System for maintaining acceptable battery cycle life for electric-powered vehicles

• US 20150298573A1
• Filed: 04/17/2014
• Published: 10/22/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/17/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Michael Lynn Froelich
• Original Assignee: Michael Lynn Froelich
• Inventors: Froelich, Michael Lynn
• Granted Patent: US 11,104,231 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 1/003 to auxiliary motors, e.g. for pumps, compressors
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 1/08 Methods and devices for control or regulation
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/34 Cabin temperature
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/547 Voltage
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/549 Current
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/80 Time limits
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 3/0046 relating to electric energy storage systems, e.g. batteries or capacitors
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 50/64 Constructional details of batteries specially adapted for electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 50/66 Arrangements of batteries
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/14 Conductive energy transfer
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 58/13 Maintaining the SoC within a determined range
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 58/16 responding to battery ageing, e.g. to the number of charging cycles or the state of health [SoH]
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 58/21 having the same nominal voltage
• 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 90/14 Plug-in electric vehicles

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system for maintaining battery cycle life for battery-powered electric vehicles.

Current battery-powered electric vehicles such as automobiles and trucks suffer from short cycle lifes of their batteries, meaning that these vehicles'"'"' batteries will become unusable well before the normal useful life of combustion engine powered vehicles.

Owners of vehicles using my system will enjoy vehicles with acceptable ranges, acquisition and operating costs, yet will enjoy battery lifes as long or as longer than the useful life of combustion engine vehicles.

Claims

1. The invention permits the batteries of all-electric vehicles to last for thousands of days of daily use by limiting the amount they are discharged in normal, non-reserve operation.

2. This invention permits the owners of all-electric vehicles to select the amount of discharge of their batteries in normal, non-reserve use, and therefore to choose between longer life of their batteries and normal, non-reserve range of their vehicles.

This invention contains removable battery modules which contain the individual batteries which are the power source for the vehicles. Each vehicle is equipped with two sets of inexpensive battery modules so that when the vehicle has been operated to the desired discharge limit that the battery modules can be removed and the alternate set installed. While the alternate set is in the vehicle the original set is in an external battery charger where the battery cells can be recharged slowly so as to not damage them.

Current electric battery-powered vehicles are designed such that the operator is encouraged to use all, or well above 50%, of the vehicles'"'"' batteries'"'"' charge. Doing so damages the batteries such that they will only recharge again for a few hundred recharges. Any electric vehicle with batteries which only last for a few hundred days of operation will be of a useful life shorter in duration than that of combustion engine powered vehicles.

In order for electric battery powered vehicles to enjoy useful lifes comparable to, or in excess of, combustion engine vehicles, their batteries must be discharged by only a fraction of their total capacity. By discharging the batteries by only a fraction of their capacity each time the vehicle is used the batteries will enjoy a cycle life of thousands rather then hundreds of days of use.