Systems Providing Electric Vehicles with Access to Exchangeable Batteries
First Claim
1. A system for providing charge units usable to supply charge to a main battery of an electric vehicle, comprising:
- (a) an auxiliary battery for holding a plurality of charge units, the auxiliary battery being connectable to the main battery of the electric vehicle, the plurality of charge units being rechargeable and being replaceable from the auxiliary battery, such that replacing particular ones of the plurality of charge units with charge units with more charge increases a total charge of the auxiliary battery; and
(b) a kiosk for storing a plurality of charge units, the kiosk having,(i) slots for storing and recharging the plurality of charge units;
(ii) control systems for communicating over a network, the control systems include logic for identifying inventory of charging units in the kiosk and logic for processing payments for charge units provided and/or received in the slots of the kiosk; and
(iii) a display providing information regarding transactions with the kiosk;
(c) a processing server that communicates over a network with,(i) the control systems of the kiosk, the kiosk being one of a plurality of kiosks, the processing server configured to provide for centralized changes to a price to charge for the charge units at each of the plurality of kiosks, wherein the price of the charge units at each of the plurality of kiosks is adjusted based on at least one of a plurality of metrics including availability at particular ones of the plurality of kiosks or discounts to incentivize exchanging charge units at specific kiosks, and(ii) a plurality of user accounts, the user accounts provided with access to information regarding one or more of the plurality of kiosks, the information including availability information of charge units at the one or more of the plurality of kiosks, wherein each of the kiosks having an associated geo-location.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Electric vehicles that use replaceable and exchangeable batteries, applications for communicating with a service that provides access to kiosks of batteries, and methods and systems for finding charged batteries, reserving batteries, and paying for use of the batteries, are disclosed. One example is a system that includes at least one server that is capable of communication with a plurality of kiosks. Each kiosk is configured to hold one or more rechargeable batteries and dispense batteries to user with user accounts. The system manages inventory at the kiosks, enables payment for use or charges a user'"'"'s account, enables locating of kiosks with batteries proximate to a user'"'"'s vehicle location and optionally enables users to reserve batteries. The system provides access to the network of kiosks and information regarding battery availability via applications, such as smartphone applications, tablets, connected commuters and/or computers of a vehicle.
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Citations
17 Claims
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1. A system for providing charge units usable to supply charge to a main battery of an electric vehicle, comprising:
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(a) an auxiliary battery for holding a plurality of charge units, the auxiliary battery being connectable to the main battery of the electric vehicle, the plurality of charge units being rechargeable and being replaceable from the auxiliary battery, such that replacing particular ones of the plurality of charge units with charge units with more charge increases a total charge of the auxiliary battery; and (b) a kiosk for storing a plurality of charge units, the kiosk having, (i) slots for storing and recharging the plurality of charge units; (ii) control systems for communicating over a network, the control systems include logic for identifying inventory of charging units in the kiosk and logic for processing payments for charge units provided and/or received in the slots of the kiosk; and (iii) a display providing information regarding transactions with the kiosk; (c) a processing server that communicates over a network with, (i) the control systems of the kiosk, the kiosk being one of a plurality of kiosks, the processing server configured to provide for centralized changes to a price to charge for the charge units at each of the plurality of kiosks, wherein the price of the charge units at each of the plurality of kiosks is adjusted based on at least one of a plurality of metrics including availability at particular ones of the plurality of kiosks or discounts to incentivize exchanging charge units at specific kiosks, and (ii) a plurality of user accounts, the user accounts provided with access to information regarding one or more of the plurality of kiosks, the information including availability information of charge units at the one or more of the plurality of kiosks, wherein each of the kiosks having an associated geo-location. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A system including at least one server that is connected to a network, the at least one server is configured to communicate with a plurality of kiosks and receive and provide information to devices requesting information from the at least one server in regard to at least one of the plurality of kiosks, the at least one server comprising:
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logic for receiving a request from a user associated with user account to locate batteries usable to power an electric vehicle, the request being for a geographic location and the user account is associated with a service that enables access to exchange batteries having reduced charge for batteries having increased charge at a plurality of kiosks, the sever processing information regarding an inventory of available batteries at each of the plurality of kiosks, each of the kiosks being at a respective kiosk location and each kiosk having receptacle slots for storing and charging batteries; logic for receiving data identifying a plurality of kiosk locations proximate to the geographic location, the data including information regarding batteries available for exchange at each of the kiosk locations; and logic for receiving a request from the user account to access information of one or more of the kiosk locations, the information being in regard to use of batteries over time, or a history battery use, or loyalty points available or used, or gifts available or used, or deals of the day, or discounts used or available, or rewards, or history of kiosks used, or carbon footprint from using particular batteries of select ones of the plurality of kiosks, or a range provided by one or more batteries, or payment data, or payment history, or account administration, or customization functions, or suggested speeds to conserve energy, or mapping functions, or social networking access or functions, or traffic information, or combinations of two or more thereof; wherein the information is accessible from the user account via an application of a wireless mobile device, or a computer, or a website, or a device having access to the Internet; wherein each of the batteries being for insertion in the electric vehicle having at least one receptacle slot integrated in the electric vehicle, the at least one receptacle slot of the electric vehicle providing a connection for providing power to an electric motor of the electric vehicle and wherein the receptacle slots of each of the kiosk have a form factor as the receptacle slots of the electric vehicle to enable each to receive one or more of the batteries when exchanged, the electric vehicle being one of a two-wheel vehicle, or a three-wheel vehicle, or a four-wheel vehicle, or a motorcycle, or a car, or a truck, or a pickup, or a utility car, or a delivery vehicle, or an industrial vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17)
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Specification