The idea of creating a kind of “external battery” for electric vehicles is far from new, but its practical implementation in most cases faces the low efficiency of such sources of electricity. The Chinese brand Wuling decided to equip its “mobile charging stations” for electric vehicles with an autopilot, but the need to manually connect the charging cable stood in the way of full automation.
Image source: Wuling
A larger modification of the Wuling mobile charging station has a nominal capacity of 141 kWh, which is comparable to the full charge of the traction battery of some Zeekr models, for example, so it’s still not worth flattering yourself with the ability of such a device to fully charge several electric vehicles in a row. The station has overall dimensions of 2280 × 940 × 1696 mm and four wheels on which it can independently move to a given point on the map at a speed of no more than 5 km/h. By the way, there are restrictions on the steepness of the climb; it cannot exceed 15 percent (8.5 degrees). But the turning radius of the “self-propelled charger” does not exceed 2.7 meters.
The main purpose of such a charging station is to help motorists at times of peak load on stationary charging networks. The option with a 141 kWh battery is estimated by Wuling at $42,000, which is already comparable to the cost of a full-fledged electric car in China, and a well-equipped one at that. When connecting a pair of electric vehicles at the same time, the peak power of the charging station is limited to 60 kW, but when using only one charging cable it rises to 120 kW. Moreover, there is a modification of the charging station with a single cable; it produces no more than 90 kW. The station itself can be charged from a source with a maximum power of 120 kW. The device is based on an LFP battery. The entire assembled station weighs about 1700 kg. It navigates the terrain using GPS and four lidars; the case is protected from atmospheric phenomena according to the IP54 standard.
Those who want to save money can purchase the junior version of the Wuling mobile charging station for $11,000, which has a battery capacity of 30 kWh and a maximum output power of 20 kW, but is significantly smaller in size.