Volkswagen has taken the covers off a prototype of its “mobile charging robot”, which was first teased in back in a proof-of-concept video in 2019. At the time, the company said the robot would “spark a revolution” for EV charging in parking facilities such as car parks, with the idea being that charging equipment would be brought to the car—as opposed to the other way round.
This was the concept video previewed earlier:
Now, the German automakers claims to have made a prototype of the robot, with plans to integrate the robot into Volkswagen’s ecosystem of electric mobility charging options. The prototype looks near-identical to the concept idea seen above—which means that the robot has digital eyes, and emits R2-D2-like noises. Perfect.
Have a look:
How does it work?
As mentioned above, the robot is designed to autonomously charge electric vehicles within garages, underground parking structures, and other similar locations. Essentially, the robot will detach itself from its docking station when you request for a charge on your electric vehicle nearby, bringing a mobile battery to your car. After plugging the battery into your car (and sufficiently juicing it up), it returns to its docking station, and waits for the next request.
The entire process can be done without any human involvement whatsoever, and the robot can even handle multiple charge requests at the same time. When it needs to charge several vehicles at the same time, the robot attaches a mobile “energy storage unit” for one vehicle, and repeats the process with the next. Once the cars have been charged up, the robot collects the storage units and returns to the charging station.
It’s a pretty cool concept, if you ask me. However, cars will need to be connected to a “Car-to-X” network for autonomous charging, and this might raise issues with compatibility for the growing number of EVs that are being developed these days. Additionally, Volkswagen is also working on “flexible charging stations”, which are currently being trialled in China and in Wolfsburg, Germany.
These stations look a lot more conventional, and stores energy to fast-charge electric vehicles on-the-go. The mobile charging robot will be integrated into the same ecosystem as these other EV charging ideas, but it remains to be seen how the robot will complement the ecosystem. Perhaps it will play more of a supplementary role, or perhaps it will be a premium service for users who really want to remove the human aspect of… charging your car.
In any case, Volkswagen hasn’t given an official timeline for the mobile charging robot. In fact, while this is being called a prototype, videos released thus far don’t really show the robot in real-world action—the latest video looks a lot more like an ad, rather than a demonstration. But if you’re into the idea of an R2-D2-like robot charging your car for you, Volkswagen says that the robot is currently at prototype status, and will be “comprehensively further developed”.
Stay tuned.
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