Patent application number | Description | Published |
20100207588 | Detecting and Responding to Unexpected Electric Vehicle Charging Disconnections - An electrical vehicle charging station establishes a charging session with an electric vehicle which includes energizing a power receptacle in the charging station and receiving a charging cord at the power receptacle. While the charging session is established and responsive to detecting that a charging connection between the electric vehicle and the electric vehicle charging station has been unexpectedly disconnected, the power receptacle is de-energized to prevent electricity from flowing through the charging cord. | 08-19-2010 |
20100211340 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGING ELECTRIC VEHICLES - A system and method for managing a plurality of electric vehicles with a fleet management portal is described herein. In one embodiment, a machine implemented method for managing one or more fleets of electric vehicles includes monitoring one or more fleets of electric vehicles using a fleet management portal associated with a server. Next, the method includes monitoring a plurality of charge transfer devices using the fleet management portal. Next, the method includes receiving charging information from the charge transfer devices. Next, the method includes determining a charging status for each electric vehicle based on the charging information. Next, the method includes generating one or more reports having the charging status for each electric vehicle. | 08-19-2010 |
20100211643 | Transmitting Notification Messages for an Electric Vehicle Charging Network - An electric vehicle charging station network server which manages a plurality of charging stations receives subscriber notification message preferences for a subscriber (e.g., electric vehicle operator) which indicate one or more events of interest that the subscriber wishes to receive notification messages for. A set of one or more contact points associated with the subscriber is also received. The server authorizes the subscriber to use one of the plurality of charging stations. The server receives data associated with the subscriber from that one of the charging stations which indicates that a charging session has been established for an electric vehicle associated with the subscriber. The server detects an event of interest for the subscriber and transmits a notification message for that event to at least one of the set of contact points associated with the subscriber. | 08-19-2010 |
20100315197 | AUTHORIZATION IN A NETWORKED ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING SYSTEM - Networked electric vehicle charging stations for charging electric vehicles are coupled with an electric vehicle charging station network server that performs authorization for charging session requests while the communication connection between the charging stations and the server are operating correctly. When the communication connection is not operating correctly, the networked electric vehicle charging stations enter into a local authorization mode to perform a local authorization process for incoming charging session requests. | 12-16-2010 |
20110153474 | ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING AND ACCOUNTING - Electric vehicle charging stations include a time of use meter that can be programmed with different time periods so that different tariffs can be applied to energy readings of those different time periods. The time periods may be specific to electric vehicle operators. The tariffs may also be specific to electric vehicle operators and apply to charging stations that are supplied with electricity from different electric utilities. | 06-23-2011 |
20110191265 | ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING STATION HOST DEFINABLE PRICING - An electric vehicle charging station network includes multiple electric vehicle charging stations belonging to multiple charging station hosts. Each host controls one or more charging stations. A charging station network server provides an interface that allows each of the hosts to define one or more pricing specifications for charging electric vehicles on one or more of their electric vehicle charging stations belonging to that host. The pricing specifications are applied to the charging stations such that a cost of charging electric vehicles using those charging stations is calculated according to the pricing specifications. | 08-04-2011 |
20110208953 | EVENT TIME MANAGEMENT IN AN ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING STATION WITHOUT A BATTERY-BACKED REAL TIME CLOCK - An electric vehicle charging station, which does not include a battery-backed Real Time Clock, is in a charging station network managed by a charging station network server. Upon booting, the charging station requests actual real time from a remote source. While the charging station has not received the actual real time, it records the time of charging station specific events in a local system time format that resets when the charging station loses power. The charging station maintains the events recorded in their local system time until actual time is received. When actual real time is received, the charging station synchronizes its local system clock with the actual real time and converts the time of each event into real time format. When actual time is received, the charging station converts the time of each event into real time format. After the time of the events are converted to real time format, they are communicated to the charging station network server for further processing. After synchronizing its local clock with actual real time, the charging station records the time of any subsequent events in actual real time. | 08-25-2011 |
20120173292 | RESERVABLE ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING GROUPS - An electric vehicle charging network server establishes electric vehicle charging reservation groups. The electric vehicle charging network server is coupled with multiple electric vehicle charging stations that each include one or more charging ports and are owned by a charging station host. The server receives input from the charging station host to configure an electric vehicle charging reservation group. The server configures the electric vehicle charging reservation group according to the received input. The configured electric vehicle charging reservation group includes multiple charging ports and allows a limited number of electric vehicle charging group reservations that are each applicable to all of the charging ports that are part of the configured electric vehicle charging reservation group. | 07-05-2012 |
