, Nissan Leaf, or other electric vehicle driver that the station will have a pack available to swap in. So you may end up sitting there waiting for a pack to charge - which brings us full circle back to just waiting for your own pack to charge.

If all electric vehicles were mandated to use the same battery pack, then where's the competition or motivation to improve battery pack performance? Basically all electric vehicles, including the Ford Focus Electric, would start at the same point - with the same potential for energy storage. There would be no incentive to try and improve - it would kill competition amongst the manufacturers.

Sounds like a good idea as electric cars like the focus ev become increasingly prominate. We'll be seeing more of the; i forget the exact name. The drive up restaurants that you charge your car at while you eat. fast travel over long distances is great and this would be prudent in allowing people in their ford focus electric get long distances fast, but they still need to eat and hopefully sleep!

Great concept ford focus electric forum. Lots of good thinkers here.