Method for coordinating the electrical energy required for public charging of an electric vehicle with that fed into the grid from private PV systems

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for coordinating an electrical energy required for the public charging of an electric vehicle (3) and an electrical energy fed into the supply network (4) from private PV systems (11), wherein - an electric vehicle user, when using a public charging station (1) which draws energy from the supply network (4), is provided with a user interface for specifying a required amount of energy and a minimum charging time; - based on measurements and / or weather forecasts, an amount of energy is predicted that will be fed into the supply grid (4) during the minimum charging time by one or more PV systems (11) of this electric vehicle user and / or a community of private PV system owners; - the electric vehicle user is informed of a proportion of the specified energy amount that can be covered in this way and one or more charging process options are determined and issued from this, in which the charging energy is limited to this proportion and / or, if sufficient capacity is available in the supply network (4), is supplemented at least partially and at most up to the specified energy contribution; and - the charging of the electric vehicle (3) is carried out according to the option confirmed by the user.

Description

Technical area

[0001] The invention relates to a method for charging an electric vehicle at a public charging station as well as correspondingly designed charging cables, electric vehicles and / or public charging stations. Technical background

[0002] Generating electricity from solar radiation using a photovoltaic system (also referred to as a PV system or more generally as a solar power system) is a popular and therefore widespread method for harvesting green energy (also called renewable or regenerative energy) in private homes. Furthermore, environmentally conscious drivers are increasingly choosing electric vehicles when purchasing a car. The popularity of electric vehicles is growing at a similar rate to the popularity of private PV systems: both markets are experiencing logistical growth. The use of green energy to charge an electric vehicle is a global expectation. However, despite many improvements that have already been made in this area, a breakthrough has not yet been achieved.

[0003] In the case of a grid-connected private PV system in a residential building, a solar inverter converts the direct current generated by solar modules into alternating current compatible with the public power grid. If household appliances in the building consume only a portion of the harvested energy, the remainder is usually fed into the utility grid. Electric passenger cars are usually charged quickly at public charging stations. Slow charging at home is also possible. Charging at home is a long process, taking many hours, and is therefore often carried out overnight.

[0004] Solar energy creates strong fluctuations in the power grid. For this reason, some solar power systems must be shut down during sunny hours. On the other hand, peak-load power plants that use fossil fuels must be switched on in the evening to meet the rapidly rising energy demand. Especially on sunny weekdays, household appliances can only consume a smaller portion of the solar energy harvested by a private PV system. This means that the large number of private solar systems installed generate a huge surplus of green energy. In most cases, electric vehicles are charged in the evening, which in turn places an additional strain on the peak-load power plants while solar energy is unavailable.

[0005] The proliferation of private PV systems complicates the balancing of the electrical grid. It would be desirable to use renewable energy to charge electric vehicles, but the available infrastructure is incapable of achieving a high proportion of renewable energy. Public charging stations for electric vehicles are designed for rapid charging, as long charging times represent a disadvantage compared to the rapid refueling of a vehicle with a combustion engine. Electric vehicle users also expect short charging times. Another problem in this context is that parking spaces with charging stations cannot be used for simple parking due to the limited number of charging stations. Disclosure of the invention

[0006] To overcome the difficulties described above, a method for coordinating the electrical energy required for public charging of an electric vehicle with the electrical energy fed into the supply grid from private PV systems is provided according to claim 1, as well as correspondingly designed and configured devices in the form of a charging cable, a public charging station for electric vehicles, a network of such charging stations, an electric vehicle, a central coordination unit of a community of private PV system owners, and a PV community app (an app in which PV system owners can join together to form groups / communities) for installation on a mobile device of an electric vehicle user according to the independent claims. Further embodiments are specified in the dependent claims.All further features and effects mentioned in the claims and the following description for the method can also apply mutatis mutandis to the individual devices mentioned and the PV Community app, and vice versa.

