Re: Charge or just swap the batteries?
You are right @Is It Me. I guess you had the same book? The big futuristic drawing in the book showed a variety of robotic machinery to push the old battery out and the new one in, while a conveyor was used to move freshly charged batteries into place underneath the forecourt. The Charging area was also underground to make efficient use of space. There certainly wasn't any intention for the swap to be done by some old guy with overalls and an oily rag!
Clearly the design of the car and the refuelling station would be specified to make the swap as quick and durable as possible to allow for car drivers that won't stop in exactly the right place. For something written in the 1980s it was, as I recall, a pretty well thought through solution even if the technology back then wasn't necessarily up to electric vehicles more powerful than a Milk Floats.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
