Announcement courtesy of Ample,
Khaled Hassounah and John de Souza, Ample Co-founders
Today, after seven years of quiet research and development, we’re excited to announce a faster and cheaper approach to delivering energy to electric vehicles (EVs) – which can be rolled out across a whole city in just a few weeks.
Ample uses Modular Battery Swapping to deliver a full charge (100%) in under 10 minutes, 3 times faster than charging. It works with any electric vehicle and dramatically reduces the cost and time it takes to install EV infrastructure. Our system is designed for rapid deployment, making it possible to equip an entire metropolitan area with a ubiquitous network in a matter of weeks, while delivering energy at a cost as cheap as gasoline. Ample has the additional benefit of being able to capture wind and solar power when it’s available, and then dispense that energy to EVs when needed.
When we set out to work on this challenge, it was clear to us that ubiquitous electric car adoption is hindered by the shortcomings of charging options available today. Urban areas and fleets have had slow uptake of electric vehicles due to slow charging speeds, high deployment cost and long construction time. What’s more, it is not possible today to profitably build and operate charging infrastructure without continued access to government subsidies. Additionally, long charge times put electric vehicles at a significant disadvantage to gasoline for many use cases, including high-utilization fleets, drivers without access to overnight charging and long-range driving. For economies like the United States, European Union and Japan, transportation is the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. Today there’s no clear path to moving electric vehicles to renewable energy sources without heavy investment in grid infrastructure to store renewable energy. Ample’s goal is to address these challenges, and enable a seamless transition to electric mobility.
Our technology has two major components:
- A fully-autonomous swapping station that removes depleted battery modules from the car and replaces them with fully charged ones. The depleted battery modules are then placed on shelves where they are recharged. Ample’s stations require no construction, and can be assembled wherever two parking spots are available. This makes them a convenient solution for a diversity of locations including grocery stores, gas stations and highway rest stops.
- A modular battery architecture that allows for any EV to use Ample’s stations. Our batteries are made out of lego-like modules that can accommodate any vehicle regardless of size or model.
We are starting with electrifying fleets which will accelerate the deployment of a wide-scale network that can support consumers too. Ample is currently being deployed regionally in the Bay Area, where we are actively working with a wide range of ride-sharing, last-mile delivery, and municipal fleet partners. Our technology allows them to electrify their fleets without losing any of the economic benefits or convenience of gasoline. In addition, we are actively working with a number of the world’s largest automakers to enable mass deployment in the US, Europe, and Asia. Today, we invite more fleets and automakers to collaborate with us to get more electric vehicles on the road.
Images courtesy of Ample
Featured image provided by Ample via CleanTechncia