Ford’s Robot EV Charger For Disabled People - Needlessly Complicated?
Ford have started road trials of a hugely complicated and expensive charging solution for disabled EV drivers. There are cheaper and simpler ways as we will show you!
Ford’s Robot Charger
Ford’s robot charger is something a geek would design as a complicated solution where a simple one could cost a lot less!
The driver parks the car in the charging bay and pulls up the Ford app on their phone. They then tell it to charge the car.
A robot arm with a camera to position it perfectly emerges and plugs into the charging port.
Once plugged in the charging takes place, with a live update as to the battery state of charge.
When the EV user determines, they tell the robot to stop charging and unplug.
The robot withdraws the charging cable and the driver drives away.
This is like using a battle tank to crack a nut! Rapid EV chargers already cost upwards of £30,000 but with the thought and technology that goes into Ford’s robo-charger, we could be seeing another £10,000 added to the final retail price for a charging company. What if there was another way that costs significantly less?
Enter ZPN Energy
Coventry based ZPN Energy has a charging solution for disabled drivers that doesn’t add a penny to the cost of the charger. That sounds pretty cool doesn’t it?
Unlike every other charger currently on the market, ZPN’s Park Hubz is wheelchair accessible. No one wants to sit in the car for upwards of half an hour while a charge is put in the vehicle (you can get out while the Ford robo-charger charges too) and ZPN recognise this in their design. Simply, the cable, controls and screen are at the height of someone sat in a wheelchair. They get out of the car, plug it in and get on with the business of charging (perhaps having a pee and a coffee while the car charges).
ZPN Energy haven’t reinvented the wheel as Ford did with its tech-heavy solution but merely modified it to make it more user friendly. Yes, you will part with five figures of cash for the charger - it is competitively priced with other rapid chargers on the market, only without a massive lump of tech adding another £10k to the price tag!
Sometimes a simple solution is the better one, isn’t it? We’re sure Ford and IONITY will make big sales - Sir James Dyson sold his super duper vacuum cleaners even while Henry vacuums do the job after all! But you don’t need a Sherman tank to crack a nut when a decent pair of nutcrackers will do!
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