System and method for managing electric vehicles

• US 10,810,804 B2
• Filed: 01/13/2015
• Issued: 10/20/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 02/17/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Chargepoint, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Chargepoint, Inc.
• Inventors: Lowenthal, Richard, Tormey, Milton, Solomon, James
• Primary Examiner(s): Charioui, Mohamed
• Application Number:
  US14/596,125
• Publication Number:
  US 20150134188A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,107 Days
• Field of Search: 702 63, 702184, 702187, 702188, 320109, 701 33
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/14 Conductive energy transfer
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/30 Constructional details of charging stations
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/305 Communication interfaces
• 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: B60L 58/12 responding to state of charge [SoC]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/127 Shopping or accessing services according to a time-limitation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/145 Payments according to the detected use or quantity
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/0057 for the hiring or rent of vehicles, e.g. cars, bicycles or wheelchairs car rental G07B15/00
• 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 90/12 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 30/12 Remote or cooperative charging

Abstract

A system and method for managing a plurality of electric vehicles with a fleet management portal is described herein. In one embodiment, a machine implemented method for managing one or more fleets of electric vehicles includes monitoring one or more fleets of electric vehicles using a fleet management portal associated with a server. Next, the method includes monitoring a plurality of charge transfer devices using the fleet management portal. Next, the method includes receiving charging information from the charge transfer devices. Next, the method includes determining a charging status for each electric vehicle based on the charging information. Next, the method includes generating one or more reports having the charging status for each electric vehicle.

Claims

1. A machine implemented method for managing a fleet of electric vehicles, comprising:

monitoring the fleet of electric vehicles using a fleet management portal associated with a server, wherein the fleet of electric vehicles includes a plurality of electric vehicles;

monitoring a plurality of charge transfer devices using the fleet management portal, wherein each of the plurality of charge transfer devices is configured for charging an electricity storage device within an electric vehicle;

receiving, from the charge transfer devices, charging information of each of those of the plurality of electric vehicles of the fleet of electric vehicles that have charged using the charge transfer devices;

determining a charging status for each of the plurality of electric vehicles based on the charging information; and

generating a report having the charging status for each of the plurality of electric vehicles.

2. The method as in claim 1, wherein the charging status for each of the plurality of electric vehicles further comprises a charging state, a fully charged state, or an unknown state.

3. The method as in claim 1, wherein determining the charging status for each of the plurality of electric vehicles further comprises determining a total plug- in time of that electric vehicle.

4. The method as in claim 1, wherein determining the charging status for each of the plurality of electric vehicles further comprises determining a total energy delivered to a vehicle electricity storage device of that electric vehicle since a start of a plug-in time.

5. The method as in claim 1, wherein determining the charging status for each of the plurality of electric vehicles further comprises determining an instantaneous power being currently delivered to a vehicle electricity storage device of that electric vehicle.

6. The method as in claim 1, wherein the report further comprises:

generating status information that includes at least one of the following;

summary information for the charging status of the fleet of electric vehicles; and

vehicle status information for each of the plurality of electric vehicles that includes at least one of a license plate identifier, a charging status, a charging station, a power delivered to each electricity storage device, energy delivered to each electricity storage device, a charging session time, and a time period until a electricity storage device is fully charged.

7. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

generating fuel savings information; and

generating green house gas reduction information.

8. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

sending a notification message to a user of an electric vehicle of the plurality of electric vehicles for at least one of the following conditions;

the electric vehicle is fully charged;

a time period for plugging in the electric vehicle has expired; and

a time period for checking in the electric vehicle has expired.

9. A non-transitory machine-accessible medium storing executable program instructions which when executed cause a machine to perform a method comprising:

monitoring the fleet of electric vehicles using a fleet management portal associated with a server, wherein the fleet of electric vehicles includes a plurality of electric vehicles;

monitoring a plurality of charge transfer devices using the fleet management portal, wherein each of the plurality of charge transfer devices is configured for charging an electricity storage device within an electric vehicle;

receiving, from the charge transfer devices, charging information each of those of the plurality of electric vehicles of the fleet of electric vehicles that have charged using the charge transfer devices;

determining a charging status for each of the plurality of electric vehicles based on the charging information; and

generating a report having the charging status for each of the plurality of electric vehicles.

10. The non-transitory machine-accessible medium as in claim 9, wherein the charging status for each of the plurality of electric vehicles further comprises a charging state, a fully charged state, or an unknown state.

11. The non-transitory machine-accessible medium as in claim 9, wherein determining the charging status for each of the plurality of electric vehicles further comprises determining a total plug-in time of that electric vehicle.

12. The non-transitory machine-accessible medium as in claim 9, wherein determining the charging status for each of the plurality of electric vehicles further comprises determining a total energy delivered to a vehicle electricity storage device of that electric vehicle since a start of a plug-in time.

