A consortium of automotive and technology experts is working towards a vision of creating robotic, automated, charging for electric vehicles situated at charging stations across European highways.
To move this vision closer to reality, the ROCIN-ECO consortium has welcomed Rocsys, a provider of autonomous charging solutions powered by robotics and artificial intelligence.
Other members of the consortium include IONITY, Audi, TÜV SÜD, Porsche, BMW, Ford, Mercedes-Benz, AVL, and Huber+Suhner.
The vision of the ROCIN-ECO consortium is to equip fast charging stations along European highways with one or more robotic charging lanes. The lanes enable a fully automated charge in approximately 15-30 minutes and as such offer a premium and carefree charging experience to EV drivers and make charging less challenging for drivers with physical limitations. Additionally, the robotic lanes will offer an ROI improvement of up to 20% for the charging station operator by eliminating idle time between charging of multiple cars at busy moments.
Crijn Bouman, CEO and co-founder of Rocsys, said: “Rocsys is the first provider of robotic charging, and we are diligently working toward a future where all charging will be autonomous. We are proud to join this great consortium with such powerful international partners. Autonomous charging can only be successful with a fully interoperable approach between the charging infrastructure and electric vehicles. A connected and integrated approach, which also involves standardization activities, is a prerequisite to success. Therefore, the consortium drives the IEC and ISO standards for robotic charging, will deliver demonstration vehicles and live test sites and will input practical insights from their efforts into the standard. The aim is to create a concept eventually accessible to all car manufacturers worldwide and create a true Robotic Charging Infrastructure Ecosystem (ROCIN-ECO). With this consortium, we will strengthen and support each other in the development of an optimal concept for enabling carefree e-mobility. We look forward to working with all the partners.”
