Dynamic Driving Range Maps for Improving Driving Range Anxiety

• US 20140379183A1
• Filed: 06/19/2013
• Published: 12/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/19/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP SE
• Inventors: Long, Mary
• Granted Patent: US 9,580,079 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/22
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 15/00 Methods, circuits, or devices for controlling the traction-motor speed of electrically-propelled vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/62 Vehicle position
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/64 Road conditions
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/66 Ambient conditions
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/68 Traffic data
• 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 53/305 Communication interfaces
• 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 53/67 Controlling two or more charging stations
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 58/12 responding to state of charge [SoC]
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/146 Display means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2510/244 Charge state
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2520/10 Longitudinal speed
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2555/20 Ambient conditions, e.g. wind or rain
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/45 External transmission of data to or from the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/50 of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/12 related to parameters of the vehicle itself , e.g. tyre models
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/0097 Predicting future conditions
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/14 : Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3697 : Output of additional, non-guidance related information, e.g. low fuel level G01C21/3679 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/64 : Electric machine technologies in electromobility
• 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 systems, methods and articles described herein are directed to a cloud based server which can access and retrieve data for dynamically calculating and generating information relating to driving ranges of one or more electric vehicles. In addition, the information relating to the driving ranges can be displayed on the one or more electric vehicles for improving driving range anxiety. Related apparatus, systems, techniques and articles are also described.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer program product storing instructions, which, when executed by at least one data processor, causes the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:

continually receiving or accessing data identifying one or more conditions affecting a driving range of a vehicle powered by at least one battery;

dynamically calculating, based on the received or accessed data, driving range information for the vehicle characterizing a distance the vehicle can travel until the at least one battery is depleted;

generating, based on the dynamically calculated driving range information, a display in a graphical user interface characterizing the driving range information for the vehicle; and

updating the display based on changes in the data identifying the one or more conditions affecting the driving range of the vehicle.

2. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the data comprises at least one of a current vehicle characteristic, route information, route history, and a driver history.

3. The computer program product of claim 2, wherein the current vehicle characteristic comprises one or more of a battery charge, location of the vehicle, car component activity, and battery condition.

4. The computer program product of claim 2, wherein the route information comprises one or more of a current traffic condition, upcoming traffic condition along a defined route, current vehicle speed, current weather along the defined route.

5. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the display comprises one or more of a geographical area, a defined route, a point of interest, a current location indicator, a charging station, and at least one accessibility range.

6. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the display comprises one or more accessibility ranges having characteristics defining probabilities of the vehicle accessing the one or more accessibility ranges.

7. The computer program product of claim 6, wherein the accessibility ranges are color coded to characterize the accessibility of the accessibility ranges relative to a current location of the vehicle.

8. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the display comprises at least one charging station displayed either along or near a defined route.

9. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the charging stations comprise a characteristic which indicates the accessibility of the charging stations relative to a current location of the vehicle.

10. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the vehicle wirelessly communicates with a cloud based server which dynamically calculates in at least near real-time information characterizing driving range information for the vehicle which is displayed on the display.

11. A computer implemented method comprising:

continually receiving or accessing data identifying one or more conditions affecting a driving range of a vehicle powered by at least one battery;

dynamically calculating, based on the received or accessed data, driving range information for the vehicle characterizing a distance the vehicle can travel until the at least one battery is depleted;

generating, based on the dynamically calculated driving range information, a display in a graphical user interface characterizing the driving range information for the vehicle; and

updating the display based on changes in the data identifying the one or more conditions affecting the driving range of the vehicle.

12. The computer implemented method of claim 11, wherein the data comprises at least one of a current vehicle characteristic, route information, route history, and a driver history.

13. The computer implemented method of claim 12, wherein the current vehicle characteristic comprises one or more of a battery charge, location of the vehicle, car component activity, and battery condition.

14. The computer implemented method of claim 12, wherein the route information comprises one or more of a current traffic condition, upcoming traffic condition along a defined route, current vehicle speed, current weather along the defined route.

15. The computer implemented method of claim 11, wherein the display comprises one or more of a geographical area, a defined route, a point of interest, a current location indicator, a charging station, and at least one accessibility range.

16. The computer implemented method of claim 11, wherein the display comprises one or more accessibility ranges having characteristics defining probabilities of the vehicle accessing the one or more accessibility ranges.

17. The computer implemented method of claim 16, wherein the accessibility ranges are color coded to characterize the accessibility of the accessibility ranges relative to a current location of the vehicle.

18. The computer implemented method of claim 11, wherein the display comprises at least one charging station displayed either along or near a defined route.

19. The computer implemented method of claim 18, wherein:

the charging stations comprise a characteristic which indicates the accessibility of the charging stations relative to a current location of the vehicle;

the vehicle wirelessly communicates with a cloud based server which dynamically calculates in at least near real-time information characterizing driving range information for the vehicle which is then displayed on the display.

20. A system comprising:

an electric vehicle powered by at least one battery;

a cloud based server comprising memory and at least one data processor which continually retrieves and accesses data identifying one or more conditions affecting a driving range of at least the electric vehicle, the cloud based server implementing a mileage module which retrieves data from the cloud based computing module and dynamically calculates and generates driving range information for the electric vehicle, the mileage module having wireless communication with the electric vehicle for sending driving range information to the electric vehicle; and

a display viewable by the driver of the electric vehicle showing one or more configurations of the driving range information.