Is Battery Swapping the Future of Electric Vehicles?

The buzzwords of the EV revolution have always been "range" and "charge." Three hundred miles of range per charge is ideal for an electric vehicle, but it sometimes means little. After all, some areas lack the primary electric vehicle charging infrastructure to service all-electric cars on the road. What does range matter if you can't find a charging station (or a working one)?

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That's not to say that things aren't getting better. With the certification and widespread adoption of Tesla's North American Charging Standard (NACS), more customers will have access to the company's 17,000-plus Superchargers around the United States. However, these things take time, and many electric cars currently lack the needed adapter to use the Tesla standard.

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A handful of major automakers who aren't going the Tesla route promise a widespread EV charging system of their own. Yet, plans for the system are in their infancy. The initiative will take well over a year to get off the ground.

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So, what now? Are EV drivers doomed to stay within two hours of their home charging unit, lest they get stranded on the road? Will it be a wait-and-see game until a comprehensive, fully-functional charging network comes to the States?

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Or is there another option that we need to look at?

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Ample solutions for inconsistent charging systems

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By 2023, the United States was supposed to be a bustling network of functional charging stations -- servicing a growing, passionate base of EV lovers. However, that has yet to come to fruition. And it's opening the door for the folks over at Ample to make a move.

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Based out of Northern California, the cutting-edge startup eschews traditional battery charging for swapping. Over the past few years, Ample has run swapping stations in the SF Bay Area in a test capacity. Recently, the company struck a deal with Daimler's Mitsubishi Fuso imprint to equip their e-Canter electric light-duty trucks with the proprietary battery-swap technology.

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The initial results are promising. Ample's sophisticated swapping stations are built to swap out specially-made batteries within five minutes, promising a full charge much quicker than any charging station can. With the help of lifts and fine-tuned robots, the e-Canter trucks are serviced in record time -- receiving fully-charged batteries from the station's reserve inventory.

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An evolution of efficiency

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Ample has teetered on the edge of irrelevancy for months, maybe years. However, the confusion surrounding EV charging stations has allowed them to refine their technology and reenter the conversation.

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The first iterations of Ample's battery-swap station concept were ambitious, yet clunky. The stations were a love letter to robots and cutting-edge technology, but they needed more efficiency and ease of use to really gain traction.

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Before, it took two weeks to set up an Ample station. When the station was in place, it required drivers and passengers to remain in the car while robots swapped out the battery.

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Now, things are different. An Ample station can be set up in a few days, and the introduction of new lift technology allows drivers and passengers to leave the car while the swap takes place.

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What does this all mean?

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In all honesty, Ample has a lot of ground to make up. Charging stations are the accepted way of the future, and traditional gas stations still dominate the landscape -- in the US and elsewhere. Furthermore, most current EV vehicles do not support the Maverick company's battery-swap technology.

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Step by step, Ample hopes to change that narrative. The company’s partnership with Mitsubishi Fuso has raised its profile considerably, and a standing deal for Fisker’s upcoming Ocean electric SUV will only help matters.

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The problem, though, is that these serve as niche deals in the grander scheme of the electric vehicle industry. Without a headline auto company like Toyota, GM, or Ford on their support list, Ample will have difficulty punching back at the EV-charging status quo. Most major automakers are looking straight ahead at a charging-only future, and it would be up to Ample to somehow catch their attention.

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And even if that did happen, it’s unlikely that it would be more than a one-off in specially-equipped vehicles -- a potential no-win situation that has forced Ample to think differently about its business model and who it intends to service.

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Fleet of foot

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The best chance for Ample to make headway, it appears, is to focus on specialized fleets. Companies with targets for large fleets of electric trucks and vehicles are staring down the barrel of substantial upcoming bills for on-site charging stations.

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That's where Ample hopes to swoop in, selling its technology's cost-effective and efficient nature. Ample stations are set up quicker than traditional EV charging outfits for a fraction of the cost. In addition, companies won't have to risk losing profits by relying on a bottle-necked, faulty electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

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By focusing their sales pitch on companies' bottom lines, Ample hopes to gain traction outside the private car-buying market. The company's technology allows trucks to return to the road in about the same time it takes to fuel up a typical rig. It could help companies comply with upcoming emissions standards without breaking the proverbial bank.

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What’s wrong with this picture?

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About five years ago, Tesla CEO Elon Musk considered a battery-swap future. However, he quickly scuttled that in favor of the current Tesla Supercharger imprint. Now, the very concept of battery swapping has been painted into a corner.

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"Here in North America, aside from Tesla, everyone has had far fewer sales, and the economics of swapping don't work if you have to support a lot of different pack formats," Guidehouse Insights principal research analyst Sam Abuelsamid said. "Without battery standardization, the market just isn't there for swapping. Standardization isn't going to happen while battery technology is still evolving,"

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The problem is that the battery-swap concept is currently dominated by Nio and its singular battery pack format. Even with the promise of free battery swaps, it would take a Herculean effort to get multiple companies to agree on battery (and battery-swap) standardization -- especially during such a fluid stage of the EV revolution.

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The actual benefits of battery swapping

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Regardless of where Ample goes from here, there are some real positives to their push for a battery-swap future.

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For one, the company's battery-swap station pulls just 100-200 kW from the energy grid. These stations are much less taxing on a community's energy infrastructure than traditional EV charging stations.

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In addition, Ample’s hope for a subscription pay-per-kWh service is to deliver a product that’s 20% cheaper than gas on average.

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The company remains fleet-focused rather than fixated on the private market. EV charging stations are the wave of the future, for better or worse. For Ample to succeed, they'll need to work around the margins -- targeting freight companies, delivery services, and other commercial imprints who want to save some cash. Will it work? Just like with the EV industry, it's all up in the air.

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