Investigating the potential of a battery swapping method at refuel stations for electric vehicle: A case study of INDIA

Abstract

Electric vehicles (EVs) are introduced to mitigate environmental problems and develop sustainable modes of transport across the globe. Researchers often report that the non-availability of charging infrastructure is the primary concern for EV adoption. The traditional plug-in EV charging method has a higher waiting time, discouraging users from adopting EVs. Many countries, including India, are promoting an alternative battery swapping method (BSM) for EV charging to reduce the waiting time. But the user preference and willingness to adopt BSM remain unexplored, especially in developing countries. The existing refuel stations are a potential location for developing charging infrastructure that provides the EV charging service and helps create awareness among users because of their wide visibility. Thus, this study aims to bridge the research gap by exploring the influential factors, user preferences, and willingness to use the BSM at refuel stations. For this purpose, 1013 samples were collected from road users who visited 51 refueling stations using the random sampling method in the twin cities of Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar. An integrated partial least squares-structural equation modelling with the artificial neural network method was adopted in this study. The study’s findings reveal that the development of public EV charging facilities at refuel stations significantly impacts the user’s willingness to shift to EVs. The convenience and cost-related motivating factors like a lesser waiting time compared to the plug-in charging method, reduced range anxiety, no concern about battery usage, reduced initial purchase cost of an EV, and comparatively lower maintenance costs significantly motivates user’s willingness to adopt BSM. Similarly, battery-related demotivating factors like the non-reliable range of the swapped battery, non-standard battery design in terms of type, size, capacity, and brand across the country, additional cost for leasing or renting the battery, and chances that EV batteries might be replaced with fake batteries concern BSM adoption.