Ample announced today that it is bringing the first battery-swapping stations for EVs to Japan. Together with partner ENEOS, the company is deploying Ample Modular Battery Swapping stations in Kyoto, Japan. Given the city’s pioneering role in driving the Kyoto Protocol that aims to reduce emissions that contribute to global warming, this makes for the perfect place to start.

The effort is aimed at jumpstarting the Japanese EV market and supporting its more forward-thinking OEMs like Nissan, which launched some of the first mass-market electric vehicles. There was a race to deploy a large network of chargers around the country to support the initial growing market for EVs, but Ample says a realization that long charging times and power limitations in their dense cities posed significant hurdles for electrification.

According to Ample, Japan has aggressive decarbonization goals to ban the sale of new gasoline vehicles by 2035, and the company is hoping its developments will help make that reality happen. With a focus on efficiency, urban density, and the ability to support the grid’s transition to renewable energy, it says that modular battery swapping will be an effective solution. However, the successful implementation of battery swapping requires the coordination of OEMs, fleets, and municipalities working together, and Kyoto is a prime example of this.

The stations there, which are Ample’s first deployment to have two drive-through swapping pods side-by-side, will be used by several fleet partners. That extensive list includes MK Taxi, Kyoto City and Kyoto Prefecture, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., NTT Anode Energy, Nippon Life Insurance Co., Omron Field Engineering Corp., Tokyo Century, Nippon Car Solutions, Tokyo R&D, and Asahi ETIC.

MK Taxi is the largest taxi fleet in Kyoto and has a strong commitment to advancing electrification. When the company began its electrification journey years ago, they were quickly confronted with the hurdles of traditional charging. Due to the time required to charge, the challenge of deploying sufficient infrastructure, and the business and operational impact, it embarked on exploring other avenues for electrification and found Ample’s solution to be a great fit.

Proven by its existing work as Uber’s electrification partner, Ample’s modular battery-swapping technology is engineered to be a scalable and affordable infrastructure solution to help ride-hailing fleets switch to EVs without major impacts on their operations. The company’s next-generation station design provides a full charge in just 5 min for any size EV ranging from a small passenger car to Class 3 trucks. The stations were intentionally designed to have a small footprint with modular pieces that can be installed in 3 days, making them especially suited for urban deployments in Japan.

Ample was co-founded in 2014 by CEO Khaled Hassounah and President John de Souza to accelerate the transition to electric mobility through modular battery swapping, a universal EV charging solution in which depleted batteries are replaced with charged ones in less than 5 min. Once removed, depleted batteries are racked, monitored, charged, and eventually swapped into another vehicle. The company says that its autonomous stations are as fast, convenient, and cheap as gas and can be deployed in an entire city within weeks.

The competitive advantage of Ample’s technology is that the swapping stations can be used by any EV from any automaker without requiring changes to the car’s design. The company uses Lego-like modular batteries that break down a 1000-lb EV battery into shoebox-sized modular ones that are easy to move around and charge. Its stations place the batteries on an adapter plate that is made to be a drop-in replacement for the original EV battery. The result is that Ample’s station can be used by vehicles from small city cars to delivery trucks.

Ample has raised over $275 million from investors including Blackstone, Shell Ventures, and Moore Strategic Ventures, and has several partners already using its existing battery swapping stations.

Uber drivers can rent EVs through fleet provider Sally and then go to one of Ample’s 12 swapping stations in California’s Bay Area. Ample says its technology has helped Uber drivers save 10 h per week that was previously spent at charging stations, helping drivers spend more time on the road and make more money.

Ample is partnered with Daimler Truck’s Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corp. to deliver modular battery swapping to electric trucks. Upcoming trials to take place in Japan are aimed at not only contributing to further advancements in sustainable transport but also addressing the needs of middle- and last-mile delivery use cases by providing a gas-station-like experience in terms of speed, convenience, and economic efficiencies.

Beginning in Madrid later this year, Ample swapping stations will be used by a fleet of Fiat 500e EVs in Stellantis’ Free2Move carsharing service. Since integrating the technology does not require the re-engineering of vehicle platforms, the two companies are discussing expanding the application of modular battery swapping technology to meet Stellantis fleet and consumer demand across other platforms and geographies.