With high-current cables becoming heavier, Hyundai’s ACR project provides hands-free charging
Charging EVs, and particularly how fast EVs can be charged, is seen as a major barrier to their uptake.
Speed is going to become an ever more pressing problem because, unlike petrol and diesel cars, EVs need a dedicated parking spot for a significant period when charging, so the less time they spend doing it the better.
A MINI chassis receives a polish at BMW’s Oxford plant. Source: BMW
However, faster charging and higher power being transmitted will mean cables become heavier, thicker and more cumbersome. That will make conventional handling difficult or impossible, especially for people with mobility problems.
It may also make things trickier in the dark, simply in terms of presenting a charger plug to the charge port and plugging it in. Hyundai’s answer to all this is the automatic charging robot (ACR).
The ACR was revealed in CGI videos last year but the real thing was on display at the 2023 Seoul mobility show in March. The ACR is installed at the side of a parking bay. The driver of the car (which in the demo is an Ioniq 6) pulls up in front of the bay, hops out and presses a button on the key fob, which instructs the Ioniq 6 to self-park and charge.
Read more: AutoCar
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