Volkswagen EV Mobile Charging Robot Prototype

Remember the super cool mobile charging robot concept pitched by Volkswagen from late last year? Well, it appears that it has moved out of concept stage to become a prototype.

Volkswagen EV Mobile Charging Robot Prototype

VW US today shared the first glimpse of the prototype mobile charging robot – a step towards realizing one of the brand’s visions of expanding the charging infrastructure over the next few years.

Here’s a recap of what the Volkswagen EV Mobile Charging Robot is about from the horse’s mouth:

“The charging robot—started via an app or Car-to-X communication—operates totally autonomously. It independently steers to the vehicle to be charged and communicates with it: from opening the charging socket flap to connecting the plug and decoupling it. The entire charging process takes place without any human involvement whatsoever. To charge several vehicles at the same time, the mobile robot moves a mobile energy storage unit to the vehicle, connects it, and then uses this energy storage unit to charge the vehicle and repeats the process to charge other vehicles. Once the vehicle is fully charged, the robot independently collects the mobile energy storage unit and takes it back to the central charging station.”

Volkswagen EV Mobile Charging Robot Prototype

Moving forward, the mobile charging robot will now be “comprehensively further developed.” VW said that one of the prerequisites for market maturity is Car-to-X communication to “facilitate the autonomous charging process.” Meanwhile, here’s the video of the prototype in action:

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All images courtesy of VW Group.