[0007] According to a first aspect, a method is provided for coordinating the electrical energy required for public charging of an electric vehicle with that fed into the supply grid from private PV systems. In this method, an electric vehicle user, when using a public charging station (also called a charging column) that draws electrical energy from a public power grid (short: supply grid), is provided with a user interface for specifying the amount of energy required to charge their electric vehicle and a minimum charging time available for this purpose. A suitable user interface can, in principle, be designed in any desired manner and can be provided, for example, in the vehicle, in a mobile device (via a suitable app), on a charging cable, and / or on the charging station itself. Unless otherwise stated, energy is always meant to be electrical energy.

[0008] Based on current and / or previous measurements of the electricity fed in and / or weather forecasts, an amount of energy is then estimated or predicted that will be fed into the supply grid by one or more PV systems of this electric vehicle user and / or a predetermined community of private PV system owners during the specified minimum charging time. The electric vehicle user is informed of a proportion of the energy amount specified by them that can be covered in this way, and from this, one or more charging process options are determined and each presented for confirmation. In these options, the electrical energy is drawn from the supply grid by the specified public charging station and limited in amount to this proportion and / or, if sufficient capacity is available in the supply grid, supplemented at least partially and up to a maximum of the specified energy contribution. The above user interface can also be used for this purpose.

[0009] The electric vehicle will then be charged at the public charging station according to the option confirmed by its user.

[0010] One idea behind this solution is to balance the electrical energy drawn from the public power grid when charging an electric vehicle with solar energy actually harvested and fed into the grid at the same time from private PV systems belonging to the same and / or other electric vehicle users (also referred to herein as coordination, synchronization, or balancing). Furthermore, slow charging with a correspondingly limited charging power can make it more attractive and accessible for electric vehicle users who, for example, use their vehicle daily to commute to work, etc.Even if the public charging station does not draw the electrical energy for charging the electric vehicle directly from one or more PV systems installed on private residential buildings, users of this method can be sure that the charging of their electric vehicles is CO2-neutral, since in the overall balance of the power plant, essentially only solar energy has been used for this purpose.

[0011] In order to achieve the best possible balance, the prediction of the energy fed in by the one or more private PV systems during the respective remaining minimum charging time, as well as the determination and output of the share of the respective remaining predetermined amount of energy that can be covered thereby and, if appropriate, alternative charging process options, can be updated continuously or with a predetermined periodicity according to one embodiment.

[0012] Similarly, in a specific embodiment of the method, the electric vehicle user can be provided with the option, via the same and / or at least one further user interface, to change his specifications regarding the minimum charging time and the required amount of energy and / or his selection or confirmation of the respective charging process, ideally at any time.

[0013] In particular, the method can be designed for temporally overlapping use by multiple users for the public charging of their electric vehicles. For this purpose, for example, upon confirmation of a charging process option by a user, the stated share attributable to the energy fed in by one or more private PV systems can be deducted for the duration of this charging process from all predictions of the energy fed in from the aforementioned PV systems that subsequently start for other electric vehicles, in order to avoid double counting.

[0014] At the device level, the method presented here can be implemented in several different ways, some of which are briefly outlined below. In particular, depending on the requirements of a specific application, there are many different ways to distribute the execution of the individual method steps among participating devices such as charging cables, public charging stations, electric vehicles, community central servers, and mobile devices (such as smartphones, etc.).

[0015] One of the possible embodiments is shown in a schematic overview diagram of the Fig. 1 and envisages the installation of a large number of public low-power charging stations 1 near office buildings, factories, and other workplaces 2, as well as parking garages and parking lots in cities and other locations where most electric vehicles 3 are parked during typical working hours. The individual charging stations 1 (see Fig. 2) are designed to charge electric vehicles 3 from a public power grid 4 at a low energy rate of, for example, approximately 3 to 11 kW. They can be equipped, for example, with a control unit 5 connected to a real-time energy meter (not shown) and a communication module 6 (which can comprise one or more different communication units 7, 8). The communication units 7, 8 can be used, for example, to connect to a mobile device (not shown) of the respective electric vehicle user (not shown) and to a mobile internet connection. The charging power can be controlled, for example, by an electronic switching module 9 via a time-dependent on-off ratio.

