Charging of a fleet of electric vehicles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10017068-B2
Application number	US-201414309560-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 19, 2014
Priority date	Jun 19, 2014
Publication date	Jul 10, 2018
Grant date	Jul 10, 2018

Abstract

A method for controlling the charging of multiple electric vehicles operating in a geographic area may include inputting a tariff schedule into a control system. The tariff schedule may identify the cost of energy at different times in the geographic area. The method may also include receiving data from the multiple electric vehicles. The data may include at least the state of charge of the vehicle. The method may further include sending instructions to at least one vehicle of the multiple electric vehicles. The instructions may include directives on charging based at least on the tariff schedule and the received data.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method for controlling the charging of multiple electric vehicles operating in a geographic area using a control system, the geographic area including one or more charging stations configured to charge the multiple electric vehicles, comprising:
inputting a tariff schedule into the control system, the tariff schedule identifying the cost of energy at different times in the geographic area;
receiving, using the control system, data from each electric vehicle of the multiple electric vehicles, the multiple electric vehicles including (i) at least one electric vehicle coupled to a charging station of the multiple charging stations and (ii) at least one electric vehicle not coupled to a charging station of the multiple charging stations, the data including at least a state of charge of the vehicle; and
sending instructions from the control system to at least one vehicle of the multiple electric vehicles or at least one charging station of the one or more charging stations, the instructions including at least an amount of energy to transfer to the at least one vehicle based at least on (a) the tariff schedule and (b) the state of charge of each vehicle of the multiple electric vehicles, wherein the sending instructions include sending instructions to the at least one charging station to charge the at least one vehicle using at least a portion of energy stored in an energy storage device.

2. The method of claim 1 , further including receiving using the control system, data from the one or more charging stations.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the at least one charging station includes the energy storage device coupled thereto, and wherein the data from the at least one charging station includes the state of charge of the energy storage device.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein sending instructions include a directive to the at least one vehicle to skip a scheduled charging event.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein sending instructions include sending instructions to each electric vehicle of the multiple electric vehicles.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the multiple electric vehicles include a fleet of fast-charge electric buses.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the receiving data includes wirelessly receiving data from the least one vehicle not coupled to a charging station.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the data received from the at least one vehicle not coupled to the charging station further includes vehicle identifying information and a current location of the vehicle in the geographic area.

9. A method of controlling the charging of a fleet of electric buses operating in a geographic area using a control system, the geographic area including one or more charging stations configured to charge the fleet of electric buses, comprising:
inputting a tariff schedule into the control system, the tariff schedule identifying the cost of energy at different times;
receiving, using the control system, data from each bus of a plurality of electric buses of the fleet, the plurality of electric buses including (a) at least one bus coupled to a charging station of the one or more charging stations and (b) at least one bus not coupled to a charging station of the one or more charging stations, the data including at least a state of charge of the bus;
receiving, using the control system, data related to charging from the one or more charging stations; and
sending instructions from the control system to the at least one bus coupled to the charging station or a charging station that the at least one bus is coupled with, the instructions including an amount of energy to transfer to the at least one bus based on at least (a) the tariff schedule and (b) the state of charge of each electric bus of the plurality of electric buses, and a rate of energy transfer to the at least one bus.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the fleet of electric buses are fast-charge electric buses.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the instructions include a directive to the at least one electric bus to skip a scheduled charging event.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein the instructions include a directive to the at least one electric bus to delay a scheduled charging event or to charge at a reduced power level.

13. The method of claim 9 , wherein at least one charging station of the one or more charging stations includes an energy storage device coupled thereto, and the method further includes sending instructions from the control system to the at least one charging station, wherein the instructions to the at least one charging station includes a directive to charge an electric bus using at least a portion of energy stored in the energy storage device.

14. The method of claim 9 , wherein the receiving data from each bus further includes receiving bus identifying information and a current location of the bus in the geographic area.

15. A control system for controlling the charging of a fleet of electric vehicles operating in a geographic area, the geographic area including one or more charging stations configured to charge the fleet of electric vehicles, comprising:
a computer system configured to receive a tariff schedule, the tariff schedule identifying the cost of energy at different times in the geographic area;
a receiver configured to receive data related to a state of charge from multiple electric vehicles of the fleet of electric vehicles, the multiple electric vehicles including (i) at least one vehicle coupled to a charging station of the one or more charging stations and (ii) at least one vehicle not coupled to a charging station of the one or more charging stations, wherein the data received from the at least one vehicle not coupled to the charging station includes vehicle identifying information and a current location of the vehicle in the geographic area; and
a processor configured to determine an amount of energy to transfer to an electric vehicle of the multiple electric vehicles during charging based on at least (a) the tariff schedule and (b) the state of charge of each electric vehicle of the multiple electric vehicles.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the receiver is further configured to receive data related to charging from the one or more charging stations.

17. The system of claim 15 , wherein the receiver is configured to receive data from each electric vehicle of the multiple electric vehicles.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the data received from each electric vehicle includes vehicle identifying information and a current location of the vehicle in the geographic area.

Assignees

• Proterra Inc

Inventors

• Mcgrath Seamus
• Sarkar Reuben

Classifications

• Y04S10/126

  the energy generation units being or involving electric vehicles [EV] or hybrid vehicles [HEV], i.e. power aggregation of EV or HEV, vehicle to grid arrangements [V2G] · CPC title

• B60L2230/32

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• B60L11/1844

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• Y02E60/721

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• B60L2230/40

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic