batteryswap
Electronic Drone or Wheeled Autonomous Device Battery Swapping
So with some American electronics designers, I'm thinking of designing an open source drone around such a swappable battery as a start, and maybe gradually expanding and spreading the battery swapping standard to other electronics or machinery across the us: lawnmowers, or other electronic equipment.
Most small scale American electronics designers are a bit behind in this regard. Id need to choose which standard first to design it around, so most likely Taiwan, or even China has some battery swapping concepts.
Battery swapping technology, is a concept that depends on three key features.
- The battery must be standardized into various sizes and form factors whether its on a drone, a lawnmower, a robot vacuum, or a scooter or a car.
- Looking back at electronics history, before lithium batteries they used AA or D cell batteries. But once lithium batteries were used, not even manufacturers followed ubited standards if you remember the frustrating situation with cameras and camcorders.
- The battery must be easily removable in a process that allows an easy swap.
- ideally it should be automateable to the point that human intervention is not necessary to handle the battery swap. This would make it possible for drones or autonomous devices to be used in their most useful.
- The battery must be rugged enough to survive sharing in various outdoor conditions. In the US, lime bikes have them encased in heavy metal, but lyft bikes only use plastic.
One of the most successful implementations is Taiwan's Gogoro.
https://network.gogoro.com/tw/en/
https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/06/11/1093465/battery-swap-gogoro-taiwan-earthquake/
Also lime scooters implement such a system with their battery packs in the US.
However neither battery system functions as a standard beyond their specific design platform. It would be hard to rent a gogoro battery to charge your laptop, and there isn't much other machinery that works with gogoro batteries.
Of course such a standard does not have to be newly invented, it should be obtained off the shelf. In China some manufacturers already use battery swapping technology.
https://www.catl.com/en/news/6342.html
https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/battery-swapping-stations-catl-china
Applications of a Manual Battery Swapping System around a standard
In the US, a gogoro or compatible battery could be dropped off at a worksite to power tools or autonomous machines designed to work with that standard. Such as conventional AC plugs, or better yet DC plugs, or even machinery designed to plug into that single Gogoro or compatible battery standard.
https://www.gogoro.com/smart-energy/gocharger-mobile/
You can even use the gogoro battery to charge a phone or laptop via USB, or other conventional AC plug in power tools.
In a pinch, the entire standard battery can be itself used as a generator, an alternative to gas generators.
https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/06/11/1093465/battery-swap-gogoro-taiwan-earthquake/
This would significantly reduce logistical problems of electronics at a construction or maintenance job site. If a battery runs out or goes bad, just get another one off the shelf and it will charge up or be replaced later, instead of waiting for it to charge or get a replacement. You don't have to buy 50 different sorts of batteries for your electronics or machines.
If the theory is proven even further, it could be placed wherever car batteries are sold for the general customer base akin to how Gogoro battery stands now prevalent across Taiwan.
Theoretical Applications of an Autonomous Battery Swapping System
The first step would be to build a demonstration of an electronic item that would be designed specifically to do the battery swap. A small customizable wheeled drone or a flying drone could be a good one, adapting open source designs.
https://docs.px4.io/main/en/frames_multicopter/diy_builds
The next step is to spread the standard. One strategy is to promote the wheeled drone or flying drone as an open source 3D printable design that can be easily modified, to spread the concept, because the industry is lacking good open source designs that can be made with off the shelf and 3D printed parts, let alone parts claiming to be US made. (typically, the electronic components or CPUs are the limiting factor).
Another approach is to modify existing autonomous machines to fit the battery swapping standard.
Home vacuums could be a known good product to add autoswapping battery packs to, though home charging stands are common in a house.
More likely, autonomous lawnmowers in large parks or small excavators would be a good one in the US since they have to cover a longer range and could benefit from battery swapping out in fields where chargers are fewer.