Toronto, Ontario — Ford has released a patent for a swappable battery system in electric and hybrid vehicles that relies on a drive-up docking station and a vehicle’s own power to function.
According to a patent application published by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in May, and originally filed by Ford in 2018, Ford specifically describes a battery swapping system in which electric and hybrid vehicles would be configured with batteries that could be individually disconnected and swapped.
The patent, filed under patent number US11981226B2, shows vehicles driving up to a docking station as if it was going to park at a charger with the vehicle’s battery configured at the end of the chassis for easier removal.
In the abstract, the patent further describes how the vehicle would include “a propulsion system and another power source powering the propulsion system. The vehicle (would) further include a controller configured to enable unloading the first battery to a first charging station by propulsion of the vehicle towards and then away from the first charging station.”
From here, “the controller is further configured to subsequently enable loading a second battery from a second charging station by propulsion of the vehicle powered by the other power source towards the second charging station.”
The patent also notes that the advantage of this battery system is the elimination of the need to detach and handle entire battery packs from underneath the vehicle.
While there is no guarantee that this battery system will ever reach the manufacturing stage, the patent represents one way that electric vehicles could avoid longer charging times.
