Tesla says the first of its battery-swapping stations will be erected by the end of 2014 at yet-to-be-determined location between Los Angeles and San Francisco. For at least $50, customers will be able to trade-in a drained or low-charged battery for a fully charged one. A robot will remove the 6 mm undercarriage plating that insulates each Tesla battery compartment, exchange batteries and re-install the protective plating to factory specifications, all in about 90 seconds.

The process will enable drivers to bypass the traditional recharging time, which even at a Tesla supercharging location takes at least an hour. Tesla says that it absorbs the cost of battery charging at all of its recharge stations, but expects to generate revenue on battery-swapping operations. Each robot installation is expected to cost $500,000.

Customers would have to return to the station and pay to have their recharged, original battery re-installed, or they would have to pay the difference, since newer batteries are more valuable than old ones. Similar, independent battery-swapping stations have previously failed because of overhead and battery distribution issues, a problem Tesla is unlikely to encounter.

The robots will be compatible with all current and future Tesla models except the Roadster, whose battery is not located in the vehicle undercarriage. The company hopes to expand battery swapping services between Boston and Washington D.C. after debuting in California. The company says that battery swapping eventually will be made available at all 114 North American and 86 overseas Tesla service stations.

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