[0016] Furthermore, in this embodiment, an independent real-time energy meter (not shown) can be installed in each residential building 10 in which a grid-connected PV system 11 of the aforementioned community is used. This energy meter can, in particular, be installed between a fuse box and an electrical consumption meter of the electricity supplier.

[0017] Furthermore, in this embodiment, a smartphone app or other mobile application software (for example, the PV community app mentioned above and below), which can be installed on a mobile device of the electric vehicle user, can be used to connect (directly or via third-party systems) to the respective public charging station 1. Users of this app can, in particular, form the aforementioned community, although individual use of the app by the electric vehicle user for the described coordination of the charging energy with their own PV system 11 at their home 10 is also conceivable. For example, anyone who owns an electric vehicle 3 and / or a private grid-connected PV system 11 with a real-time energy meter at their home 10 can join the community.A central server 12 of the community connected to the Internet can, for example by means of its specially configured computing unit, ensure, according to the method presented here, a balance between the solar energy harvested in the community as a whole and fed into the supply grid 4 and the charging energy consumed by all public low-power charging stations 1 of this type.

[0018] The aforementioned prediction of the energy contribution fed into the grid is based on currently measured and historically logged measurement data from the PV system's energy meter and / or on weather forecast data, the latter of which can be obtained, for example, from the internet. To increase the accuracy and continuously improve this prediction of the expected solar energy contribution, machine learning and artificial intelligence methods can also be used.

[0019] In order to avoid equipping or retrofitting conventional public charging stations and the technical equipment of their operators and / or private PV systems with hardware and / or software components specifically required for the present method, they can also be integrated at least partially in a charging cable 14 (cf. Fig. 3), which is also referred to here as a Connected Charging Cable (CCC).

[0020] According to a further aspect, a charging cable is therefore provided which is designed to connect an electric vehicle to a public charging station and comprises one or more of the following components for use in the method presented herein: - an integrated user interface (for example in the form of a touch screen or input buttons in combination with a display) designed to receive the user's specifications regarding the required amount of energy and the minimum charging time and / or to output the respective charging process option and to receive its user confirmation; and / or - a first communication unit configured to receive said confirmation and / or said specifications from an external user interface and / or to transmit said determined share and / or said one or more charging options to it; and / or - a second communication unit designed to receive the predicted energy amount and / or measurement and / or weather forecast data required for its prediction from the said PV system(s) and / or from a central coordination unit of the said community; and / or - a computing unit designed to predict the amount of energy fed into the grid from said private PV systems and / or to determine and output the portion of the energy amount specified by the user and / or the one or more charging options that can be covered thereby; and / or - a control unit designed to execute the respective charging process option confirmed by the user and to communicate with or control the public charging station as required for this purpose.

[0021] Depending on the specific application, the first and second communication units can be designed for different distances and data transmission methods (such as short-range and cellular data transmission with corresponding standards such as Wi-Fi, 4G, 5G, Bluetooth, etc.) or can be one and the same communication unit.

[0022] According to a further aspect, a public charging station for electric vehicles is provided, which is designed for use in the method presented herein and for this purpose comprises one or more of the following components: - an integrated user interface (for example in the form of a touch screen or input buttons in combination with a display) designed to receive the user's specifications regarding the required amount of energy and the minimum charging time and / or to output the respective charging process option and to receive its user confirmation; and / or - a first communication unit configured to receive said confirmation and / or said specifications from an external user interface and / or to transmit said determined share and / or said one or more charging options to it; and / or - a second communication unit designed to receive the predicted energy amount and / or measurement and / or weather forecast data required for its prediction from the said PV system(s) and / or from a central coordination unit of the said community; and / or - a computing unit designed to predict the amount of energy fed into the grid from said private PV systems and / or to determine and output the portion of the energy amount specified by the user and / or the one or more charging options that can be covered thereby; and / or - a control unit designed to execute the respective charging process option confirmed by the user.

