In the next months, DFW Airport will test a robotic EV charger as part of a pilot program for cutting-edge charging technologies.
Ziggy, the robot charger created by EV Charge Safe, travels to a vehicle in need of charging plug-ins and charges it before returning to a staging location. The mobile device can additionally generate income through the inclusion of advertising.
According to a press release from the airport, between May and August, DFW will host five public demos at airport parking lots to display various technologies, including mobile robotic charging. DFW also claims that it will demonstrate apps and on-demand charging, although the release makes no mention of when these technologies would be implemented.
Mobile charging robots, according to EV Charge Safe, could make any parking spot suitable for recharging electric vehicles. That might provide more options for drivers and infrastructure managers and counter the practice of “ICEing,” in which people in gas-powered cars block EV charging spots.
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Ziggy’s Mobility won EV Safe Charge’s Barcelona EV charging Pilot Project.
EV Safe Charge said via its own press release that Ziggy, with its increased mobility, was just named the winner of a pilot-project competition for EV charging in the city of Barcelona. The company also provides standard AC and DC fast chargers (Level 2) to businesses.
There have been some interesting experiments with robotic charging from other companies. Continental, a supplier for the automotive industry, has developed a new type of charging robot that requires direct contact with the vehicle to function. Stellantis and EFI Automotive are working on a wireless charging robot, which may fall somewhere in the middle. Although the latter was featured on the concept version of Ram’s electric pickup truck earlier this year, the carmaker hasn’t commented on whether or not it will be included on the production vehicle when it debuts in 2024.
