Electric Vehicle Network

• US 20110071932A1
• Filed: 11/24/2010
• Published: 03/24/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/20/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Andrey J. Zarur, Shai Agassi
• Original Assignee: Andrey J. Zarur, Shai Agassi
• Inventors: Zarur, Andrey J., Agassi, Shai
• Application Number:
  US12/954,482
• Publication Number:
  US 20110071932A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/34
• 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 2240/80 Time limits
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2250/16 by display
• 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 3/12 Recording operating variables ; Monitoring of operating variables
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/11 DC charging controlled by the charging station, e.g. mode 4
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/305 Communication interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/65 involving identification of vehicles or their battery types
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/67 Controlling two or more charging stations
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/80 Exchanging energy storage elements, e.g. removable batteries
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 58/12 responding to state of charge [SoC]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/202 Dispatching vehicles on the basis of a location, e.g. taxi dispatching
• 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 30/14 : Details associated with the interoperability, e.g. vehicle recognition, authentication, identification or billing

Abstract

An electric vehicle network is provided. The electric vehicle network includes a plurality of battery service stations and a service provider. The battery service stations are configured to service the batteries of a plurality of electric vehicles, and the electric vehicles are operated by a plurality of users. Battery service stations are configured to recharge batteries, replace spent batteries, or both. The service provider communicates with the battery service stations to facilitate servicing of the electric vehicles as the service stations based on subscription plans associated with the users. A plurality of subscription plan options is provided to the users.

Claims

1. An electric vehicle network, comprising:

a plurality of battery service stations configured to service the batteries of a plurality of electric vehicles operated by a plurality of users;

a service provider configured to communicate with the battery service stations to facilitate servicing of the electric vehicles at the service stations based on subscription plans associated with the users.

2. The electric vehicle network of claim 1, wherein each of the batteries are configured to couple to a respective electric vehicle of the plurality of electric vehicles.

3. The electric vehicle network of claim 2, wherein the battery service stations are selected from the group consisting of:

charge stations configured to recharge the batteries;

battery exchange stations configured to replace at least partially spent batteries with charged batteries; and

any combination of the aforementioned battery service stations.

4. The electric vehicle network of claim 2, wherein the subscription plans comprise:

a subscription to a monthly service plan;

a subscription to a yearly service plan;

a subscription to a mileage-based service plan;

a subscription to an energy-consumption-based service plan;

a subscription to a pay-per-use plan; and

any combination of the aforementioned plans.

5. The electric vehicle network of claim 4, wherein the service provider is configured to bill the users for access to the battery service stations based on each user'"'"'s subscription plan and services provided at the battery service stations.

6. The electric vehicle network of claim 5, wherein the users comprise:

a user that has legal title to at least one of the plurality of electric vehicles; and

a user that has legal possession of at least one of the plurality of electric vehicles as part of a financing agreement.

7. The electric vehicle network of claim 6, wherein the batteries are not owned by the users of the electric vehicles.

8. The electric vehicle network of claim 7, wherein the batteries are owned by the service provider.

9. The electric vehicle network of claim 3, wherein the charge stations are located at a parking lot, a street parking spot, or a home of at least one of the users.

10. The electric vehicle network of claim 2, wherein at least one of the electric vehicles further comprise a vehicle computer system comprising:

one or more processors;

memory; and

one or more programs stored in the memory, the one or more programs comprising;

instructions to provide to the respective user of the respective vehicle the plurality of subscription plans for access to the battery service stations;

instructions to receive from the respective user a selection of a subscription plan from the plurality of subscription plans; and

instructions to allow the respective user to access the battery service stations based on the selected subscription plan.

11. The electric vehicle network of claim 10, wherein the vehicle computer system further comprises:

instructions to receive a status of an account of at least one of the users from the service provider over a data network;

instructions to determine whether the status of the account indicates that the account is in good standing;

instructions to provide the vehicle with energy at the battery service station if the status of the account indicates that the account is in good standing; and

instructions to bill the account for the respective user for the power provided at the battery service station.

12. The electric vehicle network of claim 11, wherein the vehicle computer system further comprises instructions to query the service provider to determine the account status for the respective user of the respective vehicle.

13. The electric vehicle network of claim 12, wherein the instructions to determine whether the status of the account indicates that the account is in good standing includes:

instructions to determine whether a subscription associated with the account is active;

instructions to determine whether a funding source associated with the account is valid;

instructions to determine whether a fee for a subscription associated with the account have been paid;

or

any combination of the aforementioned instructions.

14. The electric vehicle network of claim 2, wherein each respective battery service station further comprises a service station computer system, the service station computer system comprising:

one or more processors;

memory; and

one or more programs stored in the memory, the one or more programs comprising;

instructions to provide to the respective user of the respective vehicle the plurality of subscription plans for access to the battery service stations;

instructions to receive from the respective user a selection of a subscription plan from the plurality of subscription plans; and

instructions to allow the respective user to access the plurality of battery service stations based on the selected subscription plan.

15. The electric vehicle network of claim 14, wherein the service station computer system further comprises:

instructions to receive a status of an account of at least one of the users from the service provider over a data network;

instructions to determine whether the status of the account indicates that the account is in good standing;

instructions to provide the vehicle with energy at the battery service station if the status of the account indicates that the account is in good standing; and

instructions to bill the account for the respective user for the power provided at the battery service station.

16. The electric vehicle network of claim 15, wherein the service station computer system further comprises instructions to query the service provider to determine the account status for the respective user of the respective vehicle.

17. The electric vehicle network of claim 16, wherein the instructions to determine whether the status of the account indicates that the account is in good standing includes:

instructions to determine whether a subscription associated with the account is active;

instructions to determine whether a funding source associated with the account is valid;

instructions to determine whether a fee for a subscription associated with the account have been paid;

or

any combination of the aforementioned instructions.

18. The electric vehicle network of claim 2, wherein the service provider further comprises a service provider computer system, the service provider computer system comprising:

one or more processors;

memory; and

one or more programs stored in the memory, the one or more programs comprising;

instructions to receive a query to determine the status of the account of the respective user of a respective vehicle over the data network;

instructions to determine the status of the account of the respective user; and

instructions to send the status of the account of the respective user over the data network.

19. The electric vehicle network of claim 18, wherein the instructions to determine whether the status of the account indicates that the account for the respective user is in good standing comprise:

instructions to determine whether the subscription associated with the account is active;

instructions to determine whether the funding source associated with the account is valid;

instructions to determine whether the fee for a subscription associated with the account have been paid;

or

any combination of the aforementioned instructions.

20. The electric vehicle network of claim 11, wherein the data network is:

a cellular network;

a Wi-Fi network;

a WiMAX network;

an EDGE network;

a GPRS network;

an EV-DO network;

an RTT network;

a HSPA network;

a UTMS network;

a Flash-OFDM network;

an iBurst network;

or any combination of the aforementioned networks.