[0023] According to a further aspect, a network of public charging stations of this type is provided, which are arranged individually or in groups near workplaces, residential buildings, apartment blocks, hotels, train stations and / or other locations with typically particularly long parking times during the day or at night and are designed to apply the method presented here to charge electric vehicles from the supply grid with a low energy rate of, for example, a maximum of 15 or 20 kW, which is largely balanced by feed-in rates measured and predicted in real time from private PV systems of the said community.In contrast to the conventional public charging stations mentioned above, which are designed for rapid charging with correspondingly short waiting times and must be specifically accessed by electric vehicle users, the low-power charging stations in this network are located at actual parking spaces and offer an environmentally friendly charging option during a parking period that typically lasts several hours.

[0024] According to a further aspect, an electric vehicle is provided which is designed for charging at a public charging station using a method presented herein and for this purpose comprises one or more of the following components: - an integrated user interface (for example in the form of a touch screen or input buttons in combination with a display) designed to receive the user's specifications regarding the required amount of energy and the minimum charging time and / or to output the respective charging process option and to receive its user confirmation; and / or - a first communication unit configured to receive said confirmation and / or said specifications from an external user interface and / or to transmit said determined share and / or said one or more charging options to it; and / or - a second communication unit designed to receive the predicted energy amount and / or measurement and / or weather forecast data required for its prediction from the said PV system(s) and / or from a central coordination unit of the said community; and / or - a computing unit designed to predict the amount of energy fed into the grid from said private PV systems and / or to determine and output the portion of the energy amount specified by the user and / or the one or more charging options that can be covered thereby; and / or - a control unit designed to execute the respective charging process option confirmed by the user and to communicate with or control the public charging station as required for this purpose.

[0025] According to a further aspect, a central coordination unit (for example a central server) of the above community of private PV system owners is provided, which is designed for use in a method presented herein and for this purpose can comprise a database with an associated registration tool that enables private PV system owners to register to participate in this method and to enter the data required for this purpose, further comprising: - a third communication unit configured to receive the user specifications regarding the required amount of energy and the available minimum charging time for charging a respective electric vehicle and / or the user confirmation of the respective charging process option from said user interface and / or to transmit the determined proportion and / or the one or more charging process options to said user interface; and / or - a fourth communication unit designed to receive and / or output the predicted energy amount and / or measurement and / or weather forecast data required for its prediction from the PV system(s) of the registered community members; and / or - a computing unit designed to predict the amount of energy fed into the grid from said private PV systems and / or to determine and output the proportion of the respective predetermined amount of energy and / or the one or more charging options that can be covered thereby; and / or - a control unit designed to execute the charging process option confirmed by an electric vehicle user and to communicate with or control the public charging station used by the user for this purpose.

[0026] Depending on the specific application, the third and fourth communication units can be designed for different distances and data transmission methods (such as mobile data transmission with corresponding standards, such as 4G, 5G, etc.) or can be one and the same communication unit.

[0027] According to a further aspect, a PV community app is provided for installation on a mobile device (for example, a smartphone) of an electric vehicle user. The app is designed, when executed on the mobile device, to equip it for use in a method presented herein by - provides a user interface configured to receive user specifications regarding the required energy amount and minimum charging time and / or to output the respective charging process option and to receive user confirmation thereof; and - communicates with the above central coordination unit with the above charging cable and / or with a public charging station, in particular of the above type, for receiving or forwarding the determined proportion of the specified energy amount and / or the one or more charging process options or corresponding control signals. Brief description of the drawings

[0028] The above aspects of the invention and their embodiments and specific configurations are explained in more detail below with reference to the examples shown in the accompanying drawings. The drawings are purely schematic for clarity of illustration. They are therefore not to scale. They show: Fig. 1 is a schematic overview diagram showing a snapshot of the electrical energy flow when carrying out a method according to an embodiment of the invention in a section of the supply grid with several private PV systems and public charging stations connected thereto; Fig. 2 a schematic representation of a public charging station according to an embodiment of the invention; and Fig. 3 a schematic representation of a charging cable according to an embodiment of the invention. Description of embodiments

[0029] All of the various embodiments, alternatives and specific design features of the method and the charging cables, public charging stations, electric vehicles, the central coordination unit and the PV community app designed for its application according to the above aspects of the invention mentioned above in the description and in the following claims can be used in the Fig. 1 to 3, in particular alternatively or in addition to the features shown therein. They will therefore not be repeated again below. The same applies accordingly to the definitions and effects already given above with regard to individual features that are described in Fig. 1-3 are shown.

