Westfalia Technologies, a US-based storage and retrieval systems specialist (not to be confused with the German campervan manufacturer), unveiled the Weplug automated charging system. It features a robotic arm on an overhead gantry that moves from car to car, but some human intervention is still required.
Westfalia Technologies was founded in 1992 and specializes in storage retrieval automation. This is particularly useful in warehouses, but the company has also developed systems for parking garages, where cars can be moved by robotic lifts and movers to maximize space and efficiency.
Ceiling-mounted robotic arm that moves from vehicle to vehicle
Now, Westfalia has developed another layer of service for larger parking spaces with multiple electric vehicles on-site, including dealerships and corporate lots: an automated charging system that moves from car to car. It’s called Weplug and promises to save on cost, time, and efficiency.
Weplug promises to solve the automated charging problem by using an overhead gantry with a robotic arm that connects automatically to the vehicle’s charging port. This means that the arm can reach the port regardless of its location and the vehicle’s parking position.
One human intervention is needed
However, this is where the only human intervention must be made: in order to ensure that the robotic arm can safely and securely connect to every type of port, an adapter must be fitted to the vehicle before charging can begin. The rest of the operation can be done fully automatically.
Westfalia’s Weplug system also promises to save on infrastructure costs. It uses a single utility connection for multiple vehicles rather than mounting several charging points to the floor or walls and wiring them up. The system uses a 50 kW fast charger, meaning that most electric vehicles can be charged in around an hour.
Works in tandem with automated parking solutions
With Westfalia’s expertise in automated parking, multiple vehicles could be moved to the “charging area” and then returned to a more permanent parking spot in a completely automated process.
“What makes combining WEPLUG® with our automated parking systems especially impactful is how we can orchestrate the movement of EVs across an entire system for charging,” said Ian Todd, Executive VP of Automated Parking.
“It’s simple but powerful. We connect a car and charge it. Once finished, we move it to another spot in the facility whilst the overhead gantry moves to the next EV to be charged. Then we bring in the next EV that needs charging to that same spot, thus adding it to the charging queue.
This intelligent choreography enables fewer charging points, and a single gantry to service significantly more vehicles, dramatically improving efficiency while reducing infrastructure costs that allow a variety of configurations to be possible with WEPLUG’s smart design.”
Of course, a single 50 kW charging point has limitations in parking lots where many vehicles need to be charged during a working day. In this case, multiple Weplug robot arms would be needed. But the system does make a lot of sense in longer-term parking lots, like at airports, dealerships, and fleet depots.
