Dealership energy management system for charging incoming customer vehicles with inventory vehicles and method thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10583750-B1
Application number	US-201816137418-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Sep 20, 2018
Priority date	Sep 20, 2018
Publication date	Mar 10, 2020
Grant date	Mar 10, 2020

Abstract

In an illustrative embodiment, and to remove overall peak demand, a dealership energy management system may include bi-directional charging devices that may be associated with inventory vehicles and output devices that may be associated with customer vehicles. Inventory may be processed and associated with days stored at the dealership. The inventory vehicles may be charged up to 60% during off-peak hours to provide charge to incoming customer vehicles during peak hours. The inventory vehicles may discharge down to 40%, while providing charge to the customer vehicles, before another vehicle within the inventory is selected to provide charge. Inventory vehicles may be charged and discharged based on the days stored at the dealership as well as whether those vehicles have been discharged below a threshold.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A dealership energy management system comprising:
at least one bi-directional charging device associated with inventory vehicles;
at least one output device associated with customer vehicles;
at least one processor; and
a memory operatively coupled to the processor, the memory storing program instructions that when executed by the processor, causes the processor to:
charge at least one inventory vehicle through the at least one bi-directional charging device during off-peak hours;
determine whether at least one customer vehicle is connected to the at least one output device;
provide charge from the at least one inventory vehicle through the at least one bi-directional charging device to the at least one customer vehicle when the at least one customer vehicle is connected to the at least one output device;
wherein charging the at least one inventory vehicle through the at least one bi-directional charging device during off-peak hours comprises charging the at least one inventory vehicle up to 60% or wherein providing the charge from the at least one inventory vehicle through the at least one bi-directional charging device to the at least one customer vehicle through the at least one output device comprises depleting the at least one inventory vehicle down to 40% before retrieving charge from another inventory vehicle.

2. The dealership energy management system of claim 1 , wherein the memory storing program instructions, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to receive days within inventory of the at least one inventory vehicle.

3. The dealership energy management system of claim 2 , wherein charging the at least one inventory vehicle through the at least one bi-directional charging device during off-peak hours comprises providing charge to new vehicles first based on the days within inventory.

4. The dealership energy management system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one bi-directional charging device and the at least one output device are wireless devices.

5. The dealership energy management system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one bi-directional charging device and the at least one output device are line connected devices.

6. The dealership energy system of claim 1 , wherein off-peak hours are based on a day, week and season.

7. A method of charging incoming customer vehicles at a dealership with inventory vehicles, the method comprising:
receiving inventory vehicles;
charging the inventory vehicles at the dealership during off-peak hours;
determining whether at least one customer vehicle is connected;
providing charge from the inventory vehicles to the at least one customer vehicle when connected;
wherein charging the inventory vehicles and providing charge from the inventory vehicles comprises setting a threshold for the inventory vehicles at a state-of-charge between 40% and 60%.

8. The method of charging incoming customer vehicles at the dealership with inventory vehicles of claim 7 , comprising associating a date with the inventory vehicles for charging the inventory vehicles.

9. The method of charging incoming customer vehicles at the dealership with inventory vehicles of claim 8 , wherein receiving the inventory vehicles comprises associating the inventory vehicles with a parking spot and associating the vehicles' date of arrival with the parking spot.

10. The method of charging incoming customer vehicles at the dealership with inventory vehicles of claim 9 , wherein charging the inventory vehicles at the dealership during off-peak hours comprises providing charge to vehicles having newer dates.

11. The method of charging incoming customer vehicles at the dealership with inventory vehicles of claim 7 , wherein providing the charge from the inventory vehicles to the at least one customer vehicle is during peak hours.

12. A dealership energy management system comprising:
at least one bi-directional charging device associated with at least one inventory vehicle;
at least one output device associated with at least one customer vehicle; and
a server charging the at least one inventory vehicle through the at least one bi-directional charging device during off-peak hours and providing the charge from the at least one inventory vehicle through the at least one bi-directional charging device to the at least one customer vehicle when the at least one customer vehicle is connected to the at least one output device;
wherein charging the at least one inventory vehicle and providing the charge from the at least one inventory vehicle comprises setting a threshold for the at least one inventory vehicle at a state-of-charge between 40% and 60%.

13. The dealership energy management system of claim 12 , wherein off-peak hours depend on a day, week and season.

14. The dealership energy management system of claim 12 , wherein charging the at least one inventory vehicle through the at least one bi-directional charging device during off-peak hours comprises providing charge to older vehicles first.

15. The dealership energy management system of claim 12 , wherein the at least one bi-directional charging device and the at least one output device are wireless devices.

16. The dealership energy management system of claim 12 , wherein the at least one bi-directional charging device and the at least one output device are line connected devices.

Assignees

• Honda Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Moon John
• Harty Ryan D
• Whaling Jeremy
• Nordlund-Swenson Annika Elise

Classifications

• B60L53/67

  Controlling two or more charging stations · CPC title

• G06Q50/06

  Energy or water supply · CPC title

• G06Q10/06315

  Needs-based resource requirements planning or analysis · CPC title

• B60L53/64 Primary

  Optimising energy costs, e.g. responding to electricity rates · CPC title

• Y04S30/14

  Details associated with the interoperability, e.g. vehicle recognition, authentication, identification or billing · CPC title