[0030] Fig. Figure 1 shows a schematic overview diagram showing a snapshot of the electrical energy flow during the execution of a method according to an embodiment of the invention in a section of the supply network 4 (comprising transmission networks and distribution networks) with several private PV systems 11 and public charging stations 1 for electric vehicles 3 connected thereto. The basic principle of the Fig. 1 using a simple numerical example is already described above with reference to Fig. 1, so only further details are described below.

[0031] This example is a community-based solution that balances the total charging power of the charging stations 1 with the total grid-connected energy of the private PV systems 11 at residential buildings 10. In the snapshot of the Fig. 1, a total of 45 kW of solar energy is fed into the grid 4 by the PV systems 11 in the depicted residential area of ​​the city. On the other hand, by applying the method presented here, a total of 45 kW of electrical energy is consumed at the same time at the public charging stations 1 of the depicted business parks in the same city to charge the electric vehicles 3 parked there from the grid 4.

[0032] This solution is particularly suitable for energy service providers and enables them to reduce the fluctuations in the supply network 4 mentioned above, which are caused by grid-connected PV systems 11 on the one hand and by charging stations 1 for electric vehicles 3 on the other hand.

[0033] Fig. Figure 2 shows a schematic representation of a public charging station 1 according to an embodiment of the invention. It may in particular be one of the charging stations located in the business park of Fig. 1 used low-power charging stations 1, so that the charging station 1 is subsequently described with reference to the Fig. The application example shown in Figure 1 is explained.

[0034] In this specific example, the charging station 1 designed according to the invention differs from a conventional street charging station for electric vehicles 3, among other things, in that it is a combination of a public parking space and the charging station 1, and the charging station 1 is designed for a comparatively low charging power capacity of approximately 3 to 11 kW for electric vehicles 3. Low-power charging stations 1 can be manufactured more cheaply, and their energy requirements are significantly lower than those of fast charging stations. For example, it is possible to create 10 to 30 parking spaces for electric vehicles 3 with low-power charging stations 1, which have the total energy requirements of a single fast charging station.

[0035] This is a good solution for parking spaces near workplaces 2 or large parking lots and parking garages in cities. Electric vehicles 3 can use these parking and charging stations 1 during the day while their owners are at work. Such a combined parking and charging solution can also be used by car-sharing providers, for example.

[0036] The Fig. 2 shows a simple version of the public low-power charging station 1, which is a remote-controlled socket 15 with the aforementioned communication module 6 and a real-time energy meter (not shown separately) for power measurement. Ethernet or a mobile network, as well as Bluetooth, can be used in the first and second communication units 7 and 8 contained therein, as shown in Fig. 2 is indicated by corresponding symbols and a purely symbolic antenna 16.

[0037] The entire device (charging station 1) can, for example, be installed in a tightly lockable metal housing 17. As in Fig. 2, there is sufficient space, for example, for an original charging cable intended for home charging, allowing the same charging adapter to be used for public charging of the electric vehicle 3. It is also possible to equip the public low-power charging station 1 with a built-in charger (not shown). Furthermore, the charging station 1 can also be equipped with a display and / or light sources to indicate the status of the charging process or to provide the user interface mentioned herein.

