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Tesla Robotaxis
Tesla continues to make great progress on its FSD (full self-driving) software, which will allow Tesla vehicles to drive themselves. However, one thing is still needed in order for a Robotaxi fleet to work - a good automated charging solution.
The only solution I've seen until now was a device that is like a giant snake that slowly moves and plugs into the charge port of the Tesla. This seems really slow and clunky, and there may be another solution to this problem.
The reason a better solution is needed is there has to be something that millions of cars can use that is easy to maintain and just works. Making millions of snake chargers or having a human plugging in charging to Tesla's at a service center just doesn't seem to make sense to me.
I expect that we'll see the first robotaxis in operation in 2024 and because of this, there is going to need to be a good charging solution. Not only that, for cases like mine where I don't have a house, there needs to be something easy to install that can take care of charging.
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Wireless EV Charging
The answer, it appears, is wireless charging, though this technology is not widespread or proven yet.
However, Tesla recently purchased Wiferion, an industrial wireless charging and power solutions company. Wiferion provides contactless wireless charging for industrial trucks, autonomous guided vehicles, and autonomous mobile robots.
This seems like the perfect company for Tesla to buy and as I went to Wiferion's home page, you can see a variety of machines moving around as well as wireless charging pads that robots can simply move on in order to start charging.
These landing pads are important for a factory environment with robots, as you can set them up to be along the path of the robots, so they get charged while they are doing their job.
For a Robotaxi car, you'll want these pads in a parking lot or some kind of garage in order to have the cars simply drive and park to start charging. The wireless charging will need to be able to operate at high speeds in order to make it worth it for a robotaxi. If wireless charging takes 8 hours to charge a vehicle, it won't work for daily Robotaxi use where multiple charges a day are needed.
If a wireless charger can charge a car from 20% to 80% in 30 minutes, then I think we are in the ballpark needed to make them viable for a robotaxi fleet. According to engineering.com, this is possible right now.
I would expect Tesla to put wireless charging pads at all its service center for charging and as for personal owners of robotaxi fleets, I think 3rd party companies are going to develop that will act as stations for EVs to charge. We will have to see how that plays out.
I personally would like a wireless charger in my parking spot for my condo - it sure would be nice to just drive and park and know I'm charging immediately.
Do you think wireless charging will work for EVs and is needed for robotaxis?
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Jeremy Johnson is a Tesla investor and supporter. He first invested in Tesla in 2017 after years of following Elon Musk and admiring his work ethic and intelligence. Since then, he's become a Tesla bull, covering anything about Tesla he can find, while also dabbling in other electric vehicle companies. Jeremy covers Tesla developments at Torque News. You can follow him on Twitter or LinkedIn to stay in touch and follow his Tesla news coverage on Torque News.
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