Comment by joenot443
10 hours ago
Range is frequently noted as a limitation for these vehicles, which is understandable.
In NYC there's a (somewhat informal) swapping economy where riders exchange their dead battery for a charged one. There are city run programs and under-the-table ones which are cheaper and less guaranteed. This is how people will do 12h DoorDash shifts without stopping to charge.
I think it's a pretty interesting idea.
Do you know where I can read more about the battery swapping program? I knew china had some sort of program for EVs but this is news to me.
These[1] are the "official" ones which are actually just in the midst of rollout.
The informal ones don't seem to have much web presence, IIRC they were mostly setup in and around the e-bike shops in lower Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Running the same setup with EVs is a fascinating angle!
[1] https://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/pr2025/install-public-e-bi...
FWIW Taiwan has had an e-scooter battery swap system for a decade; Gogoro
Honda and few other have launched swapable battery vehicles in India too
Gogoro might be useful