20130046660 | Taxable Fringe Benefit Accounting for Electric Vehicle Charging Service - A charging station network server receives a message that indicates a set of parameters of an electric vehicle charging session. The set of parameters provides an indication of an electric vehicle operator associated with the charging session. The server determines that at least a portion of a cost of the electric vehicle charging session is to be paid by an employer of the electric vehicle operator. The server determines a fair market value of the electric vehicle charging session reduced by any amount that is not paid by the employer. The server stores, in association with a profile of the electric vehicle operator, the determined fair market value of the electric vehicle charging session reduced by any amount that is not paid by the employer. | 02-21-2013 |
20130090936 | Configurable Visibility of Electric Vehicle Charging Stations - In one embodiment, an electric vehicle charging network server provides an interface for electric vehicle charging station owners to selectively configure whether their electric vehicle charging station(s) are displayable on a charging station locator application to a specific set of one or more electric vehicle operators. For example, the interface may allow an electric vehicle charging station owner to specify that one or more of its charging stations are capable of being displayed on a charging station locator application to only a group of one or more electric vehicle operators (those charging station(s) will not be displayed on a charging station locator application used by other electric vehicle operators). | 04-11-2013 |
20130141044 | AUTHORIZATION IN A NETWORKED ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING SYSTEM - Networked electric vehicle charging stations for charging electric vehicles are coupled with an electric vehicle charging station network server that performs authorization for charging session requests while the communication connection between the charging stations and the server are operating correctly. When the communication connection is not operating correctly, the networked electric vehicle charging stations enter into a local authorization mode to perform a local authorization process for incoming charging session requests. | 06-06-2013 |
20130311249 | CONNECTING ELECTRIC VEHICLE OPERATORS AND ORGANIZATIONS - An organization extends an affiliation offer to electric vehicle operators. The affiliation offer communicates a set of benefits for the electric vehicle operators provided by the organization, and also communicates a set of conditions for acceptance of the affiliation offer. An acceptance of the affiliation offer is received from an electric vehicle operator, where the acceptance includes an identifier associated with that electric vehicle operator. Responsive to verifying that the electric vehicle operator is allowed to be affiliated with the organization, the electric vehicle operator is associated with the organization to provide the set of benefits. | 11-21-2013 |
20130311264 | CONNECTING ELECTRIC VEHICLE OPERATORS AND ORGANIZATIONS - An electric vehicle operator inputs a secret affiliation code. In response to determining that the secret affiliation code is valid and corresponds with an affiliation offer, an affiliation offer is extended to that electric vehicle operator. The affiliation offer communicates a set of benefits for the electric vehicle operator provided by an organization, and also communicates a set of conditions for acceptance of the affiliation offer. An acceptance of the affiliation offer is received from an electric vehicle operator, where the acceptance includes an identifier associated with that electric vehicle operator. Responsive to verifying that the electric vehicle operator is allowed to be affiliated with the organization, the electric vehicle operator is associated with the organization to provide the set of benefits. | 11-21-2013 |
20130311658 | FLEXIBLE ADMINISTRATIVE MODEL IN AN ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING SERVICE NETWORK - A method and apparatus for creating one or more groups of electric vehicle charging objects includes receiving input from an organization to group a selected set of electric vehicle charging objects, creating the group in response to the received input, where the created group includes as its members the selected set of electric vehicle charging objects, and performing a set of acts for the members of the group as a whole. | 11-21-2013 |
20140103866 | Electric Vehicle Charging Station Dynamically Responding to Power Limit Messages Based on a Recent History of Power Provided - An electric vehicle charging station charging electric vehicles dynamically responds to power limit messages. The charging station includes a charging port that is configured to electrically connect to an electric vehicle to provide power to charge that electric vehicle. The charging station also includes a power control unit coupled with the charging port, the power control unit configured to control an amount of power provided through the charging port. The charging station also includes a set of one or more charging station control modules that are configured to, in response to receipt of a message that indicates a request to limit an amount of power to an identified percentage and based on a history of power provided through the charging port over a period of time, cause the power control unit to limit the power provided through the charging port to the identified percentage. | 04-17-2014 |
20140210412 | Detecting and Responding to Unexpected Electric Vehicle Charging Disconnections - An electrical vehicle charging station establishes a charging session with an electric vehicle which includes energizing a power receptacle in the charging station and receiving a charging cord at the power receptacle. While the charging session is established and responsive to detecting that a charging connection between the electric vehicle and the electric vehicle charging station has been unexpectedly disconnected, the power receptacle is de-energized to prevent electricity from flowing through the charging cord. | 07-31-2014 |