Chinese mobility firm AIWAYS is developing an autonomous charging robot named ‘CARL’ to help solve challenges around charging an electric vehicle.

EV owners will be able to summon a CARL located nearby via a smartphone app and leave. The robot will then use GPS data to locate the vehicle within the area in which it operates, plug in and start charging it automatically. Once the charging process is complete, CARL will continue to the next user, or return to its base station.

Developed with 30kwh and 60kwh capacities, CARL can provide a fast charge to any EV with a recognised charging standard and can charge an EV battery to 80% in under 50 minutes.

“Instead of drivers trying to find a charger, the charger will find them,” said Alex Klose, Vice President for Overseas Operations at AIWAYS. “We want to make EV ownership as simple, easy and enjoyable as possible, and CARL provides a blueprint for how EVs can be charged in the future.”

AIWAYS has been granted seven patents across Europe and China to develop the autonomous charging robot.