These Chinese robots ride ceiling rails to charge your EV

China is living in the future when it comes to EV charging. Instead of drivers hunting for an open charging spot in a parking garage, overhead rail-mounted charging robots now travel along ceiling tracks and come to the car. The concept, already deployed in garages across multiple Chinese cities, turns every parking space into a potential charging spot without the cost of installing individual chargers at each one.A video circulating on social media this week shows one of these systems in action: a compact robotic unit gliding along a ceiling-mounted rail in an underground parking garage, stopping above a parked EV, and lowering a charging connector to plug in automatically. No app, no waiting in line, no dedicated charging bay required.✨🇨🇳China's overhead mobile charging stations support on-demand park-and-charge. Their automatic moving design eliminates the need for drivers to wait in line for charging. pic.twitter.com/3gCSArzvlC— 🇨🇳XuZhenqing 徐祯卿 (@XueJia24682) February 20, 2026How the overhead rail system worksThe concept is straightforward but clever. A robotic charging unit is suspended from a track mounted to the parking garage ceiling. The track serves as both a power conduit and a rail for movement, allowing the robot to slide to any parking space along its path. When an EV owner requests a charge, typically through a WeChat mini-program or QR code scan, the unit travels to their vehicle, uses vision systems and sensors to locate the charging port, and lowers a connector to plug in automatically.The key advantage is infrastructure efficiency. Instead of wiring every parking space with its own charger, expensive and complex in underground garages where electrical upgrades can cost thousands of dollars per spot, a single overhead rail system can serve an entire row of spaces from one electrical connection.