GM has filed a patent application for a system that would be able to automatically insert a charger into an electric vehicle’s charging outlet without the need for human input.
This GM patent filing has been assigned application number US 2022/0126718 A1 with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and was published on April 28th, 2022. It’s titled “system and method of autonomously charging an electric vehicle” and lists Michigan-based engineers Xiang Zhao and Ninjiang Huang as the inventors.
This patent describes a system that would be able to autonomously insert a charging cable into an EV’s charge port. The design includes a “movable charge arm” that is “movable within a predetermined number of degrees of freedom” to connect the plug with the port. The charge arm may have a sensor or camera on the end of it, which would be capable of detecting where the charge port is located or when the plug has successfully been inserted into the port. In certain designs, the arm could be connected to a “sliding mechanism” that would allow it to reach the vehicle. The design may also move the vehicle itself in order to align it with the charge plug.
Siemens Autonomous Charging System
This system could be useful for future fully autonomous vehicles from GM, enabling these vehicles to travel to a charging stall and plug in without human intervention. This would be applicable in the case of fully autonomous fleets like the one GM may one day operate with its Cruise Origin robotaxi, as the vehicles would be able to find a charging stall and charge up all on their own. We’ve seen similar ideas from German tech giant Siemens, which presented a very similar design at the 2021 Munich motor show fittingly called the Siemens Autonomous Charging System. The tech company said this solution is still needed despite the existence of wireless charging, as inductive charging methods are inefficient and provide only a fraction of the charging power at the moment.
This is one of several recent GM patents that would be applicable to autonomous vehicles like the Origin or a future production version of the Cadillac SocialSpace Concept. Others include a suspension failure detection system, as well as a blanket airbag and an in-vehicle gaming system.
Subscribe to GM Authority for more GM autonomous vehicle news, GM patent filing news and around-the-clock GM news coverage.
Comments
If a Roomba can “autonomously” charge, then I see no reason why an EV cannot. The less moving parts involved, the better.
For one, all Roombas are the same size, and beyond that each manufacturer has its own dock design. Two, Roombas are so small that there’s no potential of getting crushed to death by a giant moving robot arm. Three Roombas are small enough that nobody cares about the dock size overhead: nobody has a parking lot of 100 Roombas in their house.
Lot more things to think about.
For the record, I was NOT saying these are overgrown Roombas, lol. I was just musing on the feasibility from an engineering standpoint. Certainly other considerations must be taken.
Why is the charge port on the left side? In the USA that is street side. If the time comes that chargers line every street like parking meters, the cord will have to drape over the vehicle. Nice.
Because the majority of charging is done at home, so you design for the most common case. The driver gets out of the left side and plugs in their home charger on the way. They also unplug on the way in. Your idea would force the driver to circle around the car twice every day.
It’s also why the charge port is forward of the driver, not aft like a conventional gas filler.
Early EVs tried the port on the center of the front, but that’s a pain bending down. And in a home garage, the cord becomes an awkward trip hazard.
If the Majority charge at home, then we don’t need these ugly chargers. What if you are a renter in a city?
Then it’s a hassle. It’s better to design something that’s easy 80% of the time (EV home charge rate) and inconvenient 20% of the time, rather than vice versa.
Most gas vehicles have their gas filling port on the driver side, too. Check your own car.
I have 2 vehicles and one filler is on right and one on left.
Have these engineers consider how to open the charge port door? The only EV that has an electric sliding door is the 2023 Cadillac Lyriq .
Hi Raymond –
This design here seems very bloated…. People have made things in their basement that aren’t as ‘Robustified’ (Rugged) as would be required, but they are much, much smaller and can articulate in 3 axis – which would include clicking the charge port open and closing it later…. Ones I have seen take about 90 seconds worst case to work, but this is with just a cell phone type camera looking around for things. The delay is to have the camera precisely to align in the 3 axis so that the J1772 plug-in can be a ‘straight-in and out’ operation to make it trouble-free.
In any event – these ‘mechanical hands’ are a much improved solution over those potentially dangerous and inefficient wireless things…… These obviously charge the car just as efficiently as if a human was there..
People who are very arthritic definitely need this type of thing – especially when wrestling with those very heavy fast charger cables.
In today’s news it’s reported that here in New England, if we have a warm season, to expect our electric rates to rise by 16% due to the price of natural gas. We already have some of the highest rates in the country.
Hi Gary – I know that most of New England is franchised by British owned “National Grid”… You guys pay I believe well over 20 cents per kilowatt-hour.
I’m in Buffalo (WESTERN) NY, also National Grid but in NY State. Only the municipal utilities distant from Buffalo are more reasonable at about 1/2 the cost I pay here, but even so – last month for 24/7/365 pricing I paid 12.26 cents (12 1/4) per kwh. About 1/5 th the price of gasoline for an equivalently sized gasoline-powered car.
Downstate (Westchester County and NY City) ev owners pay a ridiculous 35 cents / kwh – and anyone nuts enough to sign up for time-of-day pricing at times pays over $1 / kwh for ‘super-on-peak’ pricing. But Consolidated Edison has been basically stealing money from their subscribers for decades… What they don’t spend on incompetence, that is.
Keep up the good work GM. Electric vehicles are the future.
GM patented their Killing Ignition…
And boy did it Kill. GM Killed 125 Americans. I’ve always wondered why they never even tried to Kill Europeans and Chinese, just Americans. I don’t think other countries would have smiled and no problemo … oh wait these weren’t made in Mexico, they were made right here to Kill right here.
It did Kill brilliantly, rurn off airbags, power steering, power brakes, wheel locks, and your daughter is going 55 on a curved roadway. Yep driver fault. A Killer ignition worthy of a Patent.
Car Washes are fully automatic. This doesn’t seem like an overly brilliant concept. However, I think it’s still a good idea. Just wait until more designs come along with their own patents. This is just the beginning. 0e