You take your electric car and after a good walk around the city you go into the mall to run errands. Problem: when you arrive you find that there are no free spaces for EVs in the car park and, consequently, no recharging points. It may seem difficult today, when plug-in and electric hybrids represent a tiny portion of registrations —5% and 2.8% in 2021, respectively—; but, if, as everything indicates, we maintain the transition towards a new model of electric mobility, it may not be so in a few years.
To anticipate similar scenarios and combat “range anxiety” in the process, the fear of running out of battery, one of the great handicaps that put drivers back when it comes to leaving combustion cars and making the leap to new electric models, the EV Safe Charge company has decided to launch a new device that makes it easy to charge EVs.
Your ZiGGY device is a mobile and autonomous robot designed to facilitate the charging of electric cars in spaces such as car parks, hotels or shopping centers and overcome the limitations of conventional charging points. And, by the way, its costs. EV Safe Charge claims to be the first of its kind and, at least to date, the only one to offer the same features, which include an audiovisual and interactive platform designed for advertising.
Goal: easier loads
The dynamics of the robot is very simple. The driver requests the ZiGGY service through an app or directly from the screen of your vehicle and when you arrive at the car park you find that the robot is already waiting for you, reserving a space and ready to recharge.
One of the great advantages of ZiGGT is that, when moving, the operation can be done in one of the places equipped with a plug or in any other point of the garage. When recharging is complete, the robot returns to its base of operations to recharge and prepare for the next service. The supply, in turn, is obtained through the network, batteries, solar energy or a combination.
“ZiGGY is a flexible solution and simple for virtually any office, mall, or apartment complex to help meet the growing charging needs of your tenants and guests without costly investment and time spent on infrastructure and installation. In many cases, especially in older buildings, adding electric vehicle chargers is not an option,” explains Caradoc Ehrenhalt, founder and CEO of EV Safe Charge.
The manager puts in one of the great advantages of the company’s robot: it allows to dispense with large installations of recharging points. In order for it to operate, it actually comes with an operations post where the robot can supply itself with energy once the service ends.
“We created ZiGGY in response to the growing demand for flexible EV charging solutions from our customers and to help support the global transition to a future with cleaner and greener all-electric mobility”, emphasizes the entrepreneur: “By help drivers to overcome load anxietyOne of the barriers to mass adoption of electric vehicles, ZiGGY is improving the electric car charging experience for everyone.”
The message is not accidental. Some purchase studies show that when making the leap and changing conventional cars, with fossil fuel, for VE, one of the great handicaps that stop the purchase is the fear of being left lying in the middle of the road. So ingrained is this fear that it even exceeds other weak points of electric cars, such as price, and remains despite the efforts of the industry to increase the autonomy of its models.
To combat it in the US, the European Union or Spain itself, it is betting on strengthening the network of chargers, installing them even on remote and little-traveled roads.
EV Safe Charge Previews ZiGGY, First and Only Mobile EV Charging Robot with Interactive Advertising Platform. See the video of ZiGGY in action here! https://t.co/rGOJPMFg3V See ZiGGY on the web: https://t.co/HlurDVQXsC #EV #ElectricVehicle #robotics #advertising pic.twitter.com/MnJ9vLjOWv
—EV Safe Charge (@EVSafeCharge) June 14, 2022
The ZiGGY robot also incorporates another important innovation, especially since a business perspective and focused on the profitability of the service: two large screens that can serve as support for advertising or virtual kiosks. “It is an additional income generator for parking operators,” says the company. Today, he explains, the ZiGGY service is already available in some facilities in the US, such as hotels in Redwood or Brooklyn.
The firm’s plans, however, are to start production in 2023.
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism