Right now if you want to charge your electric car you either have to pull up to a charging station and plug it in or there’s simpler induction charging systems like BMW’s new wireless charger. Well Volkswagen has just unveiled a new charging concept, a mobile robot that will automatically locate your EV and charge it.
How does it work? A mobile robot brings tows energy storage devices, also known as battery wagons to a vehicle and it connects them. The robot then uses the energy in the storage device to charge your electric car. The mobile energy storage device stays with the EV during the whole charging process, while the robot locates and charges other electric vehicles. Once the vehicle is fully charged, the robot collects the energy storage device and brings it back to the charging station.
The system will alleviate the current frustration that EV drivers feel when they enter a parking garage and all the available EV charging spots are taken.
“The mobile charging robot will spark a revolution when it comes to charging in different parking facilities, such as multistory car parks, parking spaces and underground car parks because we bring the charging infrastructure to the car and not the other way around. With this, we are making almost every car park electric, without any complex individual infrastructural measures”, stated Mark Möller, Head of Development at Volkswagen Group Components. “It’s a visionary prototype, which can be made into reality quite quickly, if the general conditions are right.”
