System and Method for Operating an Electric Vehicle

• US 20100094496A1
• Filed: 09/15/2009
• Published: 04/15/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/19/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Better Place GmbH
• Original Assignee: Better Place GmbH
• Inventors: Hershkovitz, Barak, Kabisher, Boris, Khason, Tamir, Kieslestein, Shahaf, Agassi, Shai, Gilboa, Yuval
• Application Number:
  US12/560,337
• Publication Number:
  US 20100094496A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/22
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 15/2045 for optimising the use of energy
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/12 Speed
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/622 by satellite navigation
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/64 Road conditions
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/642 Slope of road
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/66 Ambient conditions
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/662 Temperature
• 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 2250/10 by alarm
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2250/16 by display
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2250/18 by enquiring driving style
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2260/52 drive range estimation, e.g. of estimation of available travel distance
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2260/54 Energy consumption estimation
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2260/58 Departure time prediction
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 3/12 Recording operating variables ; Monitoring of operating variables
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 50/66 Arrangements of batteries
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/14 Conductive energy transfer
• 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 53/80 : Exchanging energy storage elements, e.g. removable batteries
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 58/15 : Preventing overcharging
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3469 : Fuel consumption; Energy use; Emission aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3676 : Overview of the route on the road map
• 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

A system and method for managing energy usage in an electric vehicle. A charge level of at least one battery of the electric vehicle is received. A current location of the electric vehicle is received. A theoretical maximum range of the electric vehicle is determined based on the current location of the electric vehicle and the charge level of the at least one battery of the electric vehicle. An energy plan for the electric vehicle is generated

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for managing energy usage of an at least partially electric vehicle, comprising:

at a computer system of the at least partially electric vehicle, the computer system including one or more processors, and memory storing one or more programs, and a display device, the one or more processors executing the one or more programs to perform the operations of;

receiving a charge level of at least one battery of the at least partially electric vehicle;

receiving a current location of the at least partially electric vehicle;

determining a theoretical maximum range of the at least partially electric vehicle based on the current location of the at least partially electric vehicle and the charge level of the at least one battery of the at least partially electric vehicle;

displaying on the display device a geographic map including the current location of the at least partially electric vehicle; and

displaying a first boundary on the geographic map indicating the maximum theoretical range of the at least partially electric vehicle.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying one or more visual indicators on the geographic map to indicate that locations outside of the first boundary are unreachable by the at least partially electric vehicle based at least in part on the current location and the theoretical maximum range of the at least partially electric vehicle.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a second boundary that is a predetermined distance from a reference point, wherein the predetermined distance is the farthest destination that the at least partially electric vehicle can travel to and still be able to return to the reference point; and

displaying the second boundary on the geographic map.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the reference point is the point at which the at least partially electric vehicle spends the most time charging the at least one battery of the at least partially electric vehicle.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the reference point is selected from the group consisting of a home of a user of the at least partially electric vehicle and an office of a user of the at least partially electric vehicle.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating an energy plan for the at least partially electric vehicle.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the energy plan includes:

one or more routes;

a destination; and

one or more battery service stations at which the at least one battery may be serviced.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein generating the energy plan for the at least partially electric vehicle includes:

determining whether the at least partially electric vehicle can reach a predefined location based on the theoretical maximum range;

in response to determining that the at least partially electric vehicle cannot reach the predefined location,

determining a battery service station within the theoretical maximum range of the current location of the at least partially electric vehicle at which the at least one battery of the at least partially electric vehicle may be serviced; and

adding the battery service station to the energy plan.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein after adding a battery service station to the energy plan, the method further comprises scheduling time at the battery service station to service the at least one battery of the at least partially electric vehicle.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein scheduling time at the battery service station to service the at least one battery of the at least partially electric vehicle includes scheduling time at the battery service station to service the at least one battery of the at least partially electric vehicle based on an estimated time that the at least partially electric vehicle will arrive at the battery service station.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the predefined location is selected from the group consisting of:

a home of the user;

a workplace of the user; and

a location where the at least partially electric vehicle is charged.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising in response to determining that the at least partially electric vehicle can reach the predefined location, repeating the operations of claim 1.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

generating a route from the current location of the at least partially electric vehicle to the battery service station; and

adding the route to the energy plan.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the battery service station is selected from the group consisting of:

charge stations that recharge the one or more battery packs of the vehicle;

battery exchange stations that replace a spent battery of the vehicle with a charged battery; and

any combination of the aforementioned battery service stations.