[0038] The information relating to Fig. The energy community described above, which is coordinated via a central coordination unit in the form of a central server 12, can be formed in this example via a smartphone app running on a smartphone (or other mobile device) of an electric vehicle owner, thus also providing them with a user interface for using the method presented herein. Electric vehicle users can join the community by registering in this app. Each charging station 1 can be provided with a scannable QR code ID on or in its housing 17. In this case, the method presented herein can, for example, proceed as follows in practice: If the QR code of charging station 1 is scanned in the app, a connection is established between the smartphone and charging station 1 as well as the central server 12. The electric vehicle user can enter the desired or available minimum charging time (in this example, 6 hours), the amount of energy required to charge their electric vehicle 3 (in this example, 20 kW), and, if necessary, also decide on the energy sources used for charging in an input window that opens on their smartphone:

[0039] First, the electric vehicle user must estimate and enter the possible connection time (minimum charging time). They must then specify the amount of charging energy required. The app then checks via the connection to the central server 12 whether the requested amount of energy is available within the specified minimum charging time. If the specified amount of energy exceeds the multiplication product of the minimum charging time and the available charging power of charging station 1, the user is notified via the app. In this specific example, only 18 kW of the specified 20 kW are available for the selected connection time (6 hours).

[0040] In this example, the user can also select the energy sources used, with three options available individually or cumulatively: 1) Use of the solar energy harvested by his own PV system 11 at his house 10 during this time and fed into the supply grid 4; 2) Use of the surplus energy fed into grid 4 by other PV systems in the community during the same period and not yet ‘consumed’ in the same way; 3) Use of additional energy from the supply grid 4.

[0041] In this example, the user selects all three energy sources and thereby confirms the charging process to be determined by the system.

[0042] Subsequently, a computing unit of the central server 12 predicts the available energy contribution that will be fed into the supply grid 4 by the PV systems 11 of this electric vehicle user and by the community during the specified minimum charging time, based on weather forecasts, energy meter data from the registered PV systems of the community, and the energy contributions simultaneously requested or consumed by other electric vehicles 3 or charging stations 1.

[0043] In this example, the available share from the user's own home PV system 11 for the specified minimum charging time is estimated at 4.3 kW, the share of the community's surplus solar energy is estimated at 9.7 kW, and the available additional energy from the utility grid 4 is estimated at 4.0 kW. These figures are displayed to the user via the app for review, after which the corresponding charging process is automatically executed.

[0044] As already mentioned, the amount of energy charged is controlled during the charging process via the corresponding (remote) controlled switching module 9 of the charging station 1. As also already mentioned, this control can be carried out on the basis of the aforementioned predicted and determined data by any of the devices involved, such as the charging station 1 itself, the central server 12, the user's mobile device with the PV Community app installed thereon and / or the charging cable 14 of the Fig. 3. The switch is switched on and off periodically or in a different manner depending on the required energy contribution and the available energy contribution.

[0045] The community's surplus energy comes from community participants who own private PV systems 11 at their homes 10. These solar systems generate the aforementioned surplus energy while their owners do not connect their own electric vehicles 3 to the network of community-based charging stations 1 presented here. This surplus energy can, for example, generate an additional source of income for the owners of private PV systems 11 and reduce the price for charging other electric vehicles 3 at the network's charging stations 1. The energy supplier operating the supply grid 4 in this section can also optionally provide renewable energy generated from other green energy sources as "community surplus energy" for use in this process in the event of their overproduction in the supply grid 4 (for example, during strong winds but weak solar radiation).

[0046] As already mentioned above, in this example, independent real-time energy meters (not shown) are installed between a fuse box and an electrical consumption meter of the electricity supplier in each of the residential buildings 10 with PV systems 11. These energy meters can continuously measure the solar energy fed into the supply grid 4 and, for example, provide the measurement data via an internet connection for use in the aforementioned computing unit.

