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Remember hearing about battery swapping for electric cars? Turns out it's an old concept (over 100 years old) and now it's back for real in China, https://www.motortrend.com/news/should-electric-car-charging-stations-include-quick-battery-swapping [motortrend.com]

The batteries are modular and come in different chemistries (different capacity). Among other things, the author (from California) wrote:

Batteries that are regularly charged at level-2 rates to 90ish percent should last longer than those that are frequently fast-charged. Each battery has a digital twin in the cloud, and when monitoring detects bad cells or modules, they can be replaced while out of the car, extending the pack’s useful life. When usable capacity drops below 80 percent of new, a pack can be reassigned to non-EV use. When drivers use a lighter commuting-sized battery most of the time, they use less energy to operate and generate less wear on the tires and brakes.

What exactly changed my mind on swapping? My Shanghai adventure proved China’s auto industry is miles ahead of ours. It seems to me that to be at all competitive in the global market, we need to quickly overcome buyers’ reluctance to electrify and up our collective EV game. It also seems like high time “the west” teams up to fight off this Chinese threat, and an automaker/energy-industry collaboration on a battery-swapping ecosystem that ends buyers’ battery-life worries while delivering gas-station refueling convenience—all at gas-vehicle operating cost parity—looks like the quickest way to get there.

Part of the reason the swap is fast is that the batteries are air cooled, no hoses to connect. This also limits power for extended periods, but nothing was mentioned about getting to the top of a long hill...

I'm still dubious of this for my northern climate--can this work when cars are crusted with road salt & ice in the winter?

The batteries look cute in pictures, they call then "choco" because they look like squares of chocolate.

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