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Charging at home is already more convenient and quicker (in human time) than driving to a gas station, and now they're optimizing the 30 seconds it takes to plu

by pornel 14d ago

Charging at home is already more convenient and quicker (in human time) than driving to a gas station, and now they're optimizing the 30 seconds it takes to plug the car in.

kotaKat 14d ago
And the funny thing is China's already picked up the dropped torches elsewhere; Xiaomi's going to be launching a robotic arm for your garage by the end of this year to plug in for you. Tesla gave up on their charging tentacle, but, wellp. https://carnewschina.com/2026/06/13/xiaomi-unveils-home-charging-robotic-arm-targeting-q4-2026-launch/ https://carnewschina.com/2026/06/13/xiaomi-unveils-home-char...
- BoingBoomTschak 14d ago
  Wall-E future here we come. Soon the people loader that lifts you from your sofa and plops you into the seat!
  - thejazzman 14d ago
    I think of this / feel this way when I ride my onewheel instead of walking
- quickthrowman 14d ago
  Porsche’s induction charging strategy seems a lot smarter and much more reliable than a robot arm.
  - dpark 14d ago
    I don’t know. I’ve stopped using my wireless phone charger because it’s spotty. Sometimes it charges. Sometimes it doesn’t (or barely charges). Sometimes it wakes me up at night because it’s glitching in between charging and noncharging states and my phone feels the need to beep and wake me up. I’ve seen similar issues with multiple watch chargers. “Oh, it didn’t charge overnight again.” I’m not as sold on wireless charging as I once was.
GuestFAUniverse 14d ago
I agree in so far that plug-in charging shouldn't be an issue for most people. Yet I can see the advantages for someone with a disability. And what a lot don't seem to understand: at 11kW we aren't talking about high charging efficiency anyway. Meaning, you cannot assume close to 100% for cable based charging and talk about how much 90% loose on a full battery (like others here do).
kova12 14d ago
It's not just that; there's a new capability unlocked. You can now have self driving cars charge at remote places and come back without human interaction. Imagine you live in a place with no grid power
- beAbU 14d ago
  How does wireless charging unlock this usecase? Robot arms exist?
  - brunoarueira 14d ago
    I guess if you see the video on the linked post, you'll see what the usecase is unlocked. A neighboor city with a wireless charger station or a road wireless charger station can receive a self driving car above it, charge the car and with some kind of NFC do the payment and goes back.
    - dpark 14d ago
      > the video on the linked post The 3D rendered video of a car driving over the pad doesn’t really show anything unlocked. There are a lot of possible ways to build automated charging stations. This is not necessary tech for that scenario.
  - solarkraft 14d ago
    This is a lot better maintainable than a robot arm.
- dpark 14d ago
  I have a robot vacuum that manages to do automated direct contact charging just fine. I don’t understand why wireless would be any easier. It seems more complex and less safe than a direct wired connection. I also have a lot of trouble believing in the scenario of a neighborhood that has an automated charging station for EVs but no grid. That seems like very misplaced priorities.
  - 14d ago
Avshalom 14d ago
They're optimizing the cable you can trip over/have to walk around/remember both at home and at, eventually, parking lots.
- cyanydeez 14d ago
  guys, guys. They're optimizing: people with a lot of money being nagged. Welcome to capitalism.
solarkraft 14d ago
We’re talking about a particularly inconvenient 30 seconds coming out of an expensive machine built entirely for convenience. Some people will want it and pay for it. If I was in the market, I probably would.
MBCook 14d ago
Home charging us a reasonably thick cable. It’s not bad by any stretch but it’s more than an appliance cord. Plus you just got home. You probably want to go inside and may be carrying packages or such, which you might have to juggle or put down to get the cable and plug in. When it’s time to leave you have to unplug and then store the cable, leave it on the floor (trip hazard for others), or have installed an overhead cable system. With wireless it’s all gone. Pull into you’re garage? You’re done. You were doing that anyway, so it’s no different. Ready to leave? Just back out. Again, same thing. Nothing extra. Yeah it’s convenience. But it’s not a small win, it’s big. And it’s every time you use your car. Twice. Your car can always charge. It can always precondition. You used to have to go to gas stations, now you don’t even have to plug in. It’s fully automatic and taken care of for you. “You don’t need a remote. You can just get up to change the volume”. How well did that argument go over? Every TV has remotes. Buttons are hidden and effectively dead.

