REDEFINING CHARGING

AUTOMATIC CONDUCTIVE CONNECTION DEVICE

Fully Automatic Connection

Together with the world's leading automotive OEMs, VOLTERIO is developing a revolutionary automatic connection device for electric vehicles. VOLTERIO is the smartest, fully automatic and affordable high power charging solution. The system does not require precise parking and can be easily integrated/retrofitted to almost every electric vehicle architecture because of the small packaging size as well as the low complexity of the onboard unit. The system comprises an onboard and offboard unit:

  • Vehicle Unit - Onboard unit in the car’s underbody
  • Ground Unit - Offboard charging robot

Smartest way to connect

Charging via a physical connection to the vehicle’s underbody is not only the most logical approach, but also enables the simplest possible robotic for an automatic connection. Due to the revolutionary self-centering, high power 360°-connector design, the angular orientation of the parking electric vehicle does not matter. Unlike inductive charging, whereas the vehicle must be positioned very precisely, the charging robot can handle large parking misalignments 0,4 x 0,4 m. Charging was never that simple - park and go away.

Hassle-free charging experience

The best charging experience is to have no experience. The VOLTERIO ground unit starts automatically to communicate with the electric vehicle's onboard unit via a secure WLAN connection when approaching. The electric vehicle must not be parked precisely over the ground unit. When charging is requested the ground unit automatically connects to the vehicle unit in the car's underbody guided by an ultrasound based micro-navigation system and the charging process starts automatically or can be scheduled by an intelligent charging management. Recharging will be something you don't have to care about - everything happens automatically.

Working Area of the Charging Robot

The compact designed ground unit measures only 800 mm in length, 420 mm in width and 68 mm in height. This is everything you notice from the VOLTERIO charging system. Alternatively, a not yet unveiled version of the charging robot, which will also be fully interoperable, is flat embedded in the ground. The ground unit's large working area compensates parking inaccuracies through a longitudinal and rotational movement.

The working area is defined by the area between the two concentric circles and can be limited to the green circle. The system works from all orientations of the car (forwards and backwards parking). Additionally, the VOLTERIO connector with its self-centering 360°-design, can compensate passively horizontal misalignments of several centimeters as well as slight tilts (pitch and roll). This results in very low requirements in terms of accuracy of the positioning system and makes the robot so inexpensive. VOLTERIO will not only be the cutting-edge solution for high-end luxury cars, it is designed to reach the mass market and can replace most of the conventional charging stations.

How does the automatic connection work?

New possibilities for AUTONOMOUS driving

Due to an 'anytime' automatic grid connection, VOLTERIO enables entirely new possibilities for autonomous driving cars. Up to now, there is no satisfying solution for upcoming autonomous driving electric vehicles for an automatic charging system. Furthermore, the entire parking time can be potentially used to obtain energy from the power grid when it is reasonable. This enhances new business models such as real-time pricing or active load management.

Revolutionary 360°-connector

The heart of the VOLTERIO system is the innovative, patented, self-centering 360°-connector, which is industrialized by Hirschmann Automotive©. The 360°-connector does not only enable a connection from every direction but also automatically aligns with its counter part due to the conical shape. The round design also allows for large conductor cross-sections for a high current carrying capacity, respectively, high power charging (AC and DC).

Why is automatic conductive charging superior to inductive charging?

VOLTERIO combines all of the advantages of conductive, cable based charging systems with the advantages of inductive systems without having their respective disadvantages or at least in a mitigated way. Inductive systems are too expensive to reach the mass market and have too many fundamentally physical related disadvantages compared to conductive systems.

Features of VOLTERIO

VOLTERIO is reimagining electric mobility for a seamless customer experience and provides everything to fulfills future expectations of an ideal charging system.

Automatic Charging

90% of charging takes place at home, these 90% will be fully automatic with VOLTERIO Premium

High Power

Enables charging with AC 22 kW for private homes; high power DC charging with >>100 kW is feasible

Energy-Efficient

In contrast to inductive charging systems, the physical (conductive) connection of VOLTERIO is practically lossless

Safety

VOLTERIO is electrically encapsulated, moisture and dirt protected, corrosion-resistant, always volt-free - it is the safest way to charge.

Easy installation

The vehicle unit will come with the series car or could be optionally retro fitted to most electric vehicles, the ground unit is just plug and play without any need for an electrician

Low cost

Even VOLTERIO provides fully automatic, high power charging, it can compete in terms of pricing with conventional charging stations

Compatibility

VOLTERIO is fully compatible with conventional charging equipment and uses the same communication standards for charging

Intelligent Charging

An intelligent charging management system enables optimized balance between charging capacity, duration with regards to alternating supply grid loads

Supporters

Feel free to contact us

Among our clients are already the world's leading premium OEMs. Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions, comments, messages or if you are also looking for strategic collaborations:

office[at]volterio.com