Volkswagen's robots can turn any car park into a flexible EV charging point
Volkswagen provided a glimpse into the future in which the search for charging stations for electric cars comes to an end. Volkswagen Group Components introduced mobile charging robots that can drive to the electric car completely autonomously.
The prototype consists of a compact, self-driving robot as well as flexible and agile energy storage devices, also known as battery wagons. When fully charged, these are equipped with an energy content of around 25 kWh each. With its integrated charging electronics, the energy storage device allows for DC quick charging with up to 50 kW on the vehicle.
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621 KmThe robot, which can drive autonomously, is fitted with cameras, laser scanners and ultrasonic sensors. A charging robot can move several battery wagons at the same time. After it is started via app or V2X communication, the mobile robot drives itself to the vehicle that needs charging and communicates with it. From opening the charging socket flap to connecting the plug to decoupling – the entire charging process occurs without any human interaction.
The mobile robot brings a trailer in the form of a mobile energy storage device to the vehicle and connects them; it then uses this energy storage device to charge the battery of the electric vehicle. The mobile energy storage device stays with the vehicle during the whole charging process. The robot, in the meantime, charges other electric vehicles. Once the charging service is complete, the robot collects the energy storage device and brings it back to the charging station.
The mobile charging robot can be put to use in various ways. It isn’t just a robot arm that connects a car to a fixed charging station. Instead, drivers have the choice to park in any available space, independent of whether a charging station is free or not.
Watch the mobile charging robots in action:
The compact design of the charging robot is perfectly suited for use in restricted parking areas without charging infrastructures, such as underground car parks. Depending on the size of the parking area or the underground car park, several charging robots can be employed simultaneously so that several vehicles can be attended to.
“The mobile charging robot will spark a revolution when it comes to charging in different parking facilities, such as multi-storey 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", said 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", Möller continues. Volkswagen Group Components is researching different approaches to the assembly of charging infrastructure and has already developed several successful products. The flexible quick charging station and DC wall boxes are already part of a future charging family. Customer-oriented, intelligent and flexible approaches to charging are at the centre of the research. Other innovative products such as the charging robot are currently being developed.
Together with its dealers, Volkswagen is installing a total of 36,000 charging points throughout Europe by 2025. A large proportion of these will be publicly available. Volkswagen is also launching its own wallbox for home charging called the ID.Charger. And as a co-founder of the IONITY joint venture, Volkswagen participates in installing 400 fast-charging parks on major European highways.
