India's First Battery-Swapping Station For Electric Cars Revealed
So far, we have seen a number of electric two-wheelers in India with battery-swapping capabilities. However, have you heard of India's first electric car which is going to offer battery swapping? Well, today you are in luck because we will be showing how battery swapping in an electric car will work in real life. We are talking about the Blinq Mobility electric car, which is currently undergoing development and will become the first affordable electric car in India with battery-swapping capabilities.
The video showing how battery swapping will actually work in an electric car has been shared on YouTube by Blinq Mobility on their official channel. It starts off with the Blinq Mobility EV prototype, the Car1, driving on the road with a low battery. Soon after, the large touchscreen infotainment system of this vehicle shows a low-battery warning with options of “Dismiss” and “Navigate To Station”.
Following this, the driver clicks the Navigate to Station button and gets the location on the map to the nearest battery-swapping station of Blinq Mobility. Soon after, the vehicle enters the battery-swapping station, where the driver turns the drive mode selector to the “S” or “Swapping” mode. We can then note that the vehicle gets clamped into the spot, with two clamps locking the wheels of this prototype.
The video then shows the old depleted battery getting replaced by a new battery pack. The video then shows how the battery swapping actually takes place. It shows that after engaging the battery-swapping mode, the ORVMs get electronically folded and the main contactor gets opened, after which the battery gets isolated and it becomes safe to remove.
We can note that when this happens, the LED headlights and the DRLs turn off. After this, the vehicle gets aligned with precision lasers to make sure that the swap happens very smoothly. We can note that the vehicle first gets lifted and its primary battery pack gets disconnected and removed, following which a fully charged battery pack then slides in and gets connected to the vehicle.
Moving ahead, the new battery gets docked, and the vehicle is dropped down after all safety checks are done. The Blinq logo and the LED headlights and DRLs turn on, and the vehicle drives off the battery-swapping station ramp. The video shows that, in the central touchscreen infotainment system, it states that the charge on the battery is 100 percent and the vehicle has a range of 252 km. Additionally, it mentions that the battery swapping took only 2 minutes and 48 seconds.
For those who may not be aware, Blinq Mobility is an EV startup based out of Gurugram, Haryana. The company was founded by Nikesh Bisht, who is an IIT Delhi alumnus and former CTO of Vecmocon Technologies. The startup is currently focused on solving some of the biggest problems associated with electric vehicles. These include long charging times and high ownership costs.
Apart from Nikesh Bisht, the company also has Ankit Kumar as its CTO, who previously worked at Tesla and was involved in projects such as the Cybertruck and Robotaxi. The startup has been working on its first electric vehicle, called the Car1, for quite some time now. Earlier, this vehicle was internally known as the Pod.
However, the company has now named it Car1 during its development phase. Unlike most electric cars currently available in the market, the Blinq EV has been designed from the ground up around battery-swapping technology. The company believes that this approach will help eliminate charging downtime and make electric vehicles more practical for daily usage.
What's more interesting is that Blinq Mobility is planning to launch this EV at a price similar to that of a three-wheeler. The vehicle has been specifically designed as a compact city car and will come with small dimensions, which will make it easier to drive through crowded urban roads.
At the moment, the company has not revealed details regarding the battery pack, electric motor, or range of the production-spec model. However, Blinq is currently carrying out extensive road testing and is expected to start pilot programs with selected early customers before the official launch.