ONE of the hassles with owning a battery-powered car is remembering to plug it in every night. You know the scenario - you return home feeling knackered, the kids are squabbling in the back and you desperately need a pee. The last thing on your mind is trailing out an extension lead, groping about for the charging port and switching on.

Heck, most of us can't even remember to charge our phones every night. Adding something as important as the car to that equation is brain-bendingly problematic.

Tesla, the Silcon Valley car company that's torn up the motoring rule book, reckons it has the solution to this conundrum - and it looks like something from a Terminator movie.

The automatic charging system is a tentacle-like extension cord made from 18 flexible segments which allow it to bend and sway.

Tesla isn't saying how it works but it has released a video of the system doing its stuff which gives us a few clues.

The lucky owner of a Tesla Model S backs into his (unfeasibly large and clean) garage and the charging port wirelessly activates the creepy-looking arm which twitches into life like Boris Karloff on Colin Clive's operating table in Frankenstein.

After a second or two of dodging and weaving the charger swings over to the car and plugs itself in.

To be fair other car manufacturers are working on wireless charging tech which is probably more useful. An inductive charger would only require you to park over a disc on the garage floor - Tesla's robotic arm requires more parking precision (what happens, for instance, if you park too far away? Does it tear itself off the wall in a bid to couple?).

But let's be honest, Tesla's solution looks infinitely cooler - even if it will give a nine-year-old nightmares.