Methods and apparatuses for charging of electric vehicles

• US 10,192,245 B2
• Filed: 05/18/2016
• Issued: 01/29/2019
• 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): Ali, Mohammad
• Assistant Examiner(s): Azad, Md
• Application Number:
  US15/158,363
• Publication Number:
  US 20160339792A1
• Time in Patent Office: 986 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 for determining an availability of an electric vehicle charging station is disclosed. The method includes: receiving a first geolocation information regarding a mobile device; comparing the first geolocation information with a second geolocation information of the electric vehicle charging station; determining a distance between the mobile device and the electric vehicle charging station using the first geolocation information and the second geolocation information; and based on the determined distance, determining the availability of the electric vehicle charging station; and sending a notification to a user regarding the determined availability of the electric vehicle charging station.

Claims

1. A method for determining an availability of an electric vehicle charging station, comprising:

receiving a first geolocation information regarding a mobile device of a user;

comparing the first geolocation information with a second geolocation information of the electric vehicle charging station;

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

based on the determined distance and the current speed, determining the availability of the electric vehicle charging station based on the distance when the mobile device of the user is expected to arrive, wherein determining the availability of the electric vehicle charging station includes;

estimating the time of arrival of the mobile device of the user based on the distance and the current speed; and

sending a notification to the mobile device of the user regarding the determined availability of the electric vehicle charging station when the mobile device of the user is expected to arrive.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the first geolocation information comprises detecting a connection of the mobile device at a docking station on the charging station.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the first geolocation information comprises detecting a wireless connection of the mobile device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless connection comprises one of the following:

Bluetooth, Near-field communication (NFC); and

Wi-Fi.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first or second geolocation information comprises readings from at least one of the following:

GPS, sonar, multilateration, RFID, and an induction coil sensor.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the availability of the charging station comprises detecting the mobile device arriving at the charging station.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the availability of the charging station comprises detecting the mobile device leaving the charging station.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the availability of the charging station comprises detecting the current speed of the mobile device approaching the charging station, the current speed being based on the first geolocation information.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the availability of the charging station comprises estimating the time of arrival of the mobile device based on the distance.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending a notification to a user regarding the availability.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the notification comprises one of:

an amount of time before the charging station becomes available; and

a number of available slots remaining at the charging station.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the slots are time slots or vehicle slots.

13. The method of claim 8, further comprising determining a navigation route between the mobile device and the charging station using a third geolocation information regarding a geographical feature.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the geographical feature is one of the following:

a road, a city, a radio tower, a physical landmark, and a commercial establishment.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the route is based on the current speed the mobile device is approaching the charging station, the current speed being based on the first geolocation information.

16. A method for managing an electric vehicle charging station, comprising:

receiving a first geolocation information regarding a mobile device of a user, wherein the mobile device in a component of an electric vehicle that utilizes a telematics service to communicate directly with the electric vehicle charging station;

comparing the first geolocation information with a second geolocation information of the electric vehicle charging station;

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

determining the availability of the electric vehicle charging station based on the distance when the mobile device of the user is expected to arrive, wherein determining the availability of the electric vehicle charging station includes;

estimating the time of arrival of the mobile device of the user based on the distance and the current speed;

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

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

wherein if slots are available at the electric vehicle charging station when the mobile device of the user is expected to arrive, the notification includes a remaining number of available slots at the electric vehicle charging station when the mobile device of the user is expected to arrive.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the message comprises a receipt of a charging transaction, a remaining time of the charging transaction, an inquiry to a user as to whether the charging transaction has terminated, or combinations thereof.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the first or second geolocation information comprises readings from at least one of the following:

GPS, sonar, multilateration, RFID, and an induction coil sensor.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein determining the distance between the mobile device and the charging station comprises detecting the current speed of the mobile device approaching the charging station, the current speed being based on the first geolocation information.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the message is sent using a second mobile device.

21. The method of claim 16, wherein receiving the first geolocation information comprises detecting a connection of the mobile device at a docking station on the charging station.

22. The method of claim 16, wherein receiving the first geolocation information comprises detecting a wireless connection of the mobile device.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the wireless connection comprises one of the following:

Bluetooth, Near-field communication (NFC); and

Wi-Fi.

24. The method of claim 16, wherein determining the availability of the charging station may include an amount of time before the charging station becomes available;

and a number of available slots remaining at the charging station.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the slots may be time slots or vehicle slots.

26. The method of claim 24, further comprising determining charging station power demand by determining an amount of time before a charging station becomes available and a number of available slots remaining at the charging station.

27. The method of claim 16, wherein the message sent contains information of the real-time price of electricity at that location, which may include real-time price of electricity from the utility or the grid, or the real-time cost of delivering electricity at the local site.