Methodologies for Implementing Smart Control of Vehicle Charging

• US 20120286725A1
• Filed: 05/13/2011
• Published: 11/15/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/13/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Motors LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: General Motors LLC (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: Gullapalli, Subhash B., Fecher, Dana B., Pudar, Nikola J.
• Granted Patent: US 9,137,364 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 320/108
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/70 Interactions with external data bases, e.g. traffic centres
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/65 involving identification of vehicles or their battery types
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/665 Methods related to measuring, billing or payment
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/68 Off-site monitoring or control, e.g. remote control
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/25168 Domotique, access through internet protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/44 Methods for charging or discharging circuits for charging H02J7/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/68 Payment of value-added services
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/51 Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention , e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing
• 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 30/14 Details associated with the interoperability, e.g. vehicle recognition, authentication, identification or billing

Abstract

The described method and system provide for remotely controlling the charging operation of plurality of vehicles. In one implementation, a call center may receive a request from a utility regarding a particular grid and sends out an inquiry to locate vehicles in that grid. Once the vehicles have been located, the call center sends a command to those vehicles corresponding to the utility'"'"'s request. In another implementation, vehicles may register information with the call center every time a charging event takes place, and the call center keeps track of the location of each vehicle based on the registration. When the call center receives a request from a utility, the call center may directly send out commands to vehicles based on the request. In other implementations, vehicle charging may be remotely controlled through the call center by consumers, the utility, or a home energy management system (HEMS). The charging control may further be customized based on a variety of information and preferences provided to the call center by the consumer, utility, or HEMS.

Claims

1. A method for remotely controlling the charging of a group of vehicles, each vehicle have an electrical power storage facility, the method comprising:

while one or more of the group of vehicles are being charged from a utility power source, receiving, at a call center, a request from the utility to modify charging behavior of the group of vehicles; and

at the call center in response to the request from the utility, sending a command to each of the group of vehicles to modify their charging behavior.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the request from the utility pertains to lowering a load upon a power grid corresponding to a transformer operated by the utility.

3. The method of claim 2, the method further comprising:

sending, from the call center, an inquiry message to determine which of the group of vehicles are serviced by the power grid; and

receiving a response message from at least one vehicle located within the power grid including location information.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the response message further includes charging-related information, which includes at least one of a charge level, rate of charge, fill up time, and expected ready-by time associated with the at least one vehicle.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the command to modify the charging operation of the at least one vehicle is based on charging-related information.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the command to modify the charging operation of the at least one vehicle is one of a command to stop charging and a command to reduce charging.

7. (canceled)

8. A method for remotely controlling the charging of a group of vehicles within a specified area, each vehicle having an electrical energy storage facility for charging from a grid of a utility, the method comprising:

receiving, at a call center, registration information from each of the group of vehicles when the vehicles begin charging;

receiving, at the call center, a request from the utility to modify charging operation of vehicles charging within the specified area; and

sending, from the call center, a command to modify the charging operation of a each vehicle of the group of vehicles.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the registration information includes information regarding the location of a vehicle.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

updating a record of a plurality of the group of vehicles and locations associated with the vehicles based on the received registration information.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the record is stored at a remote entity.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the record stored at the remote entity is accessible to the utility.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the request to modify charging operation is received from the utility.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the registration information includes charging-related information associated with the vehicle, which includes at least one of a charge level, rate of charge, fill up time, and expected ready-by time associated with the vehicle.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the request is received from the utility and the request is associated with lowering a load upon a power grid corresponding to a transformer.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the request further includes selection information corresponding to at least one vehicle for which charging operation is to be modified based on the charging-related information associated with the at least one vehicle.

17. The method of claim 14, the method further comprising:

selecting, at the call center, at least one vehicle associated with the location based on the charging-related information; and

wherein the command to modify the charging is sent only to vehicles that were selected.

18. A system for remotely controlling the charging of vehicles, the system comprising:

at least one vehicle charging at a power grid, the at least one vehicle including a telematics unit adapted for communicating with a call center over a network;

a utility, adapted to distribute electricity to vehicles being charged at the power grid and to communicate over the network with a call center; and

the call center, adapted to communicate with the telematics unit of the at least one vehicle and the utility over the network, and further adapted to receive requests from the utility to reduce load on the power grid and send commands to the at least one vehicle to modify the charging operation of the at least one vehicle.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein at least one of the call center and the utility is adapted to select vehicles to which commands to modify charging operation are to be sent based on charging-related information associated with the at least one vehicles, which includes at least one of a charge level, rate of charge, fill up time, and expected ready-by time associated with the at least one vehicle.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the telematics unit is further adapted to send registration information to the call center over the network when the at least one vehicle begins charging.