Torque & Coffee

Imagine if every mobile phone still had a different charging port — no USB-C, just a drawer full of obsolete cables. Or worse, imagine if every home appliance needed a different plug. Now apply that chaos to EVs.

Right now, each electric vehicle brand is sprinting ahead with its own battery architecture and fitment standard. Yes there are 2 main plugs to the vehicle, but the actual batteries are all different. But what if we ripped up the rulebook and followed the example of USB-C.

The Bold Proposal: A Universal EV Battery Standard

What if the EU mandated that all electric vehicles be designed with:

• A uniform battery fitment – located in the same place (e.g. under the chassis, rear section, bolts in the same place).
• A standardised plug-in interface – just like USB-C.
• Interchangeability across all makes and models – regardless of brand.

This change wouldn’t just simplify life for consumers; it would revolutionise infrastructure, reduce downtime, and unlock the true potential of battery-swapping.

Why It Matters: Minutes, Not Hours

We live in a world conditioned for instant gratification. Click a button on Amazon and your parcel shows up the next day, sometimes the same afternoon. Order your weekly shop on an app and it’s ready for collection within 30 minutes. Whether it’s takeaway food, cinema tickets, or a new outfit, the expectation is clear: now means now. We’ve built a society around speed, convenience, and minimal friction – so why does the EV experience still ask us to wait so long to charge? In an age where “click and collect” is the norm, why isn’t “Drive through and swap” the standard for electric vehicles?

Instead of waiting 20–60 minutes for your vehicle to charge depending on the size of the battery, imagine pulling on to a designated battery area in a local services on the motorway and having a robot swap out your depleted battery for a fully charged one, all in under five minutes.

This is not science fiction. Companies like In in China are already deploying battery-swapping stations. But the catch? They’re brand-specific. The dream dies at the border of a badge.

The Benefits of Going Universal

1. Reduced Charging Downtime A fully charged battery in 5 minutes – no waiting, no queues.
2. Decreased Need for Public Chargers Swapping means less reliance on thousands of high-capacity charging points that all need installing individually and enough power to support them.
3. Longer Vehicle Lifespan Batteries could be leased and rotated, removing them from the wear-and-tear cycle of the vehicle itself.
4. Lower Entry Costs If batteries are shared, consumers could buy EVs without the cost of the battery up front, making the option of an EV much more affordable for all.
5. Greener Lifecycle Centralised battery management allows for better recycling, reuse, diagnostics and repair.

Why It Hasn’t Happened Yet

• OEM Resistance: Manufacturers protect their proprietary designs and profit margins like crown jewels. Battery tech is a USP.
• Infrastructure Investment: Creating swap stations would cost millions, but we would save millions on installing charging stations every where.
• Safety & Regulation: Standardisation would require a monumental EU-led initiative to define, test, and regulate the tech.
• Logistical Complexity: Batteries aren’t AA cells – they’re 400kg modules with active cooling, monitoring systems, and varied chemistry.

But Standardisation Works – Look Around

• USB-C is now mandated across all mobile phones sold in the EU from 2024.
• Domestic plugs are regulated.
• Fuel nozzles are universal across petrol and diesel vehicles.

So why are we treating EVs like they’re smartphones from 2008?

A Way Forward: What the EU Could Do

1. Set a Deadline Much like the internal combustion engine ban, a 2030 target for battery fitment standardisation could be the start. As far as Britain goes, if the government don’t start installing thousands of chargers every day between now and 2030 we will never have enough chargers anyway.
2. Incentivise Compliance Subsidies and fast-track approvals for manufacturers who adopt the standard.
3. Public-Private Collaboration Partner with industry giants and infrastructure providers to build the first interoperable battery-swap ecosystem.
4. Create an Open Standard Body Let the Teslas, BYDs, VWs and startups sit at the same table and hammer out the blueprint, share the tech and make the right decision for a change and show the public they are not just in it for the money. Show us they actually care about the environment and want to make the difference.

Final Thought

The technology exists. The benefits are obvious. The barriers are political and commercial — not technical. But if we’re serious about accelerating EV adoption, cutting CO₂ emissions, and making the EV experience truly frictionless, then standardised battery fitment isn’t just a good idea — it’s an essential one.

Let’s stop pretending every brand needs its own battery shape. The future of EVs might not be faster charging — it might be no charging at all.

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