Concerns about charging facilities remain one of the biggest barriers to wide-scale electric vehicle (EV) take-up in Europe and beyond.
For the elderly, people with mobility issues and disabled drivers, the concerns can be even greater.
A recent survey, for example, found that nearly two-thirds (61%) of disabled drivers in the UK said that they would only consider switching to an EV if charging was made more accessible.
In an effort to address this issue, Ford has developed a robotic charging station that enables drivers to charge their car without ever leaving the vehicle.
Alternatively, drivers can leave their car and let the station do the charging automatically while they get on with something else.
The platform is currently being trialled as part of a wider project to develop hands-free and automatic charging solutions for electric vehicles.
It has already been tested in laboratory conditions, but the automaker is now putting the system to the test in real-life situations.
The robotic charging platform can be operated from inside the vehicle via a smartphone app.
When activated, a cover on the device opens up and a tiny camera helps guide the charging arm towards the vehicle’s inlet.
For the purposes of the trial, participants were able to monitor the charge status via the FordPass app, which is already commercially available.
Once charging is complete, the robotic arm retracts and goes back into place automatically.
The charging station could be deployed at car parks or people’s homes
The robot charging station, which was custom built by Dortmund University in Germany, could be deployed in the future at disabled parking spaces, in public and private car parks, and at homes.
Other potential applications could include efficiently charging company fleets of electric vehicles, and the technology involved could also support more powerful and faster charging.
Ford envisages a wholly automated process in the future, with a vehicle being guided autonomously to the charging station and the relevant infrastructure ensuring that it got to and from its destination.
That would require a lot more development to become a reality, however, and is not the subject of the current trial.
Birger Fricke, research engineer at the Research and Innovation Centre of Ford of Europe, said that while the robotic charging station could be convenient for some people, it could prove essential for others.
Today’s news was brought to you by TD SYNNEX – the UK’s number one solutions distributor.
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