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VW's Electrify America to deploy robotic chargers

VW's Electrify America to deploy robotic chargers

The technology is aimed at charging autonomous EVs without human intervention.

Electrify America has announced plans to deploy robotic charging technology, eliminating the need for humans to manually plug in a cord. Getting out of the vehicle to plug in the charger is a seemingly simple task for EV owners. The robotic chargers are not aimed at humans, however, instead focusing on future fleets of autonomous EVs that must be charged occasionally between rides without anyone in the vehicle. Tesla a few years ago showed a prototype robotic 'snake' charge cord that automatically plugged into a car. Like the company's plans for swappable batteries, however, the idea has apparently collected dust as a concept rather than transitioning to production. Volkswagen-owned Electrify America and partner Stable Auto plan to deploy the robotic chargers at a pilot demonstration site in San Francisco by 2020.