Positioning unit for a charging station, and method for making contact

The invention relates to a positioning unit (10) and to a method for forming an electrically conductive connection between a stationary charging station and a vehicle, in particular an electric bus or the like, by means of a positioning unit, wherein, by means of the positioning unit, an electrical charging contact (11) of the positioning unit is movable relative to the charging contact surface and can be brought into contact therewith, wherein the positioning unit has a positioning apparatus (12) and a drive apparatus (13) for driving the positioning apparatus, the charging contact being positionable by means of the positioning apparatus between a contact position, for current transmission, and an entry position, for current interruption, the drive apparatus having an adjusting drive for generating an adjusting force acting on the positioning apparatus and a spring device (15) which mechanically interacts with the adjusting drive, the spring device comprising at least one contact spring (16), wherein a contact force on the charging contact surface can be formed by the adjusting drive and the contact spring, the positioning apparatus comprising a fixed bearing (17), an upper segment (18) arranged on the fixed bearing so as to be linearly movable in a vertical adjusting direction, and a lower segment (19) arranged on the upper segment so as to be linearly movable in the vertical adjusting direction, wherein the contact spring is coupled to the fixed bearing and the upper segment, the upper segment being movable relative to the lower segment by means of the adjusting drive.