Methods and apparatuses for charging of electric vehicles

• US 10,169,783 B2
• Filed: 05/18/2016
• Issued: 01/01/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 10/19/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Zeco Systems Pte Ltd. (Shell Plc)
• Original Assignee: Zeco Systems Pte Ltd. (Shell Plc)
• Inventors: Khoo, Lin-Zhuang, Mahabir, Ron, Siew, Terence, Noma, Renaldo, Jhanji, Neeraj
• Primary Examiner(s): Karim, Ziaul
• Assistant Examiner(s): Azad, Md
• Application Number:
  US15/158,360
• Publication Number:
  US 20160364658A1
• Time in Patent Office: 958 Days
• Field of Search: 700286
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/12 Speed
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/545 Temperature
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/622 by satellite navigation
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/72 Charging station selection relying on external data
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2260/52 drive range estimation, e.g. of estimation of available travel distance
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2260/54 Energy consumption estimation
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2260/58 Departure time prediction
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2270/32 of electricity
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/14 Conductive energy transfer
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/305 Communication interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/31 Charging columns specially adapted for electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/63 in response to network capacity
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/64 Optimising energy costs, e.g. responding to electricity rates
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/65 involving identification of vehicles or their battery types
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/66 Data transfer between charging stations and vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/665 Methods related to measuring, billing or payment
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/67 Controlling two or more charging stations
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/68 Off-site monitoring or control, e.g. remote control
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3476 using point of interest [POI] information, e.g. a route passing visible POIs
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3492 employing speed data or traffic data, e.g. real-time or historical traffic control systems for road vehicles involving transmission of navigation instructions to the vehicle G08G1/0968
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/26 : Power supply means, e.g. regulation thereof for memories G11C
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 : Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1093 : Calendar-based scheduling for persons or groups
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 : Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/24 : Credit schemes, i.e. "pay after"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/409 : Device specific authentication in transaction processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0206 : Price or cost determination based on market factors
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 : Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 : Energy or water supply
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/40 : Business processes related to the transportation industry shipping G06Q10/083
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/144 : on portable or mobile units, e.g. personal digital assistant [PDA]
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/44 : Methods for charging or discharging circuits for charging H02J7/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 2220/20 : Batteries in motive systems, e.g. vehicle, ship, plane
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/48 : for electric vehicles [EV] or hybrid vehicles [HEV]
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/322 : the battery being on-board an electric or hybrid vehicle, e.g. vehicle to grid arrangements [V2G], power aggregation, use of the battery for network load balancing, coordinated or cooperative battery charging
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00034 : Charger exchanging data with an electronic device, i.e. telephone, whose internal battery is under charge
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0013 : acting upon several batteries simultaneously or sequentially H02J7/1423 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 25/20 : Repeater circuits; Relay circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 : for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 : in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 : Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 : using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 : for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 : in wireless communication networks
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/00 : Enabling technologies; Technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to GHG emissions mitigation
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/10 : Energy storage using batteries
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/70 : Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/7072 : Electromobility specific charging systems or methods for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/72 : Electric energy management in electromobility
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/12 : Electric charging stations
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/14 : Plug-in electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/16 : Information or communication technologies improving the operation of electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/167 : Systems integrating technologies related to power network operation and communication or information technologies for supporting the interoperability of electric or hybrid vehicles, i.e. smartgrids as interface for battery charging of electric vehicles [EV] or hybrid vehicles [HEV]
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 10/126 : the energy generation units being or involving electric vehicles [EV] or hybrid vehicles [HEV], i.e. power aggregation of EV or HEV, vehicle to grid arrangements [V2G]
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 30/14 : Details associated with the interoperability, e.g. vehicle recognition, authentication, identification or billing

Abstract

A method of reserving an electric vehicle charging station is disclosed. The method includes: providing an electric vehicle charging station with one or more charging slots, wherein the electric vehicle charging station is configured to receive and manage reservations for the charging slots at the electric vehicle charging station; sending, from a mobile device, a charge transfer request for an electric vehicle of a first user over a network link to a cloud server, wherein the charge transfer request from the mobile device includes identification information and credit account information; authorizing the charge transfer request received at the cloud server using the identification information and credit account information received from the mobile device; and charging the electric vehicle of the first user in a first charging slot at the electric vehicle charging station for a first charging session.

