Tesla Unveils 90 Second Swap-Out Battery
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN commenters cite it as evidence that Tesla once built and demoed battery swapping, usually when discussing why the idea was abandoned and whether swapping makes sense for EVs.
Recommended by 0 people across 0 different months, 2019 to 2026.
What it is
A short Associated Press news clip from June 2013 showing Tesla demonstrating a battery-swap station in Southern California. A Model S has its battery pack removed and replaced with a charged one in about 90 seconds.
What people said
Cites icebraining · 2019-06 · Hacker News · on “We Could Have Had Electric Cars from the Beginning”
Tesla already built a Model S with a swappable battery packs, plus a robot that could swap them in 90 seconds: [this video] They have given up on that, and there are certainly some problems with the model (for example, what if you own the battery, and they replace it with one in poorer condition?), but other companies are still pursuing it: [LINK]
Cites zhyder · 2025-08 · Hacker News · on “Toyota is recycling old EV batteries to help power Mazda's production line”
Great points. Re safety, I wasn't imagining the consumer doing it themselves but some robot like ones imagined for whole-battery swapping (e.g. [this video] ); I think any battery swapping only makes sense for batteries you rent rather than own.
Cites AlexandrB · 2026-10 · Hacker News · on “Tesla Roadster”
> Wild that they devoted so much effort to an economically completely infeasible model. If this ships, it will deliver a fraction of what's promised here. My money is on the "flying" version being delayed repeatedly until it's quietly cancelled. Anyone remember the fast battery change stations[1]? [1] [this video]