My god, a robot needed to charge a vehicle, it is bad enough trying to fine a 'normal' dumb charging station in working order, let alone a more complex and easily vandalised robot one.
Of course, I'm not saying that this is the system I'm going to patent and send to BP as the answer, it's just a fag packet example off the top of my head. Far smarter people than me are working on these ideas. However, as you seem very intent on ripping it to pieces, I'll try to address some of your criticisms.
How exactly is someone going to vandalise a charging connection that is enclosed within a steel cover in the floor? Not even the car drivers will ever see it. Surely more difficult to vandalise than a charging cable, or even a pump hose?
When I say robot, I'm certain that you know, with your immense experience of industry, that I don't mean every charger will be equipped with it's own R2-D2. A simple pantograph type device that rises out of the floor, adjusts for the exact position before clamping onto the vehicle's charging port/s, is simple and will not be difficult or expensive to put into practice.
The electricity supply and sourcing is certainly is an issue today, but supply, and local storage and/or generation required will eventually have to be addressed - this is ongoing, and mass charging sites are already becoming operational. Nobody should lose sight of the massive amount of infrastructure that petrol and diesel needs to extract, refine, distribute and store before it can be dispensed into your tank. It doesn't simply sprout out of the ground in the middle of Tesco's car park.
As for cars driving themselves to charging stations and squashing cyclists, I honestly don't know where you got that from.
