The future of mobility – a visit to a battery swap station

Students on the Master’s programme in Engineering and Sustainable Technology Management – Mobility and Automotive Industry at our SRH Campus Berlin had a unique opportunity to glimpse the future of electric mobility. As part of the Future Mobility Concepts course, they visited INFRADianba’s innovative battery swap station at Berlin’s Westhafen, accompanied by Prof. Dr Frank Wolter. 

Founded in 2019, the joint venture between the German infrastructure company InfraMobility and the Chinese battery swap specialist Aulton is bringing Chinese technology to Europe for the first time to test new infrastructure solutions for electric vehicles.

The station impressively demonstrated the potential of state-of-the-art battery swap technology:

• Ultra-fast battery swapping: in just 20 seconds, a flat battery is replaced fully automatically by a charged one – made possible by the use of robotics.
• Global compatibility: Special adapters enable connections between different systems. This brings us closer to a globally standardised charging and swapping infrastructure.
• Wide manufacturer coverage: The system is compatible with vehicles from 16 car brands – thanks to universal battery technology.
• Energy storage and grid connection: In the future, the stations are to be linked with smart grid technologies to create sustainable energy storage solutions.
• Battery-as-a-Service model: Instead of high upfront costs for a vehicle battery, users could flexibly ‘rent’ batteries. This reduces barriers to entry whilst improving the lifecycle management of energy storage systems.

The system is already well established in China: around 30 cities are using Aulton technology. In Europe, however, the concept is still in the pilot phase – partnerships and investors are currently being actively sought.

The students were able to experience the entire process first-hand: from automated handling and storage right through to data analysis. This practical insight not only brought the technical possibilities to life, but also highlighted the challenges surrounding implementation, infrastructure and policy.

This clearly demonstrated what studying at SRH University is all about: combining technology, sustainability and management expertise to actively shape the mobility of tomorrow.