Various car brands are busy solving charging times with stronger chargers, better batteries and other entertainment while waiting. But why not just switch everything to battery swapping stations? Stellantis, the parent company of Opel, Fiat and Peugeot, among others, is now also starting to exchange an empty battery for a full one while on the road.
We say also, because Stellantis is not alone. Nio was the first car brand to roll it out in Europe and not so long ago Geely, with brands such as Lotus and Volvo in its portfolio, joined Nio. Stellantis takes a different route and enters into a partnership with a company called Ample. This organization makes machines that can perform battery changes.
Can I already change the battery of the Fiat 500e?
The switching technology will initially only be available in Stellantis shared cars. This car sharing service is called Free2Move. The project starts with a trial in Madrid where a hundred Fiat 500e’s will be given a battery that you can change instead of charging. It is not yet clear whether this infrastructure will also be available to other Stellantis drivers.
Given that Stellantis did not yet offer battery swaps for this, you can assume that existing electric cars are not designed to have their batteries removed and replaced. For the time being, you cannot yet drive your Fiat 500e or Opel Corsa-e to an exchange station to exchange your empty battery for a full one.
The boss of Ample is called Khaled Hassounah and he explains the benefits of switching your battery: ‘The combination of offering attractive EVs that are fully charged within five minutes will help to remove the current barriers to the adoption of electric vehicles. cars. We look forward to working with Stellantis and deploying our joint solution globally.”
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