Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) Airport has named ZiGGY, the new robotic EV charger from EV Safe Charge, as a participant in the airport’s pilot program to assess cutting-edge EV-charging approaches this summer. 

ZiGGY is the first and only mobile EV charger that aims to affordably and safely meet the EV charging needs of virtually any commercial parking lot – including airports – and offer a built-in communications and advertising platform to create a revenue stream for sites and maximize EV owner engagement. 

This airport demonstration is the first of its kind anywhere. DFW’s Innovation and Planning teams will host a series of EV charging demonstrations from May through August.

“Airports must meet the growing demand for travelers owning EVs to easily charge while they fly,” explained Caradoc Ehrenhalt, founder and CEO, EV Safe Charge. “In evaluating potential technologies for their pilot, DFW chose to display the tech offered by ZiGGY due to its innovative flexibility to reach every car in a parking lot, not just a few spaces. We look forward to working with DFW with the goal of identifying more options to service their expanding EV-driving traveler base, and we are thrilled to be part of this historic moment.”

Founded in Los Angeles in 2016, EV Safe Charge, in addition to selling commercial Level 2 and DC Fast Chargers, creates and implements temporary charging solutions for its large-scale commercial customers, including many mobility manufacturers such as Jaguar, Porsche, Stellantis, Nissan, Audi, Daimler, and Harley-Davidson.

“At EV Safe Charge, we recognized early the need for a truly mobile EV charging solution and worked the past three years to develop ZiGGY, an onsite-autonomous vehicle operating through an app to meet a broad range of EV charging needs in locations away from single- and multi-family housing,” continued Ehrenhalt. “We are thrilled to be included in the demonstrations at DFW Airport so that we can bring the convenience, safety and reliability of ZiGGY to EV drivers traveling from this important hub.”

This DFW Airport pilot project follows other recent EV Safe Charge milestones. Recently, the city of Barcelona chose EV Safe Charge as the winner of its pilot-project competition for flexible EV charging based on ZiGGY’s ability to serve many vehicles within a parking area. The aim of Barcelona’s project is to expand electromobility in the city. This is the first municipal pilot of a mobile, robotic EV charger.

The aim of the project is to tackle various challenges in the expansion of electromobility in the city, such as the concentration of recharge points in parking areas and infrastructure maintenance.

B:SM chose EV Safe Charge as winner due to the company’s recently launched demonstration prototype of ZiGGY, a mobile, robotic EV charger that would be easily accessible to many vehicles within a car park. This win marks the first time that a city is piloting a mobile robotic EV charging solution anywhere in the world. 

Aiming to become a more sustainable city, Barcelona is pushing the transformation towards electromobility.

“In a compact city like Barcelona, the electromobility expansion strategy entails concentrating recharging points around the network of car parks”, explained Laia Bonet, president of BSM and Councillor for Mobility in Barcelona City Council. “The solution developed by Safe Charge offers a very good base to work from and explore the implementation of robotic and mobile recharging points which can get from one place to another to provide service in various rotational places. 

EV Safe Charge recognized early on the need for a truly mobile EV charging solution and worked the past three years to develop ZiGGY, an onsite-autonomous vehicle operating through an app to meet a broad range of EV charging needs in locations away from single- and multi-family housing,” explained Caradoc Ehrenhalt, Founder and CEO, EV Safe Charge. “We are thrilled to win the Innovation Challenge so that we can partner with B:SM to bring the convenience, safety and reliability of ZiGGY to the EV drivers of Barcelona.”

Founded in Los Angeles in 2016, EV Safe Charge creates and implements temporary charging solutions for its large-scale commercial customers, including many mobility manufacturers such as Jaguar, Porsche, Stellantis, Nissan, Audi, Daimler, and Harley-Davidson.

In this Challenge, the mobile charger must communicate with the central management system of the existing Endolla Barcelona charging points and interact with the user through SMOU, Barcelona’s personal mobility application, which is currently used by more than 800,000 people. Explained Bonet.

“B:SM told us that the solution must be scalable and replicable in any car park in Barcelona and other cities,” added Ehrenhalt. “We knew that ZiGGY was perfect for B:SM’s needs and are excited to begin with a pilot test in the B:SM car park in Plaça Navas next year.”

The pilot project has begun and will proceed in the following phases:

• Development and manufacture of prototypes
• Integration with B:SM systems and internal testing
• B:SM Parking Pilot and Results Analysis in 2024

“In this pilot, we expect to observe the viability of ZiGGY’s flexible EV charging in our parking structures,” said Bonet. “To have a solution that is better adapted to the charging demand of EVs in rotating parking spaces offers citizens a more efficient service and paves the way for new EV charging models. We own and manage 44 car parks and expect ZiGGY to make more effective use of the electrical infrastructure and help to promote adoption of electric mobility.”

This Challenge is also aligned with the effort to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda and that Barcelona City Council is facing through the Commissioner of the 2030 Agenda. As the winner, EV Safe Charge will receive €90,000 including VAT to execute the pilot program.

Watch ZiGGY video by WEF here.