One of the hurdles to the mass adoption of electric vehicles is the time it takes to recharge the batteries. Simply, even the fastest charge doesn’t compare to the refuel time of an internal combustion powered vehicle. Atmo Auto Power aims to change that with its robotic battery changing platform.

Instead of 30 minutes of today’s fastest recharge, Atmo president, Jason Ahrens, indicates that changing the battery packs with their method takes as little as 30 seconds. He points out that the nature of the electric car decouples design from engineering, so integrating into production vehicles should be relatively fast and inexpensive.

More than just benefiting the consumer, Ahrens suggests that electric utilities like this approach, as it allows slow-charging of the battery packs. It also presents new business opportunities, as the refueling stations could be converted gas stations or indoor in, say, a parking garage. The technology is a perfect fit for a future where shared autonomous vehicles operate 24/7.