[0047] Fig. Figure 3 schematically shows an embodiment of the charging cable 14 presented above, which is also referred to as a Connected Charging Cable (CCC). The charging cable 14 can be used in particular for connecting an electric vehicle 3 to a public charging station 1 in a network according to Fig. 1 and one or more components of the system with respect to Fig. 1 and Fig.2 described software and hardware required for use in the method presented herein, such as: - the said user interface (not shown); and / or - said first communication unit 8; and / or - said second communication unit 7; and / or - the said computing unit 18, which is designed to predict the amount of energy fed into the supply grid 4 from the said private PV systems 11 and / or to determine and output the portion of the energy amount specified by the user and / or the one or more charging options that can be covered thereby; and / or - the control unit 5 mentioned, which is designed to execute the respective charging process option selected and confirmed by the user and to communicate with or control the public charging station 1 as required for this purpose.

[0048] In this example, the components mentioned are formed in a first plug 19 of the charging cable 14 designed for connection to the charging station 1, while at the other end of the cable a second plug 20 designed for connection to the electric vehicle 3 is provided.

[0049] The procedure described here can be used to pursue and achieve the following objectives in particular: - Use of the highest possible proportion of renewable energies for public charging of electric vehicles; and / or - Use of a (particularly AI-based) software control system that continuously adjusts the charging power of the charging stations used by the PV community participants to the amount of energy fed into the grid as solar energy by their private PV systems; and / or - Install a large number of community-based low-power charging stations for parking areas of large office buildings, companies and P+R parking lots in cities and proportionally include the private PV systems of nearby residential areas.