by pornel 14d ago

Charging at home is already more convenient and quicker (in human time) than driving to a gas station, and now they're optimizing the 30 seconds it takes to plug the car in.

kotaKat 14d ago

And the funny thing is China's already picked up the dropped torches elsewhere; Xiaomi's going to be launching a robotic arm for your garage by the end of this year to plug in for you. Tesla gave up on their charging tentacle, but, wellp. https://carnewschina.com/2026/06/13/xiaomi-unveils-home-charging-robotic-arm-targeting-q4-2026-launch/ https://carnewschina.com/2026/06/13/xiaomi-unveils-home-char...

BoingBoomTschak 14d ago
Wall-E future here we come. Soon the people loader that lifts you from your sofa and plops you into the seat!
- thejazzman 14d ago
  I think of this / feel this way when I ride my onewheel instead of walking
quickthrowman 14d ago
Porsche’s induction charging strategy seems a lot smarter and much more reliable than a robot arm.
- dpark 14d ago
  I don’t know. I’ve stopped using my wireless phone charger because it’s spotty. Sometimes it charges. Sometimes it doesn’t (or barely charges). Sometimes it wakes me up at night because it’s glitching in between charging and noncharging states and my phone feels the need to beep and wake me up. I’ve seen similar issues with multiple watch chargers. “Oh, it didn’t charge overnight again.” I’m not as sold on wireless charging as I once was.

GuestFAUniverse 14d ago

I agree in so far that plug-in charging shouldn't be an issue for most people. Yet I can see the advantages for someone with a disability. And what a lot don't seem to understand: at 11kW we aren't talking about high charging efficiency anyway. Meaning, you cannot assume close to 100% for cable based charging and talk about how much 90% loose on a full battery (like others here do).

kova12 14d ago

It's not just that; there's a new capability unlocked. You can now have self driving cars charge at remote places and come back without human interaction. Imagine you live in a place with no grid power

beAbU 14d ago
How does wireless charging unlock this usecase? Robot arms exist?
- brunoarueira 14d ago
  I guess if you see the video on the linked post, you'll see what the usecase is unlocked. A neighboor city with a wireless charger station or a road wireless charger station can receive a self driving car above it, charge the car and with some kind of NFC do the payment and goes back.
  - dpark 14d ago
    > the video on the linked post The 3D rendered video of a car driving over the pad doesn’t really show anything unlocked. There are a lot of possible ways to build automated charging stations. This is not necessary tech for that scenario.
- solarkraft 14d ago
  This is a lot better maintainable than a robot arm.
dpark 14d ago
I have a robot vacuum that manages to do automated direct contact charging just fine. I don’t understand why wireless would be any easier. It seems more complex and less safe than a direct wired connection. I also have a lot of trouble believing in the scenario of a neighborhood that has an automated charging station for EVs but no grid. That seems like very misplaced priorities.
- 14d ago

Avshalom 14d ago

They're optimizing the cable you can trip over/have to walk around/remember both at home and at, eventually, parking lots.

cyanydeez 14d ago
guys, guys. They're optimizing: people with a lot of money being nagged. Welcome to capitalism.

solarkraft 14d ago

We’re talking about a particularly inconvenient 30 seconds coming out of an expensive machine built entirely for convenience. Some people will want it and pay for it. If I was in the market, I probably would.

MBCook 14d ago

Home charging us a reasonably thick cable. It’s not bad by any stretch but it’s more than an appliance cord. Plus you just got home. You probably want to go inside and may be carrying packages or such, which you might have to juggle or put down to get the cable and plug in. When it’s time to leave you have to unplug and then store the cable, leave it on the floor (trip hazard for others), or have installed an overhead cable system. With wireless it’s all gone. Pull into you’re garage? You’re done. You were doing that anyway, so it’s no different. Ready to leave? Just back out. Again, same thing. Nothing extra. Yeah it’s convenience. But it’s not a small win, it’s big. And it’s every time you use your car. Twice. Your car can always charge. It can always precondition. You used to have to go to gas stations, now you don’t even have to plug in. It’s fully automatic and taken care of for you. “You don’t need a remote. You can just get up to change the volume”. How well did that argument go over? Every TV has remotes. Buttons are hidden and effectively dead.