Ample rolls out battery swapping stations in Madrid

Ample, a US-based specialist in battery swapping technology, has begun deploying its modular battery swap stations in Madrid, marking its first European deployment. The first stations are already operational, with several more planned across the city centre.

According to Ample, the stations are built for rapid urban deployment and can be installed within three days. The company aims to help alleviate major barriers to EV adoption in cities, including long charging times, range concerns, and space constraints for infrastructure.

The battery swapping system offers full vehicle recharging in five minutes. The technology is modular and vehicle-agnostic, designed to replace depleted battery packs with fully charged ones without driver intervention. Ample emphasises that the system is particularly well-suited for high-utilisation fleet applications in densely populated urban areas.

“This grant is a tremendous step forward for Ample and the electric mobility space in Spain,” said Khaled Hassounah, CEO of Ample. “By partnering with the Spanish government, we are not just meeting the immediate infrastructure needs of Madrid’s growing population, but also laying the groundwork for a future-proof, sustainable urban mobility ecosystem.”

The Spanish government has identified battery swapping as a key enabler in its strategy to reach 5.5 million EVs on Spanish roads by 2030 and reduce emissions by 65% in urban centres. Madrid currently leads the country in EV registrations and is accelerating infrastructure projects to meet its climate targets.

An important partner for Ample in Madrid is the automotive group Stellantis. Its car-sharing service Free2Move is initially deploying 40 Fiat 500e vehicles in the city, which have been specially converted to use Ample’s battery exchange system. The fleet is set to grow to 100 vehicles by mid-2025, i.e. in a short period of time. The collaboration was announced at the end of 2023. The car-sharing fleet will use Ample’s battery exchange stations to maintain high availability and uptime.

Just a few months ago, Ample also announced that it was setting up swapping stations in the Japanese capital of Tokyo. There it partners with Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation and Mitsubishi Motors Corporation, while the focus is on the logistics and commercial sector. Ample and MFTBS announced their cooperation in July 2023 and tested the technology in the Japanese city of Kyoto last year. For the trial, a Mitsubishi Fuso eCanter light-duty truck was fitted with swappable batteries.  

Ample unveiled the latest design of its battery swapping station in 2023. It says that it can swap out batteries in just five minutes. Moreover, the design differs from Nio’s stations, for example. In case of the latter, EVs have to back in. With the Ample station, electric vehicles can drive in from one side and out the other, making it more suitable for commercial vehicles.

businesswire.com, stellantis.com (carsharing)