There was quite a lot of fanfare when Tesla first demonstrated its battery swap technology awhile back, but that doesn’t seem to have translated to the approach being more practical than it is, especially when you consider that Tesla seems to have now shut down the battery swap facility near the Harris Ranch Supercharger in Coalinga, California.
While there have been no official announcements on the subject, you wouldn’t expect that there would be, would you? Given that the Supercharger and destination charger network strategy seems to be working quite well, and is relatively cheap for the company, I would guess that battery swapping is now seen as an unnecessarily complicated approach — or that people just didn’t seem to have enough interest.
For consumer use, it could probably make sense in some fleet applications, but seems to have been a turnoff to normal drivers.
Teslarati provides more: “The news comes from a Tesla owner who had been following the development of the battery swap station off Interstate 5 (I-5) since its first debut. … Since experiencing the battery swap last July, ‘TeslaOwner’ tells us that the same station has remained relatively quiet and ‘looked quite closed’ each time they’ve driven by the station which appeared to have no activity’.”
Continuing: “This prompted them to inquire with Tesla about scheduling an appointment for another battery swap. According to ‘TeslaOwner’, they received a response from the Service Manager for the battery swap station, indicating that Tesla is no longer taking requests for appointments. ‘Presently the Battery Swap Program is not accepting any new requests for appointments.’ “
A bit ambiguous. But considering all of the information known, it does seem unlikely that Tesla will offer such a service to general consumers again any time within the near future.