Huawei unveils unmanned EV charging robotic arm [video]

Huawei unveiled an unmanned robotic arm that can charge electric vehicles without a driver needing to leave the car and manually connect the charging cable.

The company also released a demonstration video where the Maextro S800 sedan autonomously parks next to the charger equipped with the robotic arm and gets automatically plugged in.

From the demonstration video, we can see the Maextro S800 sedan without a driver. When the unmanned charging function is remotely activated, the car starts autonomously looking for a charging spot. Once found, the EV parks next to it, and the robotic arm inserts the charging gun while monitoring any possible obstacles. Once charging is done, the arm is automatically unplugged, payment is deducted, and the car leaves the spot.

Maextro is Huawei’s premium brand to take on Nio ET9 and Maybach.

The arm is mounted on Huawei’s flagship 600 kW supercharger, which can theoretically provide 100 kWh in 10 minutes. Despite Huawei only teasing its robotic arm EV charging capabilities, according to a source familiar with the matter which identity CarNewsChina knows, mass production will start in Q2 2025.

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Huawei didn’t provide official details, but based on CarNewsChina information, the unmanned robotic charger will be compatible with all Huawei Superchargin Alliance members, including BYD, Xpeng, Li Auto, Aito, JAC, and Great Wall.

Huawei formed its Supercharging alliance in April 2024 with 11 founding EV makers in China. The company’s target was to build 100,000 Superchargers in China by 2024. Huawei’s charging flagship is a liquid-cooled 600 kW supercharging station designed to compete with Tesla V4.

Maextro is Huawei’s premium brand with JAC under the Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance (HIMA) alliance. HIMA is another Huawei’s allinace but different from the Supercharging mentioned earlier. It consits brands Aito (manufactured by Seres), Luxeed (manufactured by Chery), Stelato (manufactured by BAIC), and the latest Maextro (manufacture by JAC).

The Maextro S800 started presales in November last year for 1 million yuan (136,000 USD) and Huawei claims it will have L3 self-driving capabilities.