Volkswagen's mobile charging robot nears reality

Volkswagen has previewed a close-to-production mobile charging robot it plans to deploy in 2021 that will help boost a city's charging infrastructure.

Based on the car-maker's concept that was unveiled last year, the new video released this week shows how Volkswagen plans to use a small army of autonomous charging droids to roam around car parks and streets looking for cars in need of a top-up.

Developed by Volkswagen Group Components, the first prototype mobile charging robots, nicknamed 'battery wagons', can be summoned either via an app in a car park or automatically via the vehicle's on-board car-to-car communications hardware.

The cute robo butler then picks up a battery tender and tows it to the vehicle that needs to charge.

Once it arrives safety, the battery wagon automatically opens the charge flap and plugs in the charging unit before returning back to base to serve another vehicle.

Once the car is charged, the robot returns, unplugs it and tows the charging unit back to be recharged.

To help it navigate the streets or a multi-storey car park, the little robots come with laser and ultrasonic scanners.

There's no word on the production charger's capacity, but the concept tenders were said to be capable of storing up to 25kWh of energy that allow a 50kW DC fast charge a similar charge rate to many current chargers.

Once launched, Volkswagen expects multiple robots will service each car park, especially in cramped older car parks that are impossible to be upgraded with hard-mounted charge points.

Speaking of launching, VW says currently the mobile charging robots are in the prototype testing phase and are on track for a limited release early in 2021.

Commenting on the eve of the mobile chargers 2021 introduction, Thomas Schmall CEO of Volkswagen Group Components, said: "A ubiquitous charging infrastructure is, and remains, a key factor in the success of electric mobility."