Claims

1. A method of reserving an electric vehicle charging station, comprising:

providing the electric vehicle charging station with one or more charging slots, wherein the electric vehicle charging station is configured to receive and manage reservations for the charging slots at the electric vehicle charging station;

sending, directly from a mobile device, a charge transfer request for a first electric vehicle of a first user over a network link to a cloud server, wherein the first user is associated with the mobile device and the electric vehicle to be charged, wherein the charge transfer request directly from the mobile device includes identification information and credit account information;

authorizing the charge transfer request received at the cloud server using the identification information and credit account information received directly from the mobile device;

charging the electric vehicle of the first user in a first charging slot at the electric vehicle charging station for a first charging session, the charging session having a scheduled end time;

reserving a second charging session for a second electric vehicle of a second user, the second charging session being scheduled to begin after the scheduled end time of the first charging session;

enabling communication between the first user and a second user via the cloud server;

facilitating a request from a first mobile device of the first user to a second mobile device of the second user, via the cloud server, to extend the scheduled end time of the first charging session an amount of time for the first user into the second charging session of the second user;

facilitating a response from the second user; and

if the second user agrees to a modified second charging session, reimbursing the second user, from the first user, for any inconvenience, reduced charging time, or both.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein facilitating the request or facilitating the response comprises facilitating a payment to or from the first user or the second user.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the response comprises a notification of acceptance or rejection of the request.

4. A method of reserving an electric vehicle charging station, comprising:

providing the electric vehicle charging station with one or more charging slots, wherein the electric vehicle charging station is configured to receive and manage reservations for the charging slots at the electric vehicle charging station;

sending, from a mobile device, a charge transfer request for an electric vehicle of a first user over a network link to a cloud server, wherein the first user is associated with the mobile device and the electric vehicle to be charged, wherein the charge transfer request received directly from the mobile device includes identification information and credit account information, wherein the mobile device in a component of the electric vehicle that utilizes a telematics service to communicate directly with the electric vehicle charging station and the cloud server;

authorizing the charge transfer request received at the cloud server using the identification information and credit account information received directly from the mobile device;

charging the electric vehicle of the first user in a first charging slot at the electric vehicle charging station for a first charging session, the charging session having a scheduled end time;

enabling communication between the first user and a second user via the cloud server;

receiving a request at the electric vehicle charging station for a charging session from the second user,

facilitating a request from a second mobile device of the second user to a first mobile device of the first user, via the cloud server, to occupy the electric vehicle charging station before the scheduled end time of the first charging session;

facilitating a response from the first user; and

if the first user agrees to a modified first charging session, reimbursing the first user, from the second user, for any inconvenience, reduced charging time, or both.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein facilitating the request or facilitating the response comprises facilitating a payment to or from the first user or the second user.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the response comprises a notification of acceptance or rejection of the request.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the response comprises a reservation ticket for using the charging station.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the reservation ticket comprises at least one of the following:

a date;

a time;

an amount of time remaining on the reservation ticket;

a valuation of the reservation ticket; and

a designated electric vehicle charging station.

9. A method of queuing available charging spaces at an electric vehicle charging station, comprising:

receiving a request from a first user, via a mobile device, for placement in a charging station queue;

assigning the first user a place in the charging station queue;

receiving requests from additional users for placement in the charging station queue;

receiving first geolocation information associated with the mobile device and an electric vehicle, and receiving second geolocation information associated with the electric vehicle charging station;

determining a distance between a first geolocation of the mobile device and a second geolocation of the electric vehicle charging station using the first geolocation information and the second geolocation information; and

sending a message, from electric vehicle charging station, directly to the mobile device based on the distance from the electric vehicle charging station to the mobile device, the message including a notification to a user of the mobile device regarding the availability of slots at the electric vehicle charging station when the mobile device is expected to arrive based on the determined distance,

wherein if no slots are available at the electric vehicle charging station, the notification includes an amount of time before a slot at the electric vehicle charging station becomes available and a number of users in the charging station queue when the mobile device is expected to arrive based on the determined distance, and if slots are available at the electric vehicle charging station, the notification includes a remaining number of available slots at the electric vehicle charging station when the mobile device is expected to arrive based on the determined distance.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising notifying the first user that the charging space is available.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising receiving a request from the first user to be notified when a charging space is available.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

sending a request for acceptance or rejection of the charging space to the first user; and

receiving a response accepting or rejecting the request by the first user.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein accepting the request places a hold on the charging space that prevents a different user from using the charging space.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein rejecting the request comprises providing the charging space to a subsequent user.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein rejecting the request further comprises notifying a subsequent user that the charging space is available.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein providing the charging space comprises providing the charging space at any charging station amongst a group of charging stations in a geographic location.

17. The method of claim 9, wherein the charging station queue has n total places in the queue and the first user is assigned the nth place in the charging station queue.

18. The method of claim 9, wherein the message comprises at least one of the following:

a grid demand response instruction;

a grid demand response schedule;

a session report;

billing data;

electricity price data;

fault data; and

usage data.

19. The method of claim 9, wherein the mobile device and the cloud server use data from an in-vehicle telematics platform to forecast an energy load or reserve a charging space for use by the electric vehicle.

20. The method of claim 9, wherein using a reservation ticket to allocate a new place in a charging station queue.

21. The method of claim 9, wherein using a reservation ticket to allocate a new place in a charging station queue based on weighting factors.