GM Gets Patent for Robotic EV Charger

General Motors is the latest automaker to try to get a patent for a robotic EV charger.

The patent application, titled "Robotic Charging Device," was filed by GM with the USPTO on November 30, 2021, and was just published this Thursday.

The application describes an automatic charging process in which the charger plugs itself into the EV and unplugs when charging is complete. The hardware for this consists of a base and a vertical post with an arm that can rotate or extend to position the charging cable.

Notably, the applicant for this idea is not only GM, but also GM Cruise Holdings, an autonomous driving technology company owned by GM. Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt, who also co-founded Cruise before selling it to GM, is listed as one of the inventors in the application.

This gives us a clue as to the potential uses for this robotic charger design. Robotic charging will likely be a necessity for self-driving cars. This application has even discussed the use of sensors in autonomous vehicles to locate charging cables.

Cruise launched a robotic cab service in San Francisco in early 2022, using a modified Chevrolet Bolt EV hatchback. The company is committed to EVs and plans to eventually add a dedicated vehicle called Origin. Therefore, Cruise should consider EV charging on a large scale.

Automatic charging has other potential benefits, such as making EVs more practical for people with mobility issues. Because of the promise, other automakers are experimenting with robotic chargers.

Hyundai recently unveiled a prototype EV charging robot at a major R&D center in South Korea, and Sterantis unveiled a mobile inductive charging robot along with its Ram 1500 Revolution BEV concept at CES this year. Tesla showed a prototype of a snake-like robotic charger in 2015, but there has been no movement toward further applications.