at the moment, ample's system can swap batteries into compatible electric vehicles in under ten minutes. by the end of the year, they say that will be down to just five. quite a big difference from the hours it can take to fully charge an installed battery. each charging bay is about the size of a couple of parking spaces. at the moment, there are five in and around san francisco with plans for more soon. cities is a very tough problem. the grids are not set up to deliver a tremendous amount of charge, and so putting fast chargers can be a challenge. one thing we do is, because we can actually have the ability to slow charge the batteries and choose when we charge it. because you separate charging batteries from putting them into the car, we can actually use renewable energy. the hope is the idea could initially be a hit with ride sharing and last—minute delivery fleets who need to recharge quickly and get back on the road. if you are a ride sharing driver you might spend 10—12 hours a week at a charging station, waiting for your car to charge,