Finding a free space in a parking lot is no longer easy, and finding one that has a charging slot is even more difficult. Startup EV Safe Charge hopes this mobile charging robot can solve the troubles of car owners.
This little guy that looks like a vacuum cleaner, named Ziggy, can accept the call of the owner through the mobile phone or the dashboard of the car, can find your car in the parking lot, and can automatically come to your car. It will be ready to help you charge your electric vehicle.
When the set charging target is reached, unplug the charging gun, and it will return to its standby area to replenish itself. It can be charged through solar energy or batteries in the field. Simply put, it is an extra-large power bank with wisdom, wheels and a charging header.
To be honest, the concept is not very innovative, Volkswagen has shown a similar design, Tesla has also published the concept of a snake-shaped automatic charging gun, and Continental has also made a similar wireless charging robot. This means that the pain points still exist, and these solutions are either impractical or technically immature.
Compared with the installation of fixed charging piles, the charging robot must have an advantage, it must be cheap enough.
The reason is very simple. If the parking lot operator has enough budget to install charging piles for each parking space, then there is no need for robots at all, and the cost of a charging pile, with the body plus wiring, starts at least $100,000.
Based on a small parking lot with 30 vehicles, the total electrification cost is about $440,000.
To serve 30 vehicles requires at least 3 charging robots. In other words, if the price of a robot is higher than 1 million, it will lose its cost significance. So is this thing useful? yes… it works.
The charging robot is suitable for use in mobile parking lots. Japan and other Asian countries have this type of parking lot.
The unmanaged station system allows short-term idle land to quickly earn a little money. Of course, it is impossible to install charging piles at this time, and this mobile charging robot comes in handy.
Another advantage of Ziggy is that it can make an appointment to call before you park. At this time, Ziggy will drive to the vacant seat in the parking lot and wait for you.
Of course, there is also an obvious disadvantage. When the parking lot is filled with a lot of Ziggy robots, there will definitely be a traffic accident, and then it will be troublesome.
After all, this is a big battery that runs around, and it is very difficult to save if it catches fire.
EV Safe Charge says they will start producing the charging robot in 2023, and already has a number of parking lot operators looking to partner with them, including the Holiday Inn, Opera Square in San Francisco and several restaurants in New York City.
