In the Chinese city of Changsha they have had intelligent tank robots since last week. With the robot, the driver no longer has to get out. The machine opens the lid, unscrews the fuel cap and fills the tank all by itself. The whole process is completed within 2 minutes. According to Sinopec, the company behind the technology, the refueling robot not only saves you effort, but also time.
LOOK. Is this the future? Robot fills your tank in just two minutes
They look like futuristic images, a robot opens the fuel filler flap, pours in fuel and then closes everything neatly again. With one tap on your smartphone you set the mechanical arms in motion and barely two minutes later the tank is completely full.
Also in other countries
The principle has actually been around for some time, in 2008 the first refueling robot was installed in the Netherlands. The robot, developed by Rotec Engineering, uses existing pumps. The robot cost about 75,000 euros. “The pump attendant is actually back,” said Henk Hofman of Rotec Engineering at the time. “It is extremely relaxing to refuel this way.”
Other countries have now also specialized in tank robots. Autofuel, a Danish company, has several automated fuel stations in Scandinavia. According to Jonas Thor Olsen, partner and CEO of the Danish company, it provides benefits for the customer, the gas station and the energy company. Traffic at the gas pump would run smoother and customers would spend more money in the gas station store.
In recent years, Chinese companies have also focused on automatic refueling. Various things have been optimized, so it now takes barely two minutes for the car to be refueled. Whether it will also catch on in our country remains to be seen.
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