Volkswagen is promoting (https://newatlas.com/automotive/volkswagen-autonomous-electric-vehicle-charging-robots/) a new twist on the problem of building difficult or expensive charging ports into every parking space: robots that bring the juice to the needy cars. We know of apartment complexes in Durango that are flummoxed by the problem that every parking space is assigned to an individual apartment, and there are no extra spaces that could be devoted to charging EVs. Even if there were a few such extra spaces, there would be conflicts over how many dedicated charging spaces to create and who is the reprobate responsible for leaving their fully charged car in the space overnight, preventing others from charging.
VW’s solution is a autonomous charger that, when requested through a car owner’s smartphone, hooks the car up to a battery wagon that the robot guides from needy car to needy car. The wagon can be hooked up to several cars simultaneously, and the robot will switch hookups as needed to ensure that all the cars get charged.
