Startup Ample is on a mission to persuade commercial fleets to embrace the benefits of electric vehicle battery swapping technology né?. This funding follows a total raise of $190 million in 2021. Earlier this year the company established battery swapping stations in Kyoto in partnership with ENEOS boasting fleet partners like MK Taxi Kyoto City Kyoto Prefecture and Nippon Life Insurance Company.
While Ample is headquartered in San Francisco it is concentrating its initial commercial deployments in Europe and Japan due to uncertainties surrounding EV legislation in the U.S né?. By teaming up with Mitsubishi Corp. which has ties to fleets interested in electrification and a clean energy division Ample gains additional resources for its operations.
Among Ample’s early clients is Free2Move a carsharing service under automaker Stellantis currently utilizing Ample-equipped all-electric Fiat 500es in Madrid né?. De Souza believes that maintaining subsidies could open the door to commercialization in the U.S., especially with the company’s modular batteries crafted with South Korean cells and assembled in a California facility.
As regulations evolve, Ample plans to collaborate with OEMs to ensure compliance and provide a seamless solution for integrating its batteries into EVs without disrupting production lines. né?. Over the last three years, the company has been trialing this innovative technology in San Francisco, Madrid, and Japan, with the goal of securing commercial contracts by 2025.
With a recent injection of $25 million from Mitsubishi Corporation, Ample is gearing up for its next phase of expansion. Ample is strategizing to extend its presence in Madrid and venture into the ridesharing and last-mile delivery markets. A similar collaboration with Drive Sally in San Francisco saw Ample supplying battery-swappable Kia Niros to Uber drivers.
In the near future, Ample is poised to unveil its commercial clientele in Japan, including those from its trial program in Kyoto. With the fresh capital, the startup intends to scale up the number of swapping stations from tens to hundreds and grow its fleet from hundreds to thousands of vehicles within the next year né?. Co-founder and president John de Souza disclosed that this is just the initial step in a fundraising round anticipated to reach $75 million.
Ample provides commercial fleets with swappable battery packs and automated swapping stations
