- Ample has launched a charging network for the Uber fleet in San Francisco.
- The boot uses battery-switching technology to charge electric cars more quickly.
- The company plans to deploy the network in several cities to consumers in the coming years.
- Visit the Business section of the Insider for more stories.
Ample, a San Francisco-based startup, has launched a charging network that can recharge an electric car in less than 10 minutes. The company went out of stealth on Wednesday.
The company started the initiative through a partnership with Uber and is financed by more than $ 70 million from private investors. The network currently carries the Uber car fleet in San Francisco and is expected to hit the general market in a few years.
Ample has already deployed two stations that are in full use in San Francisco for the Uber fleet and is working on deploying more stations in several other major cities in California. The startup hopes to alleviate much of the limited anxiety of driving an electric car by making charging stations as quick and readily available as gas stations.
Ample uses the world’s first modular battery exchange system. The company’s CEO, Khaled Hassounah, says the modular battery exchange system operates like “Lego blocks”. The size of the car determines how many battery modules the car needs and the modules can adapt to fit multiple vehicles.
Unlike typical charging stations – which require the electric car to be connected and can take anywhere from 45 minutes to 12 hours – Ample’s charging stations remove the batteries from the car and replace them with new ones. Discharged batteries are then placed on the station’s shelves, where they are recharged for future use.
The system is also fully autonomous. Customers pay using an app system and don’t even have to get out of the car to charge the electric vehicle, according to Hassounah. The station automatically detects the vehicle and starts working.
Ample president John de Souza said the company’s goal is to make electric cars as accessible as possible. For many drivers, the decision to transition from a combustion engine to an electric car is not viable due to the hassle of long charging times and cars that cannot travel long distances without stopping to recharge.
“Electric cars should not be subsidized by the government or have a huge personal cost,” de Souza told Insider. “It has to be more convenient than gas, so it becomes obvious that people say, ‘Why wouldn’t I change it?”
The startup charges drivers of the Uber fleet per mile and offers its services for 10-20% less than the cost of gas. Hassounah said the modular battery system allows the process to be simpler and, ultimately, cheaper. The whole set also contributes to a cheaper price, as it can easily be built in a parking lot.
“We could deploy an entire city in a matter of weeks,” Hassounah told Insider.
Standalone battery exchange stations can be easily assembled or disassembled, as they come in their own structures, which can be assembled quickly in several large sections.
Changing the battery can increase the life of an electric car
The replaced batteries will use the longest range technology available for each car to give drivers as many miles as possible between charges.
Hassounah said the exchange system would also contribute to the vehicle’s longevity, as the car would no longer be restricted by an exhausted battery, but would continuously receive the newest battery chemicals.
Most EV batteries are insured for at least 160,000 kilometers, but lithium-ion batteries generally have an increasingly short range. A new electric car battery costs several thousand dollars, for example, a replacement battery for the Nissan Leaf costs about $ 5,500, while replacing a Chevy Bolt costs more than $ 16,000, according to Car and Driver . Both cars have a range of about 250 miles.
The company is not the first to employ battery-switching technology and faces competition from at least six startups with similar strategies. In China – a leader in the electric car industry – the practice is much more common. Chinese manufacturer Nio has had great success with the process in China.
Companies have struggled with technology in the past
In 2013, Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, showcased the battery-switching technology, only to reject the technology two years later in favor of focusing on the company’s Supercharging stations. Musk called the technology “too expensive”.
Another Israeli-based startup, Better Place, also invested in battery replacement technology. Investors in the company lost more than $ 850 million when the idea failed.
The company was unable to find automakers willing to manufacture vehicles with its technology and it was not financially sustainable to manufacture different types of batteries for each type of electric car on the market.
Hassounah said Ample learned from Better Place’s mistakes. The company’s modular battery is less expensive than Tesla’s attempt and will eventually fit in any car, unlike Better Place’s battery replacement method. Ample is working with five major automakers, according to Hassounah.
The company is also approaching charging stations differently. Comprehensive plans to use renewable energy sources to recharge batteries. The company captures wind and solar energy when available and delivers it to cars when needed.
“Switching to electricity, but still burning fossil fuels is not solving the problem,” Hassounah told Insider. “We save the energy absorbed, during peak hours, and we plan to charge the vast majority, if not all, with renewable energy, without increasing the cost.”
Ultimately, Hassounah said the company hopes to help put a billion electric cars on the roads.
“This is not about changing batteries versus charging,” Hassounah told Insider. “We need all the solutions. We are all aligned to find different ways to solve the problem and changing the modular battery is just another way to solve the bigger problem.”