Battery swap enabled!! (In beta, per Elon's tweet)

Take that, naysayers!
Yes, Virginia, there is a Battery Swap!

Is this at the Harris Ranch site?
~Larry

I'm tempted to make the cross country run just to try it out... ok, not really, but this is so awesome!

Battery Swap Program to launch next week

Here's the link. It's in beta and it is by invitation only. I wonder how they will judge "demand".

Battery Swap Pilot Program | Blog | Tesla Motors

lol its gonna be in 1 location only.

Doesn't say anything about what happens with your battery pack? I assume its a loan and you need to pick it back up within X time?

tiblot said:

lol its gonna be in 1 location only.

Doesn't say anything about what happens with your battery pack? I assume its a loan and you need to pick it back up within X time?

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Originally, it was said that you could have it shipped to your local service centre if you weren't going back through--don't know if that's still the case.

Anyone receive an invite that lives in that area?

Completely off-topic, but

Larry93535 said:

Take that, naysayers!
Yes, Virginia, there is a Battery Swap!

Click to expand...

I do love the irony that the first negative response in this thread is from someone in Virginia...

Yes Virginia there will be more of these (if demand is proven)

invisik said:

Anyone receive an invite that lives in that area?

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I haven't, but I would love one. I'll be road tripping up that way anyway in early January. I'd be great if I could swing over to the super swapper instead of using the SpC.

How does one sign up? Planning to do that trip next week.

What they should do is when you know you're going on a trip should be able to swap out your original battery pack at your local service center. then you can go driving off on your trip swapping out to random battery packs and then when you get back from the trip you don't have to worry about getting your original battery pack from some random location.

apacheguy said:

I haven't, but I would love one. I'll be road tripping up that way anyway in early January. I'd be great if I could swing over to the super swapper instead of using the SpC.

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Do you think people with "A" batteries will be invited?

We don't yet know the terms of the pilot program for swapping like versions, much less getting a D pack for an A. My guess is that they'll require the invitees to return to Harris Ranch and have their original pack swapped back in within some rather short time frame. It's just speculation, of course, and unenforceable, but...

Emailed ownership and the response was, they don't have any information and to keep an eye out on the website.

Just curious, from previous trips on this same route, I think everyone makes a stop at Harris ranch and tejon. So this only saves one stop. What's the big benefit? 45 minutes to eat at Harris ranch is not a big deal. But stopping for 45 minutes at tejon does not give you such a nice option as Harris ranch restaurant.

From blog "With further automation and refinements on the vehicle side, we are confident that the swap time could be reduced to less than one minute, even with shields"

Does that mean, that swap is not fully automatic at first?

MDK said:

Completely off-topic, but


I do love the irony that the first negative response in this thread is from someone in Virginia...

Yes Virginia there will be more of these (if demand is proven)

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Yay yay yay!

(To balance it with a positive response from Virginia).

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Seattle said:

What they should do is when you know you're going on a trip should be able to swap out your original battery pack at your local service center. then you can go driving off on your trip swapping out to random battery packs and then when you get back from the trip you don't have to worry about getting your original battery pack from some random location.

Click to expand...

Too inconvenient. This needs to be more convenient than a trip to a gas station, or EVs won't take off for Joe the Plumber until we have a 1,000 mile plus battery pack. And that is probably 10-20 years off.

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capt601 said:

Just curious, from previous trips on this same route, I think everyone makes a stop at Harris ranch and tejon. So this only saves one stop. What's the big benefit? 45 minutes to eat at Harris ranch is not a big deal. But stopping for 45 minutes at tejon does not give you such a nice option as Harris ranch restaurant.

Click to expand...

It's a pilot program to test it out and gauge demand. Obviously if Tesla goes forward, the swaps will be in many more locations...probably strictly in California for awhile.

MDK said:

Completely off-topic, but


I do love the irony that the first negative response in this thread is from someone in Virginia...

Click to expand...

Uhh, what negative comment? I didn't see one. I took the "Yes, Virginia" part to be a take off on this famous editorial in the 1897 New York Sun newspaper. Virginia was eight year old Virginia O'Hanlan. See Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

As a futurist, I'm glad to embrace a company that can finally surprise me, year in and year out. Wow....I mean, WOW!