Startup Series: Ample

When entirely new platforms emerge, the initial product attempts on those platforms often look like what we already know, and they typically don't take full advantage of inherent differences from the historical way of doing things. For example, when the internet first emerged, media resembled digital newspapers. When mobile first emerged, apps looked like small versions of websites. With EVs, the way they are sold and powered mirrors how internal combustion vehicles are sold. After all, you wouldn't buy a gas-powered car without a gas tank!

But Ample is rethinking all of that. The company’s mission is to accelerate the transition to electric mobility by offering an energy delivery system that is as fast, as convenient, and as cheap as gas, while being powered by 100% renewable energy. They do this by deploying robotic pods that enable modular battery swapping for EVs. Ample's take on all this is to rethink how energy is delivered to EVs and to reconsider the unit economics around powering your car. This episode will inspire you to think of all the possibilities of what things can look like when you reconsider them from first principles.

In today’s episode, we cover:

[2:57] Khaled's background and transition to climate
[5:11] State of EVs today
[8:38] Nuances around EV charging networks and associated challenges
[13:15] Outlier geographies that have done well with EV charging networks
[17:20] Battery swapping and leasing alternatives
[22:10] An overview of Ample and its battery swapping solution
[32:54] How Ample's solution scales while reducing the amount of batteries across their system
[37:06] Different use cases for Ample's different batteries
[40:23] Details of Ample's charging pods
[43:41] The company's go-to-market
[47:21] Ample's pod setup and servicing
[54:11] How Ample is sharing profits with OEMs, landowners, and municipalities
[59:16] How Khaled is building the business from a venture capital and debt financing perspective

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Episode recorded on August 25, 2022.

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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant