Italo-French-US carmaker Stellantis embraces battery-swapping technology from Californian start-up Ample to equip a Free2Move car-sharing fleet of a hundred Fiat 500e cars in Madrid next year. The Fiat 500e is Stellantis’ highest-selling electric vehicle sold globally.

Ample’s fully automated battery swapping stations allow EV drivers with a compatible Ample battery pack to replace the OEM pack and switch empty batteries with fully charged ones in under ten minutes. In China, battery swapping is increasingly popular, with NIO being the first to bring it to Europe and allying a battery-swapping standard.

Lego-like battery modules

The Californian start-up has developed its own modular battery packs that can replace the original ones in an EV if they are accessible from underneath the car. Ample says its Lego-like battery modules can accommodate any make, design, model, or driving profile, adding more modules for longer ranges.

The packs are connected to the car with a specific adaptor plate and battery-managing software supplied by Ample. According to the start-up, it has already convinced five carmakers to have EVs in their model range to be optionally equipped with the Ample system.

Adapted to Ample battery

In videos, it shows EVs from Mercedes, Nissan, and Kia, among others. The company claims that getting a new car on the Ample platform takes 2-3 months. EVs can still support the original battery since the same vehicle design can support both offerings.

The main benefit, Ample says, is that drivers will always get the most advanced battery technology, eliminating a significant barrier to adoption and reducing the upfront total cost of the vehicle. Swappable batteries deal summarily with the most significant driver for residual value loss in EVs: battery degradation, as you always get a ‘new’ one suited to your needs.

Commercial fleets

The technology is exceptionally viable for commercial fleets, like taxis, ride-hailing, or car-sharing services. That’s why services like Uber and Sally have worked since 2021 with Ample in San Francisco, where Ample is headquartered, in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago.

Uber drivers can rent an Ample-equipped EV and only need a few minutes to replace empty batteries instead of losing at least half an hour or more at a fast charger. In addition, Ample’s lightweight battery-swapping stations can be deployed in public areas in as little as three days, allowing for a rapidly scalable infrastructure that can meet drivers’ demands.

In China, battery swapping is quite hot compared to the rest of the world as an alternative for fast charging, as it only takes three minutes for an NIO to swap an empty battery for a 100% charged one.

China predicts sales of electric vehicles, so-called NEVs, will reach 7,8 million units in 2025, of which battery-swap models are expected to account for 30%. That and Stellantis bringing the Ample swapping tech to Europe might trigger a global movement in the future.

30 swapping stations in Europe

NIO already has over 2 100 fully automated battery swapping stations operational in China since it started in 2019, next to an extensive fast-charging network. And it just opened its 30th swapping station in Europe.

Geely, one of China’s top four-passenger car manufacturers and parent company to Volvo, announced just a few days ago that it is joining forces with Chinese NIO to co-develop swappable battery standards.

On the other hand, Geely Holding’s battery swap station operator, Yiyi Power, has 300 of its own swapping stations operational. NIO signed a similar deal with another giant, Changan Automobile, just a week before and said it is talking with at least five Chinese carmakers to establish a common standard.

Several prominent Chinese players are already involved in battery-swapping systems, like BYD (second-biggest battery maker and number one in EVs in China) or CATL, the world’s biggest battery maker that helped NIO to develop its swapping tech and set up a battery renting and swapping service itself in China.

William Li, NIO’s founder, chairman, and CEO, said earlier that the company’s battery swap stations network is open to other brands and compared the service to a cloud service. But to be able to swap batteries, different brands must comply with NIO’s standards.

In other words, they would need to design vehicle chassis based on the specifications of NIO’s battery packs, and that’s not what the competition likes to do. So, by joining forces in developing two common standards for battery packs and constructing a battery-swapping network for multi-brand sharing, the future will be less dependent on NIO technology.

Chinese to force standards?

The Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information (MIIT) released the global auto industry’s first standards for swapping technology last year. If the Chinese government decides to enforce battery standards, making swapping among brands a common thing, that could become a global game-changer. If they want to keep a foothold on the world’s biggest car market, Western EV makers would have to follow.