Charging control of a fleet

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12311799-B2
Application number	US-202117239296-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 23, 2021
Priority date	Apr 28, 2020
Publication date	May 27, 2025
Grant date	May 27, 2025

Abstract

A method for providing electric exchange power for multiple electric vehicles of a fleet of electric vehicles, for feeding into an electricity supply grid or drawing from the electricity supply grid by way of a charging infrastructure of the fleet, wherein a positive exchange power denotes an electric power drawn from the electricity supply grid by the fleet and a negative exchange power denotes an electric power fed into the electricity supply grid by the fleet, and wherein each electric vehicle has an electrical storage unit having a changeable state of charge, and the sum of the changeable states of charge of the electric vehicles of the fleet, and possibly further changeable states of charge of further storage units, forms a changeable sum state of charge, wherein a state of charge range is determined for a provision period, this state of charge range spanning an operating range that should contain the sum state of charge, wherein the state of charge range is characterized by a time-dependent upper limit that specifies maximum values that should not be exceeded for the sum state of charge in a time-dependent manner, and by a time-dependent lower limit that specifies minimum values that should not be dropped below for the sum state of charge in a time-dependent manner, and wherein the state of charge range is determined on the basis of the states of charge of the electric vehicles, and wherein the electric exchange power is controlled in the provision period such that the sum state of charge does not leave the state of charge range.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for providing electric exchange power for a plurality of electric vehicles of a fleet of electric vehicles for feeding into an electricity supply grid or drawing from the electricity supply grid by way of a charging infrastructure of the fleet, wherein the electric exchange power comprises:
a positive exchange power that denotes an electric power drawn from the electricity supply grid by the fleet; and
a negative exchange power that denotes an electric power fed into the electricity supply grid by the fleet; and wherein:
each electric vehicle has an electrical storage unit having a changeable state of charge, and
a sum of the changeable states of charge of the electric vehicles of the fleet forms a changeable sum state of charge, the method comprising:
determining a state of charge range for a provision period, wherein the state of charge range spans an operating range that contains a sum state of charge, wherein the state of charge range is delimited by:
a time-dependent upper limit that specifies maximum values not to be exceeded for the sum state of charge in a time-dependent manner, and
a time-dependent lower limit that specifies minimum values not to be dropped below for the sum state of charge in a time-dependent manner,

determining the state of charge range is based on the states of charge of the plurality of electric vehicles,
controlling the electric exchange power, for feeding into the electricity supply grid and drawing from the electricity supply grid, in the provision period such that the sum state of charge does not leave the state of charge range,
forecasting a starting charging point of the state of charge range by determining a starting state of charge of the sum state of charge at a starting time,
wherein the starting state of charge is forecast at the starting time, and/or
wherein the starting time is forecast, such that:
 all of the plurality of electric vehicles have reached the charging infrastructure,
 a predetermined portion of the plurality of electric vehicles has reached the charging infrastructure,
 a number of electric vehicles of the plurality of electric vehicles have reached the charging infrastructure such that a sum of their states of charge has reached a specified minimum starting value of the sum state of charge, and/or
 a number of electric vehicles of the plurality of electric vehicles have reached the charging infrastructure that a sum of their storage capacities has a specified minimum storage capacity,

assigning an expected probability to the forecast starting charging point of the state of charge range, and
assigning an expected probability in each case to the forecast starting time, wherein:
deviations between a forecast starting state of charge and a recorded sum state of charge are corrected, and
a value of the starting charging point of the state of charge range for a predetermined availability is forecast as an availability value.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the availability value is a value of the starting state of charge or of the starting time is forecast, wherein the availability value is a p50 value, a p90 value, a p95 value, a p98 value or a p99.98 value.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein:
starting from a specified minimum starting value of the sum state of charge as starting state of charge at a starting time, and
starting from a minimum value that is specified for the sum state of charge for a target time, the method comprising:
controlling the electric exchange power such that the sum state of charge does not leave the state of charge range, while the sum state of charge, over at least a portion of the provision period:
begins from the starting time having the starting value, and
reaches or exceeds the minimum value at the target time.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein,
in order to set the electric exchange power, the state of charge range or a part thereof is offered as a variation range and an exchange rule is determined based on the variation range, wherein the exchange rule specifies a scope for setting the electric exchange power such that the state of charge does not leave the variation range,
the exchange rule for the electric exchange power has at least one condition for generating the electric exchange power, the condition chose from:
maximum values for the electric exchange power,
minimum values for the electric exchange power,
maximum changes in the electric exchange power, and
minimum changes in the electric exchange power.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the electric exchange power is determined depending on one or more of:
the state of charge range,
the sum state of charge, and
a forecast sum state of charge,
wherein based on the state of charge range, at least one offered power is offered as a range for the electric exchange power for an offer time range that is within the provision period,
wherein the offered power is offered at least as a power quota for at least one offer time interval within the provision period, or
wherein a grid operator of the electricity supply grid or a grid controller for controlling the electricity supply grid specifies the electric exchange power based on a variation range and the offered power.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein, based on the state of charge range, partially or completely for the provision period,
specifying a temporal profile of the sum state of charge and/or
specifying a temporal profile of the electric exchange power.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein:
the state of charge range is transmitted to a grid operator of the electricity supply grid or to a grid controller for controlling the electricity supply grid or a section thereof,
the grid operator or the grid controller, based on the state of charge range,
specifies a temporal profile of the sum state of charge, and/or
specifies a temporal profile of the electric exchange power.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1 , comprising:
determining the sum state of charge at least partially as a prediction,
determining the state of charge range as a prediction based on the determined sum state of charge, and
periodically repeating determining the sum state of charge such that at least one previous sum state of charge precedes a currently determined sum state of charge, and wherein, in each case, the currently determined sum state of charge depends on at least one of the previous sum states of charge.

9. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein:
the electric exchange power, or the sum state of charge, or both is controlled based on at least one control boundary condition chosen from:
usage costs that define a cost measure for using the electrical storage units, and
a demand for at least one system service for providing electrical support for the electricity supply grid.

10. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein, in addition to the electrical storage units of the plurality of electric vehicles,
at least one stationary electrical storage unit is jointly used, each of the at least one stationary electrical storage unit having a changeable state of charge, and
the changeable sum state of charge is formed from the sum of the changeable states of charge of the plurality of electric vehicles of the fleet and the at least one changeable state of charge of the at least one stationary electrical storage unit.

11. The method as claimed in claim 1 ,
wherein the charging infrastructure has a plurality of charging terminals, each charging terminal being configured to charge and discharge the electrical storage unit of an electric vehicle of th

Assignees

• Wobben Properties Gmbh

Inventors

• Brombach Johannes
• Sander Aram

Classifications

• H02J2105/37

  exchanging power with electric vehicles [EV] or with hybrid electric vehicles [HEV] · CPC title

• G08G1/20

  Monitoring the location of vehicles belonging to a group, e.g. fleet of vehicles, countable or determined number of vehicles · CPC title

• B60L53/63

  in response to network capacity · CPC title

• B60L53/31

  Charging columns specially adapted for electric vehicles · CPC title

• B60L53/66

  Data transfer between charging stations and vehicles · CPC title