Electrified vehicle control with dynamic segment-based distance-to-empty (dte)

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2022176939-A1
Application number	US-202017115612-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 8, 2020
Priority date	Dec 8, 2020
Publication date	Jun 9, 2022
Grant date	—

Abstract

An electrified vehicle having an electric machine coupled to a traction battery to selectively propel the vehicle and associated method for the electrified vehicle include receiving trip data from an external server, the trip data including a plurality of road segments of a selected route from a starting location to a destination, each road segment having an associated energy consumption and distance, calculating a distance-to-empty (DTE) based on a remaining trip distance to the destination, available energy of the traction battery, an estimated traction battery energy required for the remaining trip distance, and an overall vehicle efficiency, the estimated traction battery energy being based on a combination of the received segment energy consumption and distance of each remaining segment in the trip, and communicating the DTE to a display within the electrified vehicle to reduce fluctuations in displayed DTE during travel along routes with nonlinear energy consumption (changing energy efficiency).

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An electrified vehicle, comprising:
a traction battery; a human-machine interface (HMI); a transceiver configured to wirelessly transmit a trip destination received via the HMI and to wirelessly receive trip data from an external computer server, the trip data including a segment energy efficiency and an associated segment distance for each of a plurality of road segments of an associated route to the trip destination; and a controller in communication with the traction battery, the transceiver, and the HMI, the controller configured to communicate a distance-to-empty (DTE) for display by the HMI, the DTE based on the received segment energy efficiency and associated segment distance of each remaining segment in the trip.

2 . The electrified vehicle of claim 1 , the controller further configured to calculate the DTE based on a remaining trip distance, available energy of the traction battery, an estimated traction battery energy required for the remaining trip distance, and an overall vehicle efficiency, the estimated traction battery energy being based on a combination of the received segment energy efficiency and associated segment distance of each remaining segment in the trip.

3 . The electrified vehicle of claim 2 , the transceiver further configured to wirelessly transmit the trip destination in response to input via the HMI, and to wirelessly receive all the trip data for the associated route prior to the controller communicating the DTE for display.

4 . The electrified vehicle of claim 3 , the HMI configured to display a single DTE.

5 . The electrified vehicle of claim 1 , the controller further configured to recalculate the DTE based on segment energy efficiency and associated segment distance for a plurality of segments received in response to a route change from a previously associated route for the trip destination.

6 . The electrified vehicle of claim 1 wherein at least one of the plurality of road segments comprises a combination of at least two road links.

7 . The electrified vehicle of claim 6 wherein each of the at least two road links includes energy consumption estimates for the traction battery associated with: propelling the electrified vehicle, climate control of the electrified vehicle, use of accessories in the electrified vehicle, and losses of the electrified vehicle.

8 . The electrified vehicle of claim 6 wherein the at least two road links are combined into the road segment based on maximizing a difference between energy consumption of each road segment relative to an immediately subsequent road segment.

9 . The electrified vehicle of claim 8 wherein maximizing the difference between energy consumption of each road segment relative to an immediately subsequent road segment comprises maximizing standard deviation of a weighted energy segment corresponding to a segment length multiplied by a difference between estimated energy required for the segment and an average segment estimated energy requirement.

10 . An electrified vehicle, comprising:
a traction battery; an electric machine coupled to the traction battery and configured to propel the vehicle; a climate control system; at least one vehicle accessory powered by the traction battery; and a controller in communication with the traction battery and the electric machine, the controller configured to communicate a distance-to-empty (DTE) to a display of the electrified vehicle, the DTE based on trip data received from an external computing device, the trip data including a plurality of road segments associated with a selected route to a trip destination, each of the plurality of road segments including an associated segment distance and estimated energy consumption by the traction battery for: propelling the vehicle through the segment using the electric machine, operating the climate control system while traveling through the segment, and powering the at least one vehicle accessory while traveling through the segment, wherein the DTE is based on a remaining trip distance, available energy of the traction battery, an estimated traction battery energy required for the remaining trip distance based on the received trip data, and a vehicle efficiency.

11 . The electrified vehicle of claim 10 further comprising a human-machine interface (HMI) including the display, the HMI configured to receive input designating the trip destination and input designating the selected route to the trip destination.

12 . The electrified vehicle of claim 11 further comprising a transceiver configured to wirelessly transmit the trip destination to the external computing device and to wirelessly receive the trip data from the external computing device.

13 . The electrified vehicle of claim 10 wherein each of the plurality of road segments comprises a combination of at least two road links that are combined to maximize a difference between energy consumption of each road segment relative to adjacent road segments associated with the selected route.

14 . The electrified vehicle of claim 13 wherein maximizing the difference between energy consumption of each road segment relative to adjacent road segments comprises maximizing standard deviation of a weighted energy segment corresponding to a segment length multiplied by a difference between estimated energy required for the segment and an average segment estimated energy requirement.

15 . A method for an electrified vehicle having an electric machine coupled to a traction battery to selectively propel the vehicle, the method comprising, by the electrified vehicle:
receiving trip data via an a transceiver of the electrified vehicle from an external server, the trip data including a plurality of road segments of a selected route from a starting location to a destination, each road segment having an associated energy consumption estimate and distance; calculating a distance-to-empty (DTE) by one or more vehicle controllers of the electrified vehicle based on a remaining trip distance to the destination, available energy of the traction battery, an estimated traction battery energy required for the remaining trip distance, and an overall vehicle efficiency, the estimated traction battery energy being based on a combination of the received segment energy consumption and distance of each remaining segment in the trip; and communicating the DTE to a display within the electrified vehicle.

16 . The method of claim 15 wherein each energy consumption estimate for each of the plurality of road segments includes energy consumption estimates for the traction battery associated with propelling the electrified vehicle through the segment, climate control of the electrified vehicle while traveling through the segment, and use of accessories in the electrified vehicle during travel through the segment.

17 . The method of claim 15 further comprising transmitting the destination to the external server in response to selection of the destination via a human-machine interface of the electrified vehicle.

18 . The method of claim 15 wherein at least two of the plurality of segments have different distances and different associated energy consumption.

19 . The method of claim 18 wherein the at least two segments have different energy consumption rates or efficiencies per unit distance.

20 . The method of claim 15 further wherein the DTE is calculated in response to a change in the selected route to the destination.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Poll Mark
• Biberstein Erik
• Hunt Ryan
• Doan Jacob
• Schmotzer John William

Classifications

• B60L15/2045

  for optimising the use of energy · CPC title

• B60L1/02

  to electric heating circuits · CPC title

• B60L1/00

  Supplying electric power to auxiliary equipment of vehicles (circuit arrangements for charging batteries H02J7/00) · CPC title

• B60W2050/146

  Display means · CPC title

• B60W50/14

  Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention · CPC title