German carmaker Volkswagen is seeking to solve one of the biggest hurdles to an electric vehicles future, charging infrastructure, with the development of a mobile robot able to find EVs low on battery. The German company has said a prototype of the robot has already been developed. Eventually fleets of the devices may roam streets seeking out vehicles running low on battery power, and charge them.
A well-developed infrastructure of roadside charge points still needs to be built to cope with rising demand for electric cars. With the transition from traditional petrol and diesel-engine vehicles expected to gather pace in coming years, the need for a solution to the charging question is becoming more urgent. A recent report by the International Council on Clean Transportation reached the conclusion that, at present, the UK has installed just 5% of the roadside chargers that will be needed by 2030.
That Britain, and other countries around the world, need to step up the pace of efforts to build EV charging infrastructure is clear. But one bottleneck is the expense involved. It can costs thousands of pounds to install chargers, which often involves feeding power supply to roadside or carpark locations, as well as the expense of the charging infrastructure itself.
One major plus of Volkswagen’s charging robots is that they are much cheaper to build than it is to install a fixed charging point. The robot prototype has been developed by VW Group Components, a subsidiary of the main company tasked with developing new technologies. A current focus is charging technologies.
The idea is that multiple mobile chargers would be themselves powered up in a single location, like a carpark. They could then be moved to individual cars that need a charge while waiting for their owners to return. These mobile charging stations have already been developed and likely to be introduced next year.
The next step is the addition of a robot that can move the charger into position, or be the charger itself, and handle the process with no human input. The prototype robot is activated via an app. It then pulls the charger over to the designated car, opens its charging socket flap and is able to connect the charging cable.
Car park operators will, it is hoped, be able to quickly and easily offer a charging service for EVs via such charging robots that will both minimise construction work and the upfront investment involved.