This Cute Robot Will Charge Parked Electric Vehicles Because People Can't Be Bothered

Despite their increasing adoption, electric vehicles across the globe still struggle with a critical issue - that of charging. The challenge ranges across regions, majorly depending on the charging infrastructure that is in place. There are, however, several practical issues that loom irrespective of this infrastructure.

Take the example of a parking lot. In EV friendly regions, dedicated parking spots for electric cars have been mandated. However, what if the parking spot is taken by an IC engine car? Or for that matter, what if the electric car on the spot completes its charging cycle and yet remains on the spot, despite other cars waiting in queue.

Volkswagen seems to have come up with a unique solution to the problem. This solution employs movable robots that will roam around a parking lot charging electric cars. Complete with digital faces, these robots will charge EVs using travelling battery packs.

Volkswagen's Mobile Charging Robot Concept (Image: VW)

Sounds cool, right? Imagine not having to do a thing to charge your electric car apart from parking it at a spot. The autonomous robot by Volkswagen will eventually find your car and attach a charger to it to juice up the vehicle. It will then move on to another car.

VW says that the prototype, which is yet unnamed, is "a glimpse into the future in which the search for charging stations comes to an end¡±. Interestingly, Mark M?ller, VW's head of development believes that the robot ¡°can be made into reality quite quickly, if the general conditions are right."

How it works

Understand that the robot in itself is not the charging unit here. Instead, a flexible energy storage device which VW terms as ¡°battery wagons¡± will be used for this. As per the company, the battery wagons will have 25 kWh of battery life. It will also support ¡°DC quick charging with up to 50 kW on the vehicle¡±.

These battery wagons will be carried by the autonomous robots that will use cameras, laser scanners and ultrasonic sensors to navigate their way around a parking lot. VW says that apart from performing their duties, the robots can also detect obstacles in the path and act accordingly through these electronics.

The vehicle owners can use a dedicated app or V2X communication to let the autonomous system know that their EV would need charging. The information is relayed to the system which then charges the electric car at a suitable time. Check out the video below to see a demonstration of the system:

It is easy to see how the concept is scalable to the nth extent. A large parking lot would only require more of these robots and the electric cars parked their would probably thank them for the effortless charging.