modular battery idea

Jconacarl

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My dream Cybertruck configuration would have 8 removable modular units of LFP chemistry that each function as a 1/2 capacity Powerwall. This would allow owners to be able to offload ~ 56 kWh of battery, all together over 1,000 pounds worth, so their truck could do light duty work without all that dead weight for most of their day to day use. When making long trips, or medium towing trips, etc which are edge case needs for most, only ~5% of their truck's use, owner's Cybertruck would still have their back.

These would have a manageable weight so a single person could dolly them around their property to set them up for home use, and preferably monetize them in a grid servicing virtual power plant setup. Just stating the obvious, batteries have a significant ecological footprint built into their material and manufacture, and should be available to be optimally used to help our grid more quickly transition to renewable generation.

These eight half capacity power packs would give the Cybertruck owner great flexibility to use and make money with their battery assets as they choose. They could be shared around strengthening our community and allowing those who struggle to afford the 500+ mile Cybertruck to borrow-up when circumstances require a temporary upgrade. Trucks need suspensions made to handle variable loads anyway, so adding this to the suspension's lower end is just a doable part of the engineering challenge of enabling these plug and play removable battery modules to be incorporated into the overall battery pack.

Giving consumers this flexibility would be a huge driver of increased demand for this Cybertruck, leaping over the F-150's vehicle to load innovations. If Tesla's goal is to accelerate our sustainable transition and to give us increased resilience against climate disruptions this seems like a no brainer, worthy of the extra engineering challenges.
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Jhodgesatmb

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My dream Cybertruck configuration would have 8 removable modular units of LFP chemistry that each function as a 1/2 capacity Powerwall. This would allow owners to be able to offload ~ 56 kWh of battery, all together over 1,000 pounds worth, so their truck could do light duty work without all that dead weight for most of their day to day use. When making long trips, or medium towing trips, etc which are edge case needs for most, only ~5% of their truck's use, owner's Cybertruck would still have their back.

These would have a manageable weight so a single person could dolly them around their property to set them up for home use, and preferably monetize them in a grid servicing virtual power plant setup. Just stating the obvious, batteries have a significant ecological footprint built into their material and manufacture, and should be available to be optimally used to help our grid more quickly transition to renewable generation.

These eight half capacity power packs would give the Cybertruck owner great flexibility to use and make money with their battery assets as they choose. They could be shared around strengthening our community and allowing those who struggle to afford the 500+ mile Cybertruck to borrow-up when circumstances require a temporary upgrade. Trucks need suspensions made to handle variable loads anyway, so adding this to the suspension's lower end is just a doable part of the engineering challenge of enabling these plug and play removable battery modules to be incorporated into the overall battery pack.

Giving consumers this flexibility would be a huge driver of increased demand for this Cybertruck, leaping over the F-150's vehicle to load innovations. If Tesla's goal is to accelerate our sustainable transition and to give us increased resilience against climate disruptions this seems like a no brainer, worthy of the extra engineering challenges.
Making modular batteries has proven to add a lot of weight and would reduce payload and range. Add that to the already added weight and reduced range and performance of LFP butteries. It may work for your situation but probably not for a lot of people. I suggest getting a dual motor and hoping for faster charging and more chargers for trips.
 

Crissa

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Also, modular units cap your peak power output because of load balancing issues from im-balanced cell age.

You'd have a heavier, weaker truck carrying the packs around as cargo, either leaving you with weird gaps in you chassis or taking up cargo space. And how would you move 300 lb battery segments?

Yes, a lighter vehicle and not carrying them around on grocery runs would be better. But there are trade-offs.

-Crissa
 

BayouCityBob

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This is a good idea. The easiest way to implement it is to follow Nio's market-proven swap station approach. Essentially, you can have a (for example) 80 kwh battery in your truck all the time but you can go to a service center and rent a long-range battery when you need one for a special circumstance. The swap process takes a few minutes.

This approach side-steps the other problems described above. You are just renting a large capacity pack when you need it and then swapping back to a normal capacity for every day. It is technically feasible with the Nio system today.
 

Crissa

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It doesn't side-step the problem of carrying the battery like cargo, losing space to the larger battery you're not carrying around, and dealing with the cooling loop like CyberGus pointed out.

And then you have the problem of needing alot more batteries for the same number of vehicles on the road.

-Crissa
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