Robotic EV Charging Is Being Tested in Texas

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EV charging robots are being demonstrated in parking lots at the Dallas Fort Worth Airport this summer.

Dallas Fort Worth International Airport will host the world’s first mobile, robotic EV charging demonstration this summer for passengers and employees alike with electric vehicles.

The robot performing the charging is named ZiGGY, and it is to come to your car parked in a DFW Airport parking lot when summoned, charge your car and then drive itself back to its base.

ZiGGY is the creation of Los Angeles-based EV Safe Charge, a privately held company that specializes in flexible EV charging technologies. It creates and implements temporary charging solutions for its large-scale commercial customers, including Jaguar, Porsche, Stellantis, Nissan, Audi, Daimler and Harley-Davidson, among others.

The company was chosen by DFW Airport to participate in a program to demonstrate a series of cutting-edge EV charging stations, DFW Airport said. The demonstration program is scheduled to run from May through August.

 

In the above YouTube video, ZiGGY is booked by a driver well away from the parking lot where ZiGGY resides. The robot then finds an open parking space, saves it by parking itself there and then notifies the driver what space it has reserved. Once the car arrives, ZiGGY moves out of the way, goes behind the vehicle and starts the charging process. When it’s time to leave, ZiGGY automatically goes back to its station to recharge itself.

“In evaluating potential technologies for their demonstration, DFW chose to display the tech offered by ZiGGY due to its innovative flexibility to reach every car in a parking lot, not just a few spaces,” Caradoc Ehrenhalt, founder and CEO of EV Safe Charge said in a statement.

Once mobile charging becomes commonplace, it could go a long way towards solving the annoying issue of ICEing, when a vehicle powered by an internal combustion engine takes the parking space in front of a charger.

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Dallas airport will demo this cute little mobile EV charging robot

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Instead of making the EVs park by a charger, this charger can come to the EV.

A mobile EV charger recharges a white BMW iX

Ziggy is a battery-powered EV charger on wheels that can come visit individual parking spaces to recharge EVs where they park

There are a few things we need to work on if we’re going to properly embrace the electric vehicle revolution. More batteries, for one—tight supplies mean automakers can only build enough EVs to satisfy some of the pent-up demand. Cheaper EVs would be helpful, too, considering that by the end of 2022 the average cost of a new EV was more than $61,000. And charging infrastructure needs to improve, too. Now, a new mobile EV charger called Ziggy might help with that last one.

Installing EV chargers usually isn’t too difficult if you’re a homeowner with a garage or carport, but things can get more complicated for multifamily dwellings and commercial parking premises. Permitting is often a big problem, and there can also be lengthy waits to get electrical infrastructure upgraded, particularly if the plan is to install level 3 DC fast chargers, which can suck up 100s of kWs of electricity from the grid.

Ziggy is the work of the company EV Charge Safe, and it flips the idea of EV charging on its head. Instead of a driver parking by the EV charger, Ziggy is mobile and can come to the car instead.

“The idea really came out of customer demand,” explained Caradoc Ehrenhalt, founder and CEO of EV Charge Safe. “So many people have contacted us asking us if we had a charger with the power on board, because we’re the first company to have created a comprehensive level two and DC fast charger rental solution.”

EV Safe Charge rents (static) chargers, for example, to car makers to use at car launches or ride-and-drive events. “So wherever anyone needs temporary EV charging or if someone is waiting for permits, they can rent our charger,” Ehrenhalt told me.

“What we’re hearing from people that want to use Ziggy around the world—shopping centers, hotels, airports, etc—is the common thread of the infrastructure being very challenging or not possible to put in or not cost effective or takes too much time. And so there really is the need for a mobile charging solution,” he said.

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The Dallas airport is testing out EV charging bots that roll around like suitcases

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Mobile EV charging stations may soon juice up travelers’ parked cars while they’re flying high.

ZiGGY mobile EV charger connected to vehicle in parking lot.

ZiGGY will show off its skills this summer at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. EV SAFE CHARGE/YOUTUBE

One of the world’s busiest airports will soon showcase an innovative, undeniably cute way to speed up travelers’ entrances and exits. First announced earlier this month, Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) is partnering with EV Safe Charge to demonstrate how the company’s mobile electric vehicle charging station, ZiGGY, could be deployed in public spaces to economically and conveniently power up consumers’ parked cars. Read more

How EV Safe Charge won Barcelona Innovation Challenge for Flexible Charging Solution

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Barcelona de Serveis Municipals (B:SM), the main services company owned by Barcelona City Council, today announced that EV Safe Charge, a U.S.-based provider of level-2 and DC fast-charging and temporary electric vehicle (EV) charging solutions, won the call made by the 2030 Agenda Commissioner of the Barcelona City Council and BSM through the InnovAcció 2030 programme to promote the development of a flexible EV charging point.

The aim of the project is to tackle various challenges in the expansion of electromobility in the city, such as the concentration of recharge points in parking areas and infrastructure maintenance.

B:SM chose EV Safe Charge as winner due to the company’s recently launched demonstration prototype of ZiGGY, a mobile, robotic EV charger that would be easily accessible to many vehicles within a car park. This win marks the first time that a city is piloting a mobile robotic EV charging solution anywhere in the world. Read more

EV Safe Charge Joins Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator Latest Cohort

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Latest Win for Startup and its Mobile Robotic EV Charger ZiGGY

LOS ANGELES, June 15, 2023 – EV Safe Charge was chosen by Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI) to be part of the organization’s latest Incubation Program cohort, providing opportunities for the startup to focus on accelerating its commercialization of the first and only mobile EV charging robot with communication and advertising, ZiGGY. LACI is the City of Los Angeles’s official cleantech business incubator, established to create an inclusive green economy for the people of Los Angeles by working with startups to accelerate the commercialization of clean technologies, transforming markets through partnerships with policymakers, innovators, and market leaders, and enhancing communities through workforce development, pilots, and other programs. The cohort includes companies that are transforming the landscape of zero emissions transportation, clean energy and sustainable cities. Read more

DFW International Airport Chooses EV Safe Charge’s Robotic Charger ZiGGY for Demonstrating Newest Charging Approaches – World’s First Mobile, Robotic EV Charging Demonstration at an Airport

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Second Such Recent Win for ZiGGY, Following Choice by Barcelona of  EV Safe Charge as Winner of EV-Charging Innovation Challenge

LOS ANGELES, May 17, 2023 – Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) Airport has named ZiGGY, the new robotic EV charger from EV Safe Charge, as a participant in the airport’s demonstration program to assess cutting-edge EV-charging approaches this summer. ZiGGY is the first and only mobile EV charger that aims to affordably and safely meet the EV charging needs of virtually any commercial parking lot – including airports – and offer a built-in communications and advertising platform to create a revenue stream for sites and maximize EV owner engagement. This airport demonstration is the first of its kind anywhere. DFW’s Innovation and Planning teams will host a series of EV charging demonstrations from May through August.

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Barcelona Chooses EV Safe Charge as Winner of Innovation Challenge Seeking Technology Solution for Flexible Electric Vehicle Charging to Encourage Electromobility

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Marks First Time a City is Piloting a Mobile Robotic EV Charging Solution Anywhere in the World

BARCELONA, May 10, 2023 – Barcelona de Serveis Municipals (B:SM), the main services company owned by Barcelona City Council, today announced that EV Safe Charge, a US-based provider of level-2 and DC fast-charging and temporary electric vehicle (EV) charging solutions, won the call made by the 2030 Agenda Commissioner of the Barcelona City Council and B:SM through the InnovAcció 2030 programme to promote the development of a flexible EV charging point. The aim of the project is to tackle various challenges in the expansion of electromobility in the city, such as the concentration of recharge points in parking areas and infrastructure maintenance.

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Resolts els dos reptes per impulsar el disseny de punts de recàrrega elèctrica mòbils i de baix cost

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BSM ha resolt els processos d’innovació que permetran iniciar el desenvolupament de punts de recàrrega flexibles i de baix cost per afavorir el desenvolupament de l’electromobilitat a la ciutat. Els dos projectes es desprenen d’un concurs públic realitzat en el marc del programa InnovAcció 2030, una iniciativa conjunta del Comissionat de l’Agenda 2030 de l’Ajuntament de Barcelona i BSM que vol trobar solucions innovadores que permetin avançar en l’Agenda 2030 i la consecució dels Objectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible.

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EV Safe Charge Named to Fast Company’s Next Big Things in Tech List

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NEWS RELEASE

 

EV Safe Charge Named to Fast Company’s Next Big Things in Tech List

 

World’s First and Only Mobile EV Charging Robot with Advertising Included in List of Tech Breakthroughs That Promise to Transform the Future

 

Los Angeles, November 17, 2022 — EV Safe Charge, a leading provider and innovator of electric vehicle (EV) charging technology, today announced that it has been named to Fast Company’s second annual Next Big Things in Tech list. Honoring technology breakthroughs that promise to shape the future, the List recognized the transformative possibilities of ZiGGYTM, EV Safe Charge’s innovative EV charging robot. ZiGGY is the first and only mobile charger that aims to affordably and safely meet the EV charging needs of virtually any commercial parking lot – and offer a built-in communications and advertising platform to create a revenue stream for sites and maximize EV owner engagement.

In June, EV Safe Charge unveiled its ZiGGY demonstrator to highlight its potential to dramatically expand the reach of EV charging to virtually any parking facility shopping and entertainment center, hotel, fleet operator and multifamily housing owner, providing easy charging to every EV driver who enters the lot. In addition, it overcomes the limitations of stationary EV chargers without the need for costly electrical infrastructure. Plus, ZiGGY’s digital ad server can generate advertising revenue for the facility and display customized information to connect with EV owners and facility visitors.

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Robot Charger is On the Move

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As the founder of EV Safe Charge, Caradoc Ehrenhalt is a big believer in electric vehicles.
So much so that he started the downtown-based company to provide electric charging stations, first in residential and then in commercial buildings.

And now he is pivoting again and getting into mobile charging stations with Ziggy, a battery on wheels.
After all, one of the barriers to mass electric vehicle adoption is charging anxiety, or the worry that a vehicle would run out of power before reaching a charging station.

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