Shell Ventures invests $31M in charging equipment

The financing arm of oil giant Shell has selected Ample, a startup focussed on automated charging, for funding. The San Francisco-based firm will receive 31 million dollars and Shell hopes to combine Ample’s fast-charging technology with their retail network.

What exactly the innovation of Ample is remains to be seen though. The press release says “Ample uses autonomous robotics and smart-battery technology,” but fails to go into any more detail or to provide pictures.

Information obtained by Electrek through CARB however, appears to point to Ample developing an automated battery swap system.

The response from investors is positive. Says James McIntyre of Moore Strategic Ventures: “We believe Ample’s proprietary robotics and battery technology solution can help solve one of the largest constraints to wide-scale adoption of electric vehicles. We are excited to partner with the company, Shell Ventures and Repsol Ventures to help make Ample’s vision a reality.”

Shell in particular has been busy buying into green technologies, without moving away from oil though. The Dutch petrochemical giant was seen to become part of the IONITY high power charging network early on. Other green gigs include Shell investing into solar power company and battery maker Sonnen reportedly.

businesswire.com (PI), electrek.co