13. The non-transitory machine-accessible medium as in claim 9, wherein determining the charging status for each of the plurality of electric vehicles further comprises determining an instantaneous power being currently delivered to a vehicle electricity storage device of that electric vehicle.

14. The non-transitory machine-accessible medium as in claim 9, the method further comprising:

generating status information that includes at least one of the following;

summary information for the charging status of the fleet of electric vehicles; and

vehicle status information for each of the plurality of electric vehicles that includes at least one of a license plate identifier, a charging status, a charging station, a power delivered to each electricity storage device, energy delivered to each electricity storage device, a charging session time, and a time period until a electricity storage device is fully charged.

15. The non-transitory machine-accessible medium as in claim 9, the method further comprising:

generating fuel savings information; and

generating green house gas reduction information.

16. The non-transitory machine-accessible medium as in claim 9, the method further comprising:

sending a notification message to a user of an electric vehicle of the plurality of electric vehicles for at least one of the following conditions;

the electric vehicle is fully charged;

a time period for plugging in the electric vehicle has expired; and

a time period for checking in the electric vehicle has expired.

17. A server for managing a plurality of electric vehicles, comprising:

a processing unit;

a memory coupled to the processing unit; and

one or more programs, wherein the one or more programs are stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the processing unit causing the processing unit to perform operations including;

monitoring a fleet of electric vehicles using a fleet management portal associated with the server, wherein the fleet of electric vehicles includes the plurality of electric vehicles;

monitoring a plurality of charge transfer devices using the fleet management portal, wherein each of the plurality of charge transfer devices is configured for charging an electricity storage device within an electric vehicle;

receiving, from the charge transfer devices, charging information of each of those of the plurality of electric vehicles of the fleet of electric vehicles that have charged using the charge transfer devices;

determining a charging status for each of the plurality of electric vehicles based on the charging information; and

generating a report having the charging status for each of the plurality of electric vehicles.

18. The server as in claim 17, wherein determining the charging status for each of the plurality of electric vehicles further comprises at least one of determining a total plug-in time of that electric vehicle, determining a total energy delivered to a vehicle electricity storage device of that electric vehicle since a start of the plug-in time, and determining an instantaneous power being currently delivered to a vehicle electricity storage device of that electric vehicle.

19. The server as in claim 17, wherein the one or more programs when executed by the processing unit further causes the processing unit to perform a further operation including generating status information in the report that includes at least one of the following:

summary information for the charging status of the fleet of electric vehicles; and

vehicle status information for each of the plurality of electric vehicles that includes at least one of a license plate identifier, a charging status, a charging station, a power delivered to each electricity storage device, energy delivered to each electricity storage device, a charging session time, and a time period until a electricity storage device is fully charged.

20. The server as in claim 17, wherein the one or more programs when executed by the processing unit further causes the processing unit to perform a further operation including sending a notification message to a user of an electric vehicle of the plurality of electric vehicles for at least one of the following conditions:

the electric vehicle is fully charged;

a time period for plugging in the electric vehicle has expired; and

a time period for plugging in the electric vehicle has expired.

21. A system for managing a plurality of electric vehicles, comprising:

a plurality of charge transfer devices; and

a server, communicatively coupled to at least one of the plurality of charge transfer devices, the server comprising;

a processing unit;

a memory coupled to the processing unit; and

one or more programs, wherein the one or more programs are stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the processing unit causing the processing unit to perform operations including;

monitoring a fleet of electric vehicles using a fleet management portal associated with the server, wherein the fleet of electric vehicles includes the plurality of electric vehicles;

monitoring the plurality of charge transfer devices using the fleet management portal, wherein each of the plurality of charge transfer devices is configured for charging an electricity storage device within an electric vehicle;

receiving, from the charge transfer devices, charging information of each of those of the plurality of electric vehicles of the fleet of electric vehicles that have charged using the charge transfer devices;

determining a charging status for each of the plurality of electric vehicles based on the charging information; and

generating a report having the charging status for each of the plurality of electric vehicles.

22. The system as in claim 21, wherein determining the charging status for each of the plurality of electric vehicles further comprises at least one of determining a total plug-in time of that electric vehicle, determining a total energy delivered to a vehicle electricity storage device since a start of the plug-in time of that electric vehicle, and determining an instantaneous power being currently delivered to a vehicle electricity storage device of that electric vehicle.

23. The system as in claim 21, wherein the one or more programs when executed by the processing unit further causes the processing unit to perform a further operation including sending a notification message to a user of an electric vehicle of the plurality of electric vehicles for at least one of the following conditions:

the electric vehicle is fully charged;

a time period for plugging in the electric vehicle has expired; and

a time period for plugging in the electric vehicle has expired.