Vehicle and electric bicycle charge monitoring interface

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9658076-B2
Application number	US-201414506937-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 6, 2014
Priority date	Oct 6, 2014
Publication date	May 23, 2017
Grant date	May 23, 2017

Abstract

A vehicle system includes a charging interface that is configured to connect to a bicycle battery and a processing device programmed to determine a state of charge of the bicycle battery. The processing device further estimates traveling ranges of a vehicle and a bicycle. The vehicle system further includes a navigation module programmed to generate a route to a selected destination based on the estimated traveling ranges of the vehicle and the bicycle.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A vehicle system comprising:
a charging interface configured to connect a bicycle battery;
a processing device programmed to monitor the charging interface to determine a state of charge of the bicycle battery and a vehicle battery, and wherein the processing device is programmed to estimate traveling ranges of both a vehicle and a bicycle; and
a navigation module programmed to generate a route to a selected destination based on the estimated traveling ranges of both the vehicle and the bicycle.

2. The vehicle system of claim 1 , wherein the bicycle battery is selectively charged when connected to the charging interface.

3. The vehicle system of claim 2 , wherein the bicycle battery is charged by a vehicle battery or vehicle powertrain.

4. The vehicle system of claim 1 , wherein generating the route to the selected destination includes generating a route from a current location to an intermediate location, and from the intermediate location to the selected destination.

5. The vehicle system of claim 4 , wherein the route from the current location to the intermediate location is based on the state of charge of the vehicle battery.

6. The vehicle system of claim 4 , wherein the route from the intermediate location to the selected destination is based on the state of charge of the bicycle battery.

7. The vehicle system of claim 4 , wherein the navigation module is programmed to generate a route from the selected destination to the intermediate location.

8. The vehicle system of claim 7 , wherein the route from the selected destination to the intermediate location is based at least in part on the state of charge of the bicycle battery.

9. The vehicle system of claim 4 , wherein the navigation module is programmed to generate a route from the intermediate location to a charging location.

10. The vehicle system of claim 9 , wherein the route to the charging location is based at least in part on a state of charge of the vehicle battery.

11. The vehicle system of claim 1 , further comprising a communication module programmed to wirelessly transmit the route to a mobile device.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Aich Sudipto
• Melcher David
• Nelson Zachary David
• Peplin Christopher
• Seagraves Jamel

Classifications

• B60K1/00

  Arrangement or mounting of electrical propulsion units (B60K7/00 takes precedence; arrangement or mounting of plural diverse prime-movers for mutual or common propulsion B60K6/00) · CPC title

• B62K3/00

  Bicycles · CPC title

• B60L58/12

  responding to state of charge [SoC] · CPC title

• B60L2240/72

  Charging station selection relying on external data · CPC title

• B60L2260/52

  drive range estimation, e.g. of estimation of available travel distance · CPC title