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Europe's First Electric Car Battery Switch Station

The complaints about electric cars really just boil down to two persistent talking points: a) they're too expensive and b) they limit mobility. There are other gripes, sure, but none that get anywhere near the amount of headline space. Yet EVs are beginning to look more practical (helped along by government subsidies and rising gas prices), and companies like Better Place are working on increasing their range and versatility.

Last week, Better Place opened the first battery switch station in Europe (there's currently some up and running in Israel). The station, located outside of Copenhagen, Denmark, allows drivers who own electric cars with interchangeable batteries to stop in and swap them out when they're low on a charge. I swung by to check it out, and to test drive the Renault Fluence Z.E. -- the first EV to be mass produced with a switchable battery.

Battery switching is an intriguing attempt to quell concerns about EV range limitations. There are obvious hurdles: primarily, cost. And as Linnet notes, changing stations are a part of a cruel "chicken or the egg" scenario -- people have to be driving EVs with interchangeable batteries for switch stations to be useful, but nobody's going to pay extra for such technology until ample switch stations exist.

Thankfully, Denmark's government is willing to help encourage EV sales -- right now, taxes on conventional cars make them three times as expensive as the sticker price. The government plans on waiving those taxes for EV purchases. And it's primarily thanks to government interest that such a promising project -- this collaboration between Renault and Better Places -- can get a full scale trial here in Europe. And it's another good argument in favor of Denmark-ification.