Volkswagen has released an artist's renderings of a mobile charging robot concept that will charge electric cars completely autonomously. Owners would park and request charging via an app or via V2X communication, from whatever parking space they were in. Robots would then drive themselves to the car and recharge the battery without any human interaction.
The robot brings the mobile charging unit to the car, attaches it via the charging socket then leaves the charging unit to recharge the electric vehicle, the robot is then free to pick up another mobile charging unit and take it to the next vehicle waiting to be charged in the parking lot. Once complete the robot collects the charging units and returns them to the charging station.
The mobile charging robot will spark a revolution when it comes to charging in different parking facilities, such as multi-story 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. It’s a visionary prototype, which can be made into reality quite quickly if the general conditions are right. 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 center of the research. Other innovative products such as the charging robot are currently being developed.
Mark Möller, Head of Development at Volkswagen Group Components
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