Electric Vehicle Charging Systems

Conductive charging usually involves contact-based recharging. Automated conductive charging solutions, on the other hand, offer a more efficient, convenient and safe way of transferring energy without manually plugging in the charging cable. The concrete realizations of automated conductive charging technology currently differ in the design of the connection mechanics and the design of the contact interface. A prototype development of a charging robot is known, which used a robotic arm to automatically plug and unplug the charging cable into an electric vehicle. Another prototype is the e-charging station of the future, which consists of a charging system that can be retracted into the roadway and the docking module built into the vehicle floor. Another aspect of the automation of the conductive charging process is represented by current collectors (pantographs), which have already proven their worth in use on electric buses and industrial electric utility vehicles. 

For the automated charging of electric batteries, the intelligent current transfer solutions from Schunk Transit Systems are market leaders. Our compact roof-mounted pantographs with contacting based on the "bus-up" principle and the inverted pantographs with the "top-down" principle can automatically connect to the charging infrastructure in just five seconds. Depending on the general conditions, different contact units and power grids are used. Charging takes place almost exclusively with direct current, so that the charging power can be transferred with high current transmission and almost without energy loss. As a result, our automated charging systems are currently among the leading and most sophisticated recharging technology in public transport with battery-powered electric buses.

The biggest factor slowing the roll-out of e-mobility in the automotive industry is a lack of charging infrastructure. Either the infrastructure simply isn’t available yet, or the available charging stations take too much time and too much complex, manual operation. Schunk Transit Systems is addressing this challenge by developing the hands-free underbody solution. In the future, this charging system will allow vehicles to charge efficiently, safely and conveniently in just a few seconds – either at a public charging point or in your home garage. This is made possible by a remote station that can be installed into the driveway, the interface installed in the underbody of the vehicle and an extremely high power transmission. In addition to the greatly shortened charging time, the fully automated charging process is an outstanding feature. No more charging cables or plugs – the car is positioned automatically over the charging system and be charged autonomously.