Vehicle charging stations and methods for use in charging an electrically powered vehicle

• US 9,035,607 B2
• Filed: 08/09/2011
• Issued: 05/19/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/09/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: LaFrance, Ryan Marc
• Primary Examiner(s): Williams, Arun
• Application Number:
  US13/206,026
• Publication Number:
  US 20130038284A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,379 Days
• Field of Search: 320/109
• US Class Current: 320/109
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2270/36 of vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/18 Cables specially adapted for charging electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/305 Communication interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/60 Monitoring or controlling charging stations
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/65 involving identification of vehicles or their battery types
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/66 Data transfer between charging stations and vehicles
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 30/14 Details associated with the interoperability, e.g. vehicle recognition, authentication, identification or billing

Abstract

Vehicle charging stations and methods for use in charging an electrically powered vehicle are disclosed. One example vehicle charging station includes a power source and a charging device coupled to the power source. The charging device is configured to control a charging process between the power source and an electrically powered vehicle, transmit, via at least one network, a first electronic message to a user, and receive, via the at least one network, a second electronic message from the user. The first electronic message includes at least one condition related to at least one of the charging process and the electrically power vehicle. The second electronic message includes a user command related to the at least one condition.

Claims

1. A vehicle charging station for charging an electrically powered vehicle, said vehicle charging station comprising:

a power source; and

a charging device coupled to said power source, said charging device configured to;

control a charging process between said power source and an electrically powered vehicle;

transmit, via at least one network, a first electronic message from said charging device to a user device that is separate from the electrically powered vehicle and said vehicle charging station, the first electronic message including a charging error related to the charging process; and

receive, via the at least one network, a second electronic message from the user device, the second electronic message including a user command that alters the charging process to mitigate the charging error.

2. The vehicle charging station of claim 1, wherein the first message includes one of a SMS message and an email message.

3. The vehicle charging station of claim 2, wherein the at least one network includes a wireless cellular network.

4. The vehicle charging station of claim 1, wherein said charging device is configured to alter the charging process in response to the user command.

5. The vehicle charging station of claim 1, wherein said charging device is configured to transmit the user command to the electrically powered vehicle.

6. The vehicle charging station of claim 1, wherein said charging device is configured to receive a user profile from the electrically powered vehicle, wherein the user profile includes contact information, and wherein the charging device is configured to transmit the first message based on the contact information.

7. The vehicle charging station of claim 1, wherein said charging device is configured to receive a user profile from the electrically powered vehicle, and wherein the user profile includes contact information.

8. A method for use in charging an electrically powered vehicle at a charging station, the vehicle charging station including a power source and a charging device coupled to the power source, said method comprising:

controlling, at the charging device, a charging process between the power source and the electrically powered vehicle;

transmitting, via at least one network, a first electronic message from the charging device to a user device that is separate from the electrically powered vehicle and the charging station, the first electronic message including a charging error related to the charging process; and

receiving, via the at least one network, a second electronic message, from the user device, the second electronic message including a user command that alters the charging process to mitigate the charging error.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein transmitting via at least one network includes transmitting via a cellular network.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein transmitting the first electronic message includes transmitting one of a SMS message and an email message.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising transmitting the user command to the electrically powered vehicle.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising transmitting a third message to a third-party in response to the user command.

13. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media having computer-executable instructions embodiments thereon, wherein when executed by at least one processor, said computer-executable instruction cause the processor to:

control a charging process between a power source and an electrically powered vehicle;

transmit, via at least one network, a first electronic message from a charging device to a user device that is separate from the electrically powered vehicle and the charging device, the first electronic message including a charging error related to the charging process; and

receive, via the at least one network, a second electronic message from the user device, the second electronic message including a user command that alters the charging process to mitigate the charging error.

14. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 13, wherein the computer-executable instruction cause the processor to receive a user profile from the electrically powered vehicle, and wherein the user profile includes billing information and contact information.