Methodologies for implementing smart control of vehicle charging

• US 9,137,364 B2
• Filed: 05/13/2011
• Issued: 09/15/2015
• 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.
• Primary Examiner(s): Fantu, Yalkew
• Application Number:
  US13/107,474
• Publication Number:
  US 20120286725A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,586 Days
• Field of Search: 320/104, 320/109, 320/107, 320/116, 320/339, 180/65.1, 180/65.01, 307/149, 701/22
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 charging of vehicle batteries via a telematics service provider, the method comprising:

receiving, at a call center of the telematics services provider, a request from a utility to reduce load on a power grid associated with the utility;

identifying, by the call center, vehicles being charged by the power grid, wherein identifying the vehicles being charged by the power grid comprises receiving a message from a vehicle indicating which power grid the vehicle is connected to, wherein the message further comprises charging-related information, which includes at least one of the group consisting of;

a charge level, rate of charge, fill up time, and expected ready-by time associated with the at least one vehicle; and

sending, by the call center, a command to one or more of the identified vehicles to modify charging behavior so as to reduce the load on the power grid, wherein the command is sent to a telematics unit of each of the one or more identified vehicles.

2. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

sending, by the call center, an inquiry message to the vehicle to determine whether the vehicle is connected to a power grid and which power grid the vehicle is connected to.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the command to modify charging behavior for a particular vehicle is based on charging-related information corresponding to the particular vehicle.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the command to modify charging behavior is one of the group consisting of:

a command to stop charging, and a command to reduce rate of charging.

5. A method for remotely controlling charging of vehicle batteries via a telematics service provider, the method comprising:

receiving, at a call center of the telematics services provider, a request from a utility to reduce load on a power grid associated with the utility;

identifying, by the call center, vehicles being charged by the power grid; and

sending, by the call center, a command to one or more of the identified vehicles to modify charging behavior so as to reduce the load on the power grid, wherein the command is sent to a telematics unit of each of the one or more identified vehicles;

wherein the method further comprises;

determining, by the call center, a battery charge status for a first vehicle being charged by the power grid and a second vehicle being charged by the power grid, wherein the battery charge status for the first vehicle exceeds a threshold and the battery charge status for the second vehicle does not exceed the threshold; and

wherein sending a command to one or more of the identified vehicles comprises;

sending a first command to the first vehicle to stop charging and sending a second command to the second vehicle to reduce charging, wherein the first command is based on the battery charge status for the first vehicle and the second command is based on the battery charge status for the second vehicle.

6. A non-transitory computer-readable medium, part of a computing system of a call center of a telematics service provider, having processor-executable instructions stored thereon for remotely controlling charging of vehicle batteries via the telematics service provider, the processor-executable instructions, when executed by a processor, facilitate performance of the following steps:

receiving a request from a utility to reduce load on a power grid associated with the utility;

identifying vehicles being charged by the power grid, wherein identifying the vehicles being charged by the power grid comprises receiving a message from a vehicle indicating which power grid the vehicle is connected to, wherein the message further comprises charging-related information, which includes at least one of the group consisting of;

a charge level, rate of charge, fill us time and expected read-by time associated with the at least one vehicle; and

sending a command to one or more of the identified vehicles to modify charging behavior so as to reduce the load on the power grid, wherein the command is sent to a telematics unit of each of the one or more identified vehicles.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 6, wherein the processor-executable instructions further facilitate performance of the following steps:

sending an inquiry message to the vehicle to determine whether the vehicle is connected to a power grid and which power grid the vehicle is connected to.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 6, wherein the command to modify charging behavior for a particular vehicle is based on charging-related information corresponding to the particular vehicle.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 6, wherein the command to modify charging behavior is one of the group consisting of:

a command to stop charging, and a command to reduce rate of charging.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable medium, part of a computing system of a call center of a telematics service provider, having processor-executable instructions stored thereon for remotely controlling charging of vehicle batteries via the telematics service provider, the processor-executable instructions, when executed by a processor, facilitate performance, by the call center, of the following steps:

receiving a request from a utility to reduce load on a power grid associated with the utility;

identifying vehicles being charged by the power grid; and

sending a command to one or more of the identified vehicles to modify charging behavior so as to reduce the load on the power grid, wherein the command is sent to a telematics unit of each of the one or more identified vehicles;

wherein the processor-executable instructions further facilitate performance of the following steps;

determining a battery charge status for a first vehicle being charged by the power grid and a second vehicle being charged by the power grid, wherein the battery charge status for the first vehicle exceeds a threshold and the battery charge status for the second vehicle does not exceed the threshold; and

wherein sending a command to one or more of the identified vehicles comprises;

sending a first command to the first vehicle to stop charging and sending a second command to the second vehicle to reduce charging, wherein the first command is based on the battery charge status for the first vehicle and the second command is based on the battery charge status for the second vehicle.