India's Most Affordable Electric Car Offers 250 Kms Range In Less Than 3 Minutes
Blinq Mobility, a Gurugram-based EV startup, is now developing its first electric car. The production form will reportedly have aggressive pricing. It may even become the most affordable electric car in India, when launched. But things do not end there. This car will allow you to ‘replenish 250 kilometres of range in under 3 minutes’. Interestingly, the conversation here isn't about charging speed! Blinq’s electric car will rely on battery swapping for this. Authorised stations will be able to do the swap in under three minutes and each fresh battery is claimed to deliver over 250 kilometres of range. Blinq recently shared a video on its official YouTube channel, showing details of the process.
Blinq hasn’t named the product yet. The vehicle is referred to as ‘car 001’. In the latest video, it looks almost like a finished product. We can see the large touchscreen infotainment unit displaying battery warnings and directions to the nearest swapping station.
We are already familiar with the idea of battery swapping, thanks to a bunch of electric two-wheelers that feature the technology. Instead of plugging into a charger, the discharged battery pack is replaced with a fully charged one. However, we haven’t seen it in any electric car yet. Considering the larger size of the battery and the more complex nature of the design, swapping a car battery won’t be as straightforward as doing the same on an electric scooter.
Battery swapping on an electric car can only be done at an authorized swapping station using automated machinery. Blinq has set up one such facility in Gurugram. The vehicle is first driven into the facility and parked on a specialised ramp. The car comes with a dedicated swap (S) mode, which can be accessed using the rotary controller at the centre.
After this, two clamps lock the wheels of the vehicle. The battery pack is then carefully disconnected, removed and replaced with a new unit. The new battery is carefully slid in and connected to the vehicle’s architecture. Blinq hasn’t revealed the actual capacity of the battery pack. The video, however, shows it to be compact. This electric car is underpinned by a skateboard platform.
Once the new battery is docked and connected, various safety checks are performed on the car. It is then lowered and ready to move. In the video, we can see the charge levels to be 100% and the cluster displaying an indicated range of 252km. The video also mentions that the entire swapping process was completed in just 2 minutes and 48 seconds.
In simpler terms, what could possibly become India’s most affordable electric car will give 250 km range in under 3 minutes. No manual intervention is required in the process, according to the video.
The idea is indeed fascinating. If enough swapping stations are set up in a city, this electric car can become a worry-free mode of sustainable travel. No range anxiety and no worries of long, tiring waits at the charger. That said, Blinq will take time in setting up enough swapping stations and in getting them operational.
Blinq Mobility was founded by Nikesh Bisht, an IIT Delhi alumnus and has Ankit Kumar, a former Tesla employee who had taken part in the Cybertruck and Robotaxi projects, as its CTO. Now, the prototype is undergoing extensive road testing in Gurugram and the pilot programs are likely to begin in the near future, before the official market launch.