China-based, NaaS Technology Inc. recently announced the launch of its first autonomous mobile charging robot with features like active vehicle locating, smart charging, and automatic payment settlement to meet the growing demand for mobile charging of electric vehicles (EVs). The company is a producer of electric vehicle charging infrastructure with a variety of (stationary) chargers ranging from 30-400kW. This is the first mobile charging product from the company.
During an automatic charging session, the mobile robotic charging unit uses a mechanical arm to automatically dock with the EV charging port. Customers are automatically billed for the service. The NaaS robot is completely waterproof and shock-proof enabling its operation in outdoor conditions. The charging unit is available in different configurations of charging power and battery capacity.
Through its API interface, the automatic charging robot can already connect to the EV car system. If the battery power is low, the automatic charging robot will search for a car on its own. When it gets close to the vehicle, the mechanical arm will correctly find the charging port and plug in and unplug the charging gun without any help from a person. The whole process will be done autonomously.
NaaS expects autonomous recharging to become a reality for self-driving cars in the future. The charging process can be further combined with automatic charging technology using the robotic arm to provide automatic and unmanned charging services, while customers take advantage of nearby retail, dining and spa options.
NaaS’ charging robot was independently developed by the company’s Automatic Energy Replenishment Solution team, whose members include former employees of Bosch, BMW, and other globally reputable carmakers and technology companies. The team has deep expertise and experience in robotics, autonomous driving and vehicles, industrial automation technology, software algorithms, sensors and other related areas.
The company is listed on NASDAQ (ticker symbol: NAAS) and has connected over 515,000 chargers as of December 31, 2022. The company has also obtained more than 100 domestic and overseas patents across charging services, mobile charging devices and integrated PV-storage charging station solutions.
