Electric vehicle charging robot unveiled by Volkswagen

The Volkswagen Group has developed a mobile electric vehicle charger. It runs autonomously without the need for humans, even parks itself, charges the electric car, and returns to the station.

The prototype unveiled by Volkswagen represents how the charging infrastructure will be expanded over the next few years to respond to expected demand, such as increased production and sales of electric vehicles. It has committed to launch dozens of electric vehicle models over the next 10 years, and the Volkswagen brand under the group is planning to produce and sell 1.5 million electric vehicles by 2025.

Thomas Schmall, CEO of Components of the Volkswagen Group, says that in the future, overhauling an efficient charging infrastructure will be a major challenge in the industry. Solutions for costly stand-alone solutions are being developed, and mobile charging robots and flexible fast charging stations are one such example.

The Volkswagen Group started testing DC models with up to 22kW charging in early December, and plans to put a fast charging station into the market in early 2021.

When a mobile charger is notified that it will charge through an app, etc., it automatically drives toward the vehicle, opens the charging socket flap, connects the plug, and pulls it out when finished. When charging is complete, the robot returns to the central charging station. The timing of the release of the mobile charging robot that was unveiled this time has not been decided yet. This is because although the prototype is in the completion stage, overall development is planned. Related information can be found here .