Electrically powered vehicles will be seen more and more frequently on the roads. According to forecasts, there will be 25 million new registrations worldwide by 2025. This growth requires new technical solutions for the charging infrastructure. This is because the charging process should be as simple and quick as possible - and without the inconvenience to the driver of having to intervene, as is currently the case with wired charging, which is not much fun, especially in the rain or when it is raining. The intervention should be as quick as possible.

An automated conductive robot system has now been developed at the Institute of Automotive Engineering at Graz University of Technology, which for the first time makes it possible to charge different moving vehicles directly one after the other. The CCS convenience charging system is designed for standard and standardized charging plugs of electric vehicles, so that no special adaptations to the vehicles are required. BMW, Magna Steyr Engineering Graz, the automation specialist Keba and the Austrian Association for Automotive Engineering (ÖVK) were on board as project partners.

Programming and integrating sensor technology

A particular challenge for the scientists was the programming and integration of the sensor technology for the exact position and type recognition of the vehicle and charging socket. This involved working closely with the Institute for Machine Vision and Visualization at Graz University of Technology and equipping the robot charging system with several cameras. The cameras recognize the position and type of the charging socket and define for the robot where the charging cable must be plugged in. The aim was to design the sensor technology and the charging robot in such a way that no special adaptations to the vehicle are required, even when using different vehicle types and vehicle positions. The system can therefore be used for all standard and norm charging plugs. To solve the problem, the scientists developed a complex mechatronic system consisting of sensor technology, robot kinematics and robot control.

The Graz technology is designed to enable automated fast charging of electric vehicles with high charging capacities and to charge electric vehicles within a few minutes for longer driving distances. These high charging capacities require new types of liquid-cooled plugs and cables, which can be easily connected to the car using the robot-controlled fast-charging system.