State Grid Changzhou Power Supply Company Powers the Province's First "Pile - to - Vehicle" Mobile Charging Robot Charging Station

Recently, in the Laimengcheng residential community of Wujin District, Changzhou, Jiangsu, State Grid Changzhou Power Supply Company successfully energized the province’s first “charger-to-car” mobile charging robot station.

Difficulties in charging new - energy vehicles are a common problem faced by many existing residential communities. Leman City Community was built in 2010, with a total of 6,345 houses. It is a typical large - scale residential area. Parking is already difficult, and charging new - energy vehicles is even harder. It is reported that with the increase in the number of new - energy vehicles in the community, the capacity of the community garage’s power distribution facilities is approaching saturation. Moreover, since the community is supplied by a property - dedicated transformer, the renovation of the community’s power distribution facilities needs to be led by the property management company. Since 2023, the existing facilities could no longer meet the demand for new charging piles.

In April, State Grid Changzhou Power Supply Company partnered with Zhaozhuang (Zhejiang) New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. to pilot the mobile charging robot station in this community. Shifting from the traditional “car-finds-charger” model to the innovative “charger-finds-car” approach, the project aims to address NEV charging challenges in older communities and high-voltage self-managed power supply areas, providing residents with green, flexible, and safe smart charging services. 

The completed mobile charging robot charging station covers an area of about 12 square meters, providing charging for mobile charging robots when they “return to base”. The two mobile charging robots “on duty” this time are about half a person’s height and more than one meter long. They are compact in appearance but highly capable. Both are fast - charging devices with a power of 50 kilowatts, and they can complete the “range replenishment” for new - energy vehicles in an average of 1.5 hours. At the front of the mobile charging robot are the charging cable and connector, in the middle is a 93 - kilowatt - hour energy - storage battery, at the tail is a prominent QR code, and at the bottom are four wheels, enabling it to move flexibly. Car owners only need to scan the QR code or use a mini - program, enter information such as the parking location in the community, the required charging amount, and the owner’s required vehicle - using time, and then they can make an appointment for the robot to come and charge beside the car. After the required charging amount is reached, the robot automatically stops charging and sends a reminder message to the car owner’s mobile phone.

“The intelligent mobile charging robot charging station provides an efficient and convenient charging solution for complex scenarios such as old communities,” said Chen Liang, General Manager of Wujin District Power Supply Company of Changzhou. In the future, the application scale and scope of the project will be expanded. It is planned to put 100 intelligent charging vehicles into use within the year and introduce V2G technology to help Changzhou build a “Vehicle - Pile - Grid” coordinated and interactive vehicle - grid interaction demonstration city. (By Xu Duo, Huang Libo)