Chinese Envision Group to build mobile robots for charging electric vehicles
One of China's largest wind turbine manufacturers plans to address the country's chronic shortage of electric vehicle charging points with mobile robots that deliver energy to the car. Envision Group plans to begin trials of its Mochi robot in Shanghai in 2021. The robot will also be sent to Singapore.
The company aims to make the robot available through a membership service based on a smartphone app, which will allow drivers to leave their cars so that Mochi can find them and charge them automatically.
“Your parking will be completely transformed. You won't waste time looking for charging stations. You won't need to wait at your charging station. We can place a robot in all the parking lots of large buildings”
As many countries seek to move from gasoline-powered cars to greener vehicles, building charging infrastructure to support electric vehicle drivers has become a key challenge. Even with enough charging points, the process takes longer than refueling conventional cars.
Mochi is meant to make life easier for electric vehicle drivers, but it is also part of Envision's broader ambition to fight climate change by building a new type of energy system. According to the Global Wind Energy Council, the company is the fourth-largest wind turbine manufacturer in the world after Vestas, General Electric and China's Goldwind. Envision also has a battery business that supplies automaker Nissan Motor.
Zhang hopes to create an energy system in which wind and solar power replace coal in electricity generation, and batteries and hydrogen replace the fossil fuels used in transport. He says a new grid is also needed, a digital platform to connect all devices to achieve synergy between supply and demand.
Lei Zhang previously worked in the financial sector but decided to leave when he saw signs of a global crisis. Wanting to "do something more meaningful" and sensing opportunities in sustainable development and renewable energy, he founded Envision in 2007.
The company already uses digital technologies to increase the performance of wind farms, equipping each turbine with up to 500 sensors and using artificial intelligence to detect potential equipment faults.
Envision uses its Internet of Things and artificial intelligence systems to manage renewable energy assets, buildings and other parts of the energy infrastructure. It also produces lithium-ion batteries through its subsidiary Envision AESC, formerly a joint venture with Japanese companies Nissan Motor and NEC. According to Zhang, Envision Group's annual revenue is about $8 billion.
One of Envision's ultimate goals is to use an AI-driven IoT platform to adjust energy demand to match supply, which is essential given the unpredictable nature of renewable energy sources.
If the world reaches net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, as governments aim to do, the economy will become fully dependent on the weather. Unlike coal and oil, the availability of renewable energy depends on factors such as sunlight and wind. The company already has a weather forecasting system and hopes to improve the accuracy of its forecasts by building its own satellite network.
Zhang says the widespread use of electric vehicle batteries will "have a huge impact on the energy system" because it will make supply and demand more flexible. In addition to energy storage batteries, the company plans to develop its own equipment for producing hydrogen.
Hydrogen can be produced through electrolysis, which uses electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. It is considered a key technology for decarbonizing sectors that are hard to electrify, such as steel production and the chemical industry. Zhang said: "Perhaps in the future every offshore wind turbine will have an electrolyzer, so that hydrogen comes out of it."
Envision Group is a global team that considers new markets, including Japan's young wind energy sector. Envision's battery business is based in Japan. According to Zhang, there are opportunities worldwide and, by being open to global talent ready for partnership, access to all countries can be gained.
