Robotic Conductive Charging of Electric Vehicles

Electric vehicles (EV) have several solutions for automated charging, and the most well-known solutions are inductive and conductive underbody connections, pantograph charging systems, and battery swapping systems. All these systems require additional expensive parts in the vehicle. But what if your EV does not need all these extra parts? What if you could automate the standard connector so that it could magically plug itself in? This is now possible, and it is called robotic charging or autonomous charging. In a robotic charging system plugging in and out is performed by a robot. The robots use standard charging inlets; the user does not have to do anything to recharge the vehicle with energy. Furthermore, robotic charging avoids the necessity for the driver to handle the heavy charging cables that come with megawatt capable chargers of the future. This premium article provides insights into this technology and includes some examples of industry developments.