Stellantis has signed a partnership agreement with US-based battery swapping startup Ample, as it considers its own entry into the battery swapping industry dominated by China’s NIO. Ample currently has just twelve stations operational in California and four installed in Madrid, though it has plans for nine more. The companies are yet to disclose the financial information associated with the deal, but considering Stellantis’ investments into raw material companies and the capital intensity of deploying battery swapping stations it should be enough to support Ample in deploying its systems at a greater scale, though the company will likely need to raise considerably more equity in the future. Unlike NIO, Stellantis first plans to explore battery swapping in a car-sharing fleet…