15. The method of claim 8, wherein the predefined location is selected from the group consisting of:

a user-specified destination;

a battery service station;

a destination determined based on a user profile; and

a destination determined based on aggregate user profile data.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

determining the theoretical maximum range of the at least partially electric vehicle after the at least one battery is serviced at the battery service station;

determining whether the at least partially electric vehicle can reach the predefined location based on the theoretical maximum range;

in response to determining that the at least partially electric vehicle cannot reach the predefined location,

determining a next battery service station within the theoretical maximum range of a previous battery service station in the energy plan and on a route to the predefined location;

adding the next battery service station to the energy plan; and

repeating the operations of claim 16 until the predefined location is reachable.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

generating a route from the current location of the at least partially electric vehicle to the destination, wherein the route includes stops at the battery service stations in the energy plan; and

adding the route to the energy plan.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising in response to determining that the at least partially electric vehicle can reach the destination,

generating a route from the current location of the at least partially electric vehicle to the destination;

and

adding the route to the energy plan.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the theoretical maximum range is based at least in part on:

the charge level of the at least one battery of the at least partially electric vehicle;

the current location of the at least partially electric vehicle;

a profile of the user;

properties of at least one electric motor of the at least partially electric vehicle;

types of terrain on which roads are situated;

a speed of the at least partially electric vehicle; and

any combination of the aforementioned elements.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the theoretical maximum range is adjusted to provide a margin of safety.

21. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether a silent navigation mode is enabled; and

in response to determining that the silent navigation mode is not enabled, providing guidance based on the energy plan.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising in response to determining that the silent navigation mode is enabled, disabling guidance based on the energy plan.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the guidance includes turn-by-turn guidance.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein the guidance is selected from the group consisting of:

visual guidance;

audio guidance; and

any combination of the aforementioned guidance.

25. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the current location of the at least partially electric vehicle includes receiving the current location of the at least partially electric vehicle from a global satellite navigation system.

26. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an energy plan for the at least partially electric vehicle;

providing guidance based on the energy plan; and

periodically determining whether the energy plan is still valid.

27. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

at a computer system remote from the at least partially electric vehicle, the computer system including one or more processors and memory storing one or more programs, the one or more processors executing the one or more programs to perform the operations of;

receiving a request to service the at least one battery of the at least partially electric vehicle; and

in response to the request, generating a service plan to service the at least one battery of the at least partially electric vehicle.

28. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting to a server a request to service the at least one battery of the at least partially electric vehicle;

in response to the request, receiving from the server a service plan; and

managing the service plan.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the service plan indicates that the at least one battery of the at least partially electric vehicle is to be exchanged for at least one charged battery, and wherein the method further comprises facilitating the exchanging of the at least one battery for the at least one charged battery.

30. A system for managing energy usage of an at least partially at least partially electric vehicle, comprising:

one or more processors;

memory; and

one or more programs stored in the memory, the one or more programs comprising instructions to;

receive a charge level of at least one battery of the at least partially at least partially electric vehicle;

receive a current location of the at least partially at least partially electric vehicle; and

determine a theoretical maximum range of the at least partially at least partially electric vehicle based on the current location of the at least partially at least partially electric vehicle and the charge level of the at least one battery of the at least partially at least partially electric vehicle.

31. A computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs configured for execution by a computer, the one or more programs comprising instructions to:

receive a charge level of at least one battery of the at least partially electric vehicle;

receive a current location of the at least partially electric vehicle; and

determine a theoretical maximum range of the at least partially electric vehicle based on the current location of the at least partially electric vehicle and the charge level of the at least one battery of the at least partially electric vehicle.