How do you recharge an electric vehicle in 59 seconds? Simple. You swap out the battery. Tokyo’s largest taxi company has been testing a rather surprising and innovative method of extending the range on their electric fleet: swapping out the battery. Makes sense really, if you think about it.
I should qualify that, it makes sense for fleet vehicles. Perhaps with a redesign and a giant socket in the trunk for the worlds largest AA battery, but the current technology certainly isn’t set up for a quick change. TreeHugger reported on all the gory details, and the end result is until battery technology matures to the point where we’re able to get better distance out of a cell, this may be what the future holds.