Exterior light and charge indicator

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11288902-B2
Application number	US-201916459328-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 1, 2019
Priority date	Jun 29, 2018
Publication date	Mar 29, 2022
Grant date	Mar 29, 2022

Abstract

Electric vehicles indicate charge levels in different ways. A lighting control module is communicatively is configured to illuminate an exterior light of an electric vehicle to indicate a charge status of a battery for the electric vehicle. The charge status is indicated based on varying an intensity of the exterior light, based on illuminating a subset of the exterior lights, and/or based on an animation. The display of the charge indicator varies based on a location of the vehicle, the presence of a person in proximity to the vehicle, and/or a charger connected to the vehicle.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A charge indicator system for an electric vehicle, comprising:
an exterior light;
a battery management module;
a lighting control module communicatively coupled to the battery management module, wherein the lighting control module is configured to:
cause the exterior light to emit light during driving operation of the electric vehicle;
receive charge status information of a vehicle battery from the battery management module;
cause the exterior light to emit light that indicates charge status based on the received charge status information;
determine, based on the charge status information, that the electric vehicle is charging; and
based on the determining:
illuminate a first region of the exterior light and a second region of the exterior light;
move the illuminated first region and the illuminated second region inward towards each other from initial positions; and
return the illuminated first region and the illuminated second region to their initial positions.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the lighting control module is configured to cause the exterior light to:
emit light at a substantially constant intensity during operation of the electric vehicle; and
emit light at a varying intensity during charging.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the lighting control module is configured to cause the exterior light to emit light at a rapidly varying intensity when the charge status information indicates a charging fault has occurred.

4. The system of claim 2 , wherein the light emitted during operation and during charging is the same color.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the exterior light comprises a width and a height and wherein the width is at least five times greater than the height.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the lighting control module is configured to cause the exterior light to:
emit light of a first color during operation of the electric vehicle; and
emit light of a second color during charging, wherein the first color is different than the second color.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the second color comprises blue.

8. The system of claim 6 , wherein the lighting control module is configured to cause the exterior light to emit light of a third color when the vehicle battery is fully charged.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the third color comprises green.

10. The system of claim 6 , wherein the lighting control module is configured to cause the exterior light to emit light of a fourth color when there is a charging fault.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the fourth color comprises red.

12. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a proximity sensor configured to detect a presence of a person, wherein:
the lighting control module is configured to:
receive a signal from the proximity sensor indicating the presence of the person; and
cause the exterior light to emit light that indicates charge status responsive to the signal indicating the presence of a person.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the proximity sensor comprises a motion sensor configured to detect motion and wherein the signal indicating the presence of the person comprises a signal indicating the presence of motion.

14. The system of claim 12 , wherein the proximity sensor comprises one of a near-field communication device and a Bluetooth communication device.

15. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a positioning device configured to determine a location of the electric vehicle, wherein:
the lighting control module is configured to:
receive a signal from the positioning device indicating the location of the electric vehicle; and
cause the exterior light to emit light that indicates charge status responsive to the location of the electric vehicle.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the lighting control module is configured to cause the exterior light to emit light that indicates charge status when the location of the electric vehicle is not within a threshold distance of a tagged location.

17. The system of claim 15 , wherein the lighting control module is configured to cause the exterior light to not emit light that indicates charge status when both the electric vehicle is charging and the location of the electric vehicle is within a threshold distance of a tagged location.

18. The system of claim 1 , wherein the exterior light comprises:
a first set of light emitting diodes (LEDs) for emitting light during operation of the electric vehicle; and
a second set of LEDs for emitting light that indicates the charge status.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein the lighting control module is configured to:
cause a first subset of the second set of LEDs to emit light to indicate a first charge status; and
cause a second subset of the second set of LEDs to emit light to indicate a second charge status.

20. A method for indicating charge status of an electric vehicle, comprising:
emitting light of a substantially constant light intensity, using an exterior light, during driving operation of the electric vehicle;
receiving charge status information of a vehicle battery from a battery management module;
emitting light, using the exterior light, that indicates charge status of the based on the received charge status information;
determining, based on the charge status information, that the electric vehicle is charging; and
based on the determining:
illuminating a first region of the exterior light and a second region of the exterior light;
moving the illuminated first region and the illuminated second region inward towards each other from initial positions; and
returning the illuminated first region and the illuminated second region to their initial positions.

Assignees

• Rivian Ip Holdings Llc

Inventors

• Coburn Matthew
• Gase Brian
• Hammoud Mohamad Jeffery
• Mack Luke James
• Hoste Paul

Classifications

• Y02T90/14

  Plug-in electric vehicles · CPC title

• H05B47/19

  via wireless transmission · CPC title

• G07C5/0825 Primary

  using optical means · CPC title

• B60L50/60 Primary

  using power supplied by batteries (in combination with fuel cells B60L50/75) · CPC title

• B60Q1/543

  for indicating other states or conditions of the vehicle (indicating taxis' state of hire or fare G07B13/045) · CPC title