Claims

[1] Method for coordinating an electrical energy required for the public charging of an electric vehicle (3) and an electrical energy fed into the supply network (4) from private PV systems (11), wherein - an electric vehicle user, when using a public charging station (1) which draws electrical energy from a public power grid (4), is provided with a user interface for specifying an amount of energy required to charge his electric vehicle (3) and a minimum charging time available for this purpose; - based on measurements and / or weather forecasts, an amount of energy is predicted which will be fed into the supply grid (4) during the specified minimum charging time by one or more PV systems (11) of this electric vehicle user and / or a predetermined community of private PV system owners; - the electric vehicle user is informed of a portion of the specified energy amount that can be covered in this way, and one or more charging process options are determined from this and issued for confirmation, in which the electrical energy is taken from the supply network (4) and limited in amount to this portion and / or, if sufficient capacity is available in the supply network (4), is supplemented at least partially and at most up to the specified energy contribution; and - the charging of the electric vehicle (3) is carried out according to the option confirmed by its user. [2] The method according to claim 1, wherein - the prediction of the energy fed in by the one or more private PV systems (11) during the respective remaining minimum charging time, as well as the determination and output of the proportion of the respective remaining predetermined amount of energy that can be covered thereby and, if appropriate, alternative charging process options, are updated continuously or with predetermined periodicity. [3] Method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein - the electric vehicle user is provided with the option, via the same and / or at least one further user interface, to change his specifications regarding the minimum charging time and the required amount of energy and / or his selection or confirmation of the respective charging process, preferably at any time. [4] Method according to one of the preceding claims, which - is designed for overlapping use by multiple users for the public charging of their electric vehicles (3); and - upon confirmation of a charging process option by a user, the said share attributable to the energy fed in by the one or more private PV systems (11) is deducted for the duration of this charging process from all predictions of the energy fed in from the said PV systems (11) starting later for other electric vehicles (3). [5] Charging cable (14) designed to connect an electric vehicle (3) to a public charging station (1) and for use in a method according to any one of the preceding claims, comprising: - an integrated user interface designed to receive the user's specifications regarding the required energy amount and the minimum charging time and / or to output the respective charging process option and to receive its user confirmation; and / or - a first communication unit (8) designed to exchange this data with an external user interface; and / or - a second communication unit (7) designed to receive the predicted energy amount and / or measurement and / or weather forecast data required for its prediction from the said PV system(s) (11) and / or from a central coordination unit of the said community; and / or - a computing unit (18) designed to predict the amount of energy fed into the supply grid (4) from said private PV systems (11) and / or to determine and output the portion of the energy amount specified by the user and / or the one or more charging options that can be covered thereby; and / or - a control unit (5) which is designed to execute the respective charging process option confirmed by the user and to communicate with or control the public charging station (1) as required for this purpose. [6] Public charging station (1) for electric vehicles (3), which is designed for use in a method according to one of claims 1 to 4 and for this purpose comprises the following: - an integrated user interface designed to receive the user's specifications regarding the required energy amount and the minimum charging time and / or to output the respective charging process option and to receive its user confirmation; and / or - a first communication unit (8) designed to exchange this data with an external user interface; and / or - a second communication unit (7) designed to receive the predicted energy amount and / or measurement and / or weather forecast data required for its prediction from the said PV system(s) and / or from a central coordination unit of the said community; and / or - a computing unit designed to predict the amount of energy fed into the supply grid (4) from said private PV systems (11) and / or to determine and output the portion of the energy amount specified by the user and / or the one or more charging options that can be covered thereby; and / or - a control unit (5) designed to execute the respective charging process option confirmed by the user. [7] Network of public charging stations (1) according to claim 6, which - are arranged individually and preferably in groups near workplaces (2), residential buildings, apartment blocks, hotels, railway stations and / or other locations with typically particularly long parking times during the day or at night; and - for applying the method according to one of claims 1 to 4 for charging electric vehicles (3) from the supply network (4) with a low energy rate of, for example, at most 15 or 20 kW, which is largely or completely balanced by feed-in rates measured and predicted in real time from private PV systems (11) of the said community. [8] Electric vehicle (3) which is designed to charge its electrical energy storage device at a public charging station (1) using a method according to one of claims 1 to 4 and for this purpose comprises the following: - an integrated user interface designed to receive the user's specifications regarding the required energy amount and the minimum charging time and / or to output the respective charging process option and to receive its user confirmation; and / or - a first communication unit designed to exchange this data with an external user interface; and / or - a second communication unit designed to receive the predicted energy amount and / or measurement and / or weather forecast data required for its prediction from the said PV system(s) (11) and / or from a central coordination unit of the said community; and / or - a computing unit designed to predict the amount of energy fed into the supply grid (4) from said private PV systems (11) and / or to determine and output the portion of the energy amount specified by the user and / or the one or more charging options that can be covered thereby; and / or - a control unit designed to execute the respective charging process option confirmed by the user and to communicate with or control the public charging station (1) as required for this purpose. [9] Central coordination unit, in particular a central server (12), of a community of private PV system owners, which is designed for use in a method according to one of claims 1 to 4 and for this purpose can comprise a database with an associated registration and / or login tool that enables private PV system owners to register to participate in this method and to enter the data required for this purpose, further comprising: - a third communication unit configured to receive the user specifications regarding the required amount of energy and the available minimum charging time for charging a respective electric vehicle (3) and / or the user confirmation of the respective charging process option from said user interface and / or to transmit the determined proportion and / or the one or more charging process options to said user interface; and / or - a fourth communication unit designed to receive and / or output the predicted energy amount and / or measurement and / or weather forecast data required for its prediction from the PV system(s) (11) of the registered community members; and / or - a computing unit designed to predict the amount of energy fed into the supply grid (4) from said private PV systems (11) and / or to determine and output the portion of the respective predetermined amount of energy and / or the one or more charging options that can be covered thereby; and / or - a control unit designed to execute the charging process option confirmed by an electric vehicle user and to communicate with or control the public charging station (1) used by him for this purpose. [10] PV community app for installation on a mobile device of an electric vehicle user, - wherein the app is designed, when executed on the mobile terminal, to equip the mobile terminal for use in a method according to one of claims 1 to 4 by - provides a user interface configured to receive user specifications regarding the required energy amount and minimum charging time and / or to output the respective charging process option and to receive user confirmation thereof; and - is connected to the central coordination unit according to claim 9 and / or to a charging cable (14) according to claim 5 and / or to a public charging station (1), in particular according to claim 6, for receiving or forwarding the determined portion of the predetermined amount of energy and / or the one or more charging process options or corresponding control signals for the corresponding communication. [11] Computer program which is arranged to carry out all the steps of a method according to one of claims 1 to 4. [12] An electronic storage medium on which a computer program according to claim 11 is stored.

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