In the age of electric vehicles, it’s no big surprise to see that electric vehicle charging stations are popping up all over the world. While Malaysia hasn’t yet fully adopted the electric vehicle trend, other parts of the world are embracing the trend with a surety that will last for many years to come. Still, most EV charging stations are customary and boring, with designs similar to the filling docks at petrol stations. Why fix something that isn’t broken right?

Well, for Volkswagen, they’ve decided to flip the script on the traditional EV charging station by introducing an electric vehicle charging robot. Yup, you heard that right. Volkswagen has gone ahead and made a working prototype of the robot concept which they showed off back in 2019. They have plans to further develop the little guy because they liked the concept so much. The robot looks almost identical to its concept art, complete with blinking digital eyes and R2-D2 noises. No surprises were the inspiration for the little guy came about. 

The robot, which at this point of time doesn’t have a name yet, functions as simply as you would imagine it to in theory. When you park your electric vehicle in any of the designated parking spots, you can request to have the battery charged. The robot will then undock from its docking station and hook up to one of the mobile batteries available. It then brings the battery to your car and plugs it in before returning to its docking station. When your car has completed its charging, the robot will collect the battery and bring it back to the charging rack. It’s also quite smart, as it has been shown to stop to let other cars and pedestrians pass by along the way back to and from its charging station. 

While it may be a fun idea, there are a lot of possible points to take note of when the actual robot is completed. For one, the charging robot depends on cars being connected to an overall network of some kind. In the industry, this is known as the V2X, or “vehicle to everything” system, which allows the robot to communicate with the car and vice versa. However, this network is still an idea that has yet to take hold, and one that is fraught with unglamorous but nevertheless foundational problems like arguing about which standard to use. Until this issue is resolved, we may not be able to see the charging robot in action, or at least have it widely available for use. 

Volkswagen has also been calling its robot a prototype, which implies that Volkswagen has got a working version, but the company didn’t actually show it in action. Instead, they have only provided a “first glimpse”, which amounts to nothing more than a commercial and some press photos. This may seem that Volkswagen are not ready to officially show off their new robot, or perhaps it may not be ready. 

Automated charging is an idea that Volkswagen has been toying with for a little while, and while it’s certainly not alone. They are already building out large fast-charging networks in the US (Electrify America) and Europe (Ionity). In fact, it’s one of the few big companies that seem to be actively engaged in making automated charging solutions. Something like this robot might seem like a more complimentary charging solution. 

While the unnamed charging robot won’t be the ultimate solution to fast charging stations, Volkswagen is already trialing a different idea in parts of China and in its home city of Wolfsburg, Germany that involves putting batteries inside what looks like a more standard charging station pillar. This allows the charging station to build up a store of energy that can be used to fast-charge electric vehicles, even if the local grid isn’t otherwise capable of doling out that much electricity in one go. 

Fast-charging networks are not really meant for routine use; rather, most electric car owners will do the bulk of their charging at home or in parking structures. So, finding a way to make that easier is a worthy goal. Volkswagen said that it is planning a wider launch of these so-called “flexible quick-charging stations” in early 2021. However, they probably won’t come with those robot eyes and R2D2 noises that will surely be a hit among users. 

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