A mobile robot by EV safe Charge ZiGGY was revealed this month. It can charge a car whenever it’s parked and also find energy sources to recharge itself. ZiGGY can eliminate the need to install EV charging stations in certain locations. The convenience ensures that all the EVs need not necessarily go to the EV charging point.
Key points.
ZiGGY reduces or eliminates the costs involved in installing stationary EV charging systems.
Ziggy is basically a big battery on wheels that will plug into your car to recharge it.
Ziggy will navigate parking garages and lots autonomously
This EV charging concept could make any urban infrastructure EV-ready without ripping up concrete and spending countless dollars on retrofits.
Chargers like ZiGGY can eliminate the need to install EV charging stations in certain locations like multi-story apartment blocks and offices.
ZiGGY is a robotic mobile EV charging platform that serves all parking spaces, not just a few. As more EVs hit the roads every day, EV charging demand can’t keep up. New regulations on parking infrastructure are being introduced daily to try to meet that demand, at significant costs. 500 million chargers could be required globally by 2040, up from fewer than six million today, representing nearly $1.6 trillion of cumulative investment in EV charging infrastructure. The company claims, that ZiGGY reduces or eliminates the costs involved in installing stationary EV charging systems.
Ziggy can save you a parking spot and recharge your car, which will make EVs more feasible in a variety of spaces. Ziggy is a robot designed to do just that. In development by the startup EV Safe Charge since 2019 (and not slated to ship until 2023), Ziggy is basically a big battery on wheels that will plug into your car to recharge it. Ziggy will navigate parking garages and lots autonomously, so you’ll be able to book it in an app and it will pull into a numbered parking spot where it waits for you while claiming dibs on your zone. Once you arrive, Ziggy will pull out of the way so you can plug in your car.
This entire process isn’t just convenient for an EV driver on the go; Ziggy decouples the very notion of a charging station from any singular parking spot. With Ziggy, any bit of open parking can become an EV charging station—or, at least, that’s the plan. Ziggy will be capable of recharging itself autonomously between jobs, but of course, a charger would still have to be installed on location to refuel Ziggy. (Its precise battery capacity is still being finalized.)
Crafted in conjunction with San Francisco-based design studio Box Clever, Ziggy is being developed with more intention than its refrigerator-on-wheels form may first reveal. The entire bottom—the black portion of the system—is its battery and drive train, which distributes the weight low to make Ziggy stable, even in wind. The four wheels each have their own motor, allowing the robot to pivot without making wide turns. And while Ziggy is big (its final dimensions are still being tweaked), it will be small enough to squeeze onto a path or even through a doorway.
Ziggy’s unmissable screen serves as an advertising platform, yes, but it also glows so that drivers see Ziggy and don’t run it over. The screen doubles as an information kiosk that will show the driver a map of the local garage, along with nearby businesses they may want to peruse while waiting 30 minutes or more to top off their vehicle. To ensure no one hogs Ziggy for too long, the system will bill based on time (much like some Tesla Superchargers do).
Chargers like ZiGGY can eliminate the need to install EV charging stations in certain locations like multi-story apartment blocks and offices. The convenience ensures that all the EVs need not necessarily go to the EV charging point.
The makers of ZiGGY say it will be made available for orders soon. There is a dedicated production page for it on its website. The product is expected to be launched into the market by 2023.
For more information, head to the company's website - https://evsafecharge.com/ziggy/
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