Charging system, charging method, and computer program

Abstract

To provide a charging system, a charging method, and a computer program in which power to be supplied to an electric automobile can be determined by at least one of a first charger installed in a first point and a second charger installed in a second point.SOLUTION: A charging system includes a charging management computation unit that derives a first power amount to be supplied from a first charger installed in a first point to an electric automobile or a second power amount to be supplied from a second charger installed in a second point to an electric automobile, and creates notification information to notify the first charger of the derived first power amount or notify the second charger of the derived second power amount, and a communication unit that transmits the notification information created by the charging management computation unit. The charging management computation unit derives the first power amount or the second power amount in accordance with the charging priority level of the first charger or the charging priority level of the second charger.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a charging system, a charging method, and a computer program. [Background technology]

[0002] As global efforts to promote sustainability progress, we are now in an era where being a sustainable company will determine a company's competitive advantage in the future. For example, actions are being called for to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, and the Paris Agreement was adopted as a new international framework for reducing greenhouse gas emissions after 2020. It is expected that the use of natural energy will progress further in the hope of improving corporate value.

[0003] Specifically, following the coming into force of the Paris Agreement, the spread of electric vehicles that do not use fossil fuels is being promoted in order to decarbonize the world. Regarding electric vehicles and other motor-driven vehicles, a technology is known that can complete charging of the electric vehicles from multiple charging stations before each electric vehicle departs without requiring the user to input information (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In this technology, a charging control unit of a charging system creates a charging plan so that electric vehicles belonging to a group with a high group priority are charged first, within a range in which the amount of grid power usage at the business does not exceed a predetermined threshold, and controls the operation of each charging station based on the charging plan. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] JP 2018-42296 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] Consider providing transportation expenses (commuting expenses) in kind to multiple employees who commute to work by electric vehicle. For example, provide one or more chargers at the commute destination and charge multiple electric vehicles at the one or more chargers. For employees, it is preferable to be able to charge their devices at chargers provided at their workplaces, without excess or shortage, for the duration of their commutes over a given period, such as a month. The above is not limited to commuting, but also applies to cases where an electric vehicle moves between an arbitrary first location and a second location and where the amount of electricity to be supplied to the electric vehicle by a first charger installed at the first location and the amount of electricity to be supplied to the electric vehicle by a second charger installed at the second location are determined. An object of the present invention is to provide a charging system, a charging method, and a computer program that can determine the amount of power to be supplied to an electric vehicle at at least one of a first charger installed at a first location and a second charger installed at a second location. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] (1) One aspect of the present invention is a charging system that manages chargers that supply power to an electric vehicle, and includes a charging management calculation unit that derives a first amount of power to be supplied to an electric vehicle by a first charger installed at a first location or a second amount of power to be supplied to the electric vehicle by a second charger installed at a second location, and creates notification information for notifying the first charger of the derived first amount of power or for notifying the second charger of the derived second amount of power, and a communication unit that transmits the notification information created by the charging management calculation unit, and the charging management calculation unit derives the first amount of power or the second amount of power based on a charging priority of the first charger or a charging priority of the second charger. (2) In one aspect of the present invention, in the charging system described in (1) above, the charging management calculation unit creates a charging plan for each of the multiple electric vehicles based on vehicle information for each of the multiple electric vehicles and charger information for each of the one or more first chargers, for charging the amount of power consumed by traveling a specific route multiple times in a certain period of time, and the communication unit transmits the charging plan created by the charging management calculation unit to one or more of the first chargers, and each of the one or more first chargers supplies power to each of the multiple electric vehicles based on the charging plan. (3) In one aspect of the present invention, in the charging system described in (2) above, the charging management calculation unit derives, as the charging plan for each of a plurality of electric vehicles, an amount of power to be supplied in one charge when charging is performed in one or more separate charges, and each of the one or more first chargers supplies power to the plurality of electric vehicles based on the amount of power to be supplied in one charge. (4) In one aspect of the present invention, in the charging system described in (2) above, the communication unit receives information indicating the amount of power supplied for each of the plurality of electric vehicles from each of the one or more first chargers, and the charging management calculation unit derives the amount of power supplied during the certain period for each of the plurality of electric vehicles based on the information indicating the amount of power supplied for each of the plurality of electric vehicles received by the communication unit, and derives the amount of power that has not been supplied based on the derived amount of power supplied during the certain period and the amount of power that should be supplied during the certain period. (5) In one aspect of the present invention, in the charging system described in (1) or (2) above, the charging management calculation unit derives an upper limit value of the amount of power to be supplied to one or more of the electric vehