Ample Promises Faster Electric Vehicle Charging With Modular Battery Swapping

A company called Ample has announced a new system it believes will bring faster and cheaper energy delivered to electric vehicles. The system Ample has developed can be rolled out across an entire city in only a few weeks. The system uses Modular Battery Swapping to deliver a 100 percent charge to an EV in less than 10 minutes.

The Ample system would work with any electric vehicle. Three times faster would mean dramatically shorter charging times and less cost to install the EV infrastructure. The company claims that the system is designed for rapid deployment and could equip an entire metropolitan area with the charging network in a matter of weeks with energy costs as cheap as gasoline.

The Ample system can also capture wind and solar power when available. One of the biggest reasons vehicle shoppers don't go for electric vehicles is long charge times and poor electric charging infrastructure availability. Ample technology relies on two major components to address that issue.

The first major component is that Ample is a fully-autonomous swapping station that removes depleted battery modules from the car and replaces them with completely charged ones. The depleted battery packs are placed on shelves where they are recharged. The second major component is a modular battery architecture allowing any EV to use Ample stations.

Ample modules are described as Lego-like and can accommodate vehicles of any size or model. Charging stations require no construction and can be assembled wherever two parking spots are available, making them convenient for locations like grocery stores, gas stations, or rest stops along the highway. Large fleets of electric vehicles will be the first to use the Ample system, and deployments are underway in the Bay Area right now. Ample also says it's currently working with a number of the largest automakers in the world for mass deployment in the US, Europe, and Asia.