"Robotic Autoplug" (?)

[AV-NUT]

Robotic automatic plug in - Musk

Musk Tweeted that Tesla is working on a robotic automatic plug-in for charging. Says that it will work on all existing Model S cars and future ones.

Tesla Is Working On Robotic Snakes That Emerge From The Wall To Charge Your Car | TechCrunch

I remember a remotely similar idea from 2013 for gas cars. Are you ready for automatic drive-through gas fill-ups?

However, this may turn out to be something like this. gif from Kinja.

 

[Vger]

Elon hinted at this from the stage at the "D" event in Hawthorne. He actually said, in public, "some of my engineers are probably hearing this for the first time, but..."

It was right after he talked about the autopilot being capable of coming to meet you out of your garage. I think he might have realized, in the moment, that a robotic charge cord would be needed for this!

 

[youlikeadajuice]

I just wish we could get "shuffle" for the media player...

 

[AV-NUT]

I just wish we could get "shuffle" for the media player...

I am with you on this. Although I can appreciate the forward thinking, I would like to see the exiting platform perfected. Shuffle should one of the easiest. Autopilot is a another step. Others, like 360 cameras, would take more work.

 

[Kevin Harney]

I just wish we could get "shuffle" for the media player...

That was and still is a problem for BMW also. My solution: Select all songs. Play in Alphabetical order by Song Title. Not a perfect solution as there are some duplicates for live albums but a pretty good mixture.

 

[jerry33]

That was and still is a problem for BMW also. My solution: Select all songs. Play in Alphabetical order by Song Title. Not a perfect solution as there are some duplicates for live albums but a pretty good mixture.

That's what I do. The only problem is that when you get to a classical album, all the tracks tend to start with the same word.

 

[Kevin Harney]

That's what I do. The only problem is that when you get to a classical album, all the tracks tend to start with the same word.

Yep I have that problem too.

 

[HankLloydRight]

eh... Bob Gale had this same idea in Back to the Future 2 in 1989...

 

[bluenation]

hehe, cheeky musk

btw, you guys know why that videogame protagonist is named 'solid snake'?
well, speaking of D....

 

[TEG]

(Well, since SpaceX can dock with the space station... this should be a 'piece of cake.')

 

[Larry93428]

This is the reason for the powered charge port door.
~Larry

 

[ecarfan]

That looks like a very expensive solution to the "problem" of how to connect the charging cable to your Model S without using your arm. As much as I admire Tesla engineering, I am not convinced that they can come up with a reasonably priced "auto connecting" cable in the near future. So prove me wrong...

 

[thelastdeadmouse]

That looks like a very expensive solution to the "problem" of how to connect the charging cable to your Model S without using your arm. As much as I admire Tesla engineering, I am not convinced that they can come up with a reasonably priced "auto connecting" cable in the near future. So prove me wrong...

My initial reaction is that these would be overkill for residential applications, but would be excellent once you add self parking and superchargers. Pull up to a full Supercharging station, park in a nearby spot. The station keeps track of arrival order, pulls you up to an empty spot, plugs in, then unplugs pulls away when its done. This solves a lot of problems related to supercharging, and related to overnight charging in cities. A single supercharger in a parking garage could charge many S'es overnight in this fashion.

 

[HankLloydRight]

eh... Bob Gale had this same idea in Back to the Future 2 in 1989...

View attachment 67642

By the way, that image was from "the future"..... 2015!!!

 

[mike_j]

Have we missed the point - could the automatic attachment be useful for supercharging congestion? Have one unit for every two parking spaces once the first car is charged, automatically detach and attach to a waiting neighbouring car.

 

[HankLloydRight]

Have we missed the point - could the automatic attachment be useful for supercharging congestion? Have one unit for every two parking spaces once the first car is charged, automatically detach and attach to a waiting neighbouring car.

Wouldn't that be easier done by just providing two cables to be plugged in, and when car #1 is done just switch to car #2 ?

Pretty much how the pairing and taper already works.

 

[AnOutsider]

Wouldn't that be easier done by just providing two cables to be plugged in, and when car #1 is done just switch to car #2 ?

Pretty much how the pairing and taper already works.

Not if there isn't space and the cars need to use auto pilot to shuffle around.

 

[ariporad]

By the way, that image was from "the future"..... 2015!!!

I think it was like October 30th or something. So Texaco just needs to build an automated supercharger for flying cars in the next ten months.

 

[HankLloydRight]

Not if there isn't space and the cars need to use auto pilot to shuffle around.

I was responding to this comment:

Have one unit for every two parking spaces once the first car is charged,

.. which asserts ample parking. If one assumes ample/dual stall parking, no robots are needed.. just two cables plugged into two cars at the same time, and the Supercharger decides when to switch over to the other car.

But really, that's no different than the pairing/taping issues we already have, just with more parking spaces and more complicated "rules."

And if AutoPilot is used (which is only on the newest cars, not the 50k existing MSs, BTW), then no robots would be needed anyway.

 

[AnOutsider]

Ah, roger that. My bad.