đ„New Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Filing - Ample, Inc.đ„
EV battery-swapping company files chapter 11 sale cases, first-day goes near flawlessly
On December 16, 2025, SF-based Ample Inc. and Ample Texas EV, LLC (collectively, the âdebtorsâ and together with their non-debtor affiliates, the âcompanyâ) filed chapter 11 bankruptcy cases in the Southern District of Texas (Judge Lopez). One of the debtors operates an electric vehicle (âEVâ) battery swapping business, which leverages autonomous robots to remove and replace depleted EV batteries on the spot, useful for fleet vehicles, roadtrippers, and folks who donât want to bake in their cars while it charges during summer. The basic premise is pull in, wait five minutes, pull out:
The other debtor exists solely â⊠to facilitate potential recapitalization, merger, sale, and reorganization opportunities for the Companyâs business.â A nice way to phase âget into Judge Lopezâs courtroom,â but we arenât sure why that was needed. Maybe because everyone else is doing it?
Whatever the reason, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLPâs (âPillsburyâ) Hugh Ray III was slightly out of his element at the December 18, 2025 first-day hearing:
âMr. Ray: As a practical point, Your Honor, would Your Honor prefer if I stood or if I sat during my presentation?
The Court: Whatever makes you happy, mister. Iâm good either way.â
Joshing aside, we are not complaining. Mr. Ray wasted precisely zero time:
âWeâve filed a first-day declaration, and I could go on an extended proffer of [Getzler Henrich & Associates LLCâs John] Baumgartner. I also could give a presentation or have Mr. Baumgartner give a presentation about the debtor, the debtorsâ business, the debtorsâ cash needs, and so forth. However, Your Honorâs court is the busiest bankruptcy court in the United States, and I donât want Your Honor to take any unnecessary time if Your Honor doesnât want to have it.â
The entire first-day hearing lasted a grand total of twenty-seven minutes.
And it was amicable, despite a class action lawsuit having already been filed* and a landlord locking the debtors out earlier in the day. Hereâs Mr. Ray describing each:
âA heads up: an adversary was filed by ⊠a class action adversary was led by WARN Act plaintiffs. I have already talked with the plaintiffsâ lawyers, and Iâm engaging with them about their request for an unsecured claim or a priority claim, as the case may be, and we will see what the debtor can â weâll see if thereâs a consensual resolution, or if we have to litigate the issue. At this time, weâre just evaluating all prospects.
Similarly this morning, one of the landlords showed up with police and a locksmith and locked us out of one of our operational facilities⊠Weâre explaining the bankruptcy system to the landlord and we think that the landlord will â I am assured that the landlord will â give us access to the premises, and this was all just a misunderstanding, but if it is not and if the landlord were to deny us access to the premises ⊠then we might have to file an emergency motion for show cause for some other kind of relief but we donât believe that thatâs going to be necessary because weâre convinced the landlord will just realize it was a mistake or that we will have access to the premises.â
A PHENOMENAL example of getting in, getting relief, and GTFOâing without making a drop of bad blood. We have personally experienced how much more of a clusterf*ck it couldâve been.
Anyway. We should tell you why the debtors are in BK. Itâs the same set of reasons every green energy company has given over the past year: a challenging commercial and capital environment, contraction in investment, loss of subsidiaries, tariffs disrupting supply chains. It ran out of cash to scale up tech deployment.
Earlier in â25, the company tried to ride through it by issuing $35mm in unsecured, convertible notes. Alas, it didnât work. But thereâs not much of anything else by way of debt:
Which is why Twelve Bridge Capital, LLC (âTwelve Bridgeâ) is providing a $6mm DIP term loan ($2.5mm interim), which will give the debtors time to continue their prepetition process to find a buyer and run a ~73 day in-court marketing process on the following timeline:
The DIP bears interest at 13% PIK and features a 3.9% commitment fee (payable on final order), a 1% funding fee on each draw, and a 1.75% exit fee, as well as $100k in work and diligence fees.**
Needless to say, the first-day hearing went off without a hitch, and if we had to guess, that will be a theme of the cases. The second-day is scheduled for January 8, 2026 at 1pm CT. Bidding procedures will hit the docket in the next couple of days.
The debtors are represented by Pillsbury (Hugh Ray III, James Dickinson, Andrew Alfano, Joshua Stenhjem) as legal counsel, Getzler Henrich & Associates LLC (John Baumgartner, Ann Huynh) as financial advisor and co-CROs, and Gordian Group, LLC as investment banker. Twelve Bridge is represented by Fishel Law Group (Michael Fishel) as legal counsel. The proposed class of WARN Act employees is represented by The Webster Law Firm (Jason Webster), The Gardner Firm, P.C. (Mary Olsen, Vance McCrary), and Lankenau & Miller, LLP (Stuart Miller, Johnathan Miller) as legal counsel.
*The debtors used to have ~200 employees, but in September, pretty much everyone was terminated. As of the petition date, the debtors employ two individuals, assisted by fifteen independent contractors.
**Because there was very limited prepetition secured debt, thereâs also no roll-up.
Company Professionals:
Legal: Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP (Hugh Ray, III, James Dickinson, Andrew Alfano, Joshua Stenhjem)
Financial Advisor and co-CROs: Getzler Henrich & Associates LLC (John Baumgartner, Ann Huynh)
Investment Banker: Gordian Group, LLC
Claims Agent: Verita (Click here for free docket access)
Other Parties in Interest:
DIP Lender: Twelve Bridge Capital, LLC
Legal: Fishel Law Group (Michael Fishel)
Proposed Class of WARN Act Employees
Legal: The Webster Law Firm (Jason Webster), The Gardner Firm, P.C. (Mary Olsen, Vance McCrary), and Lankenau & Miller, LLP (Stuart Miller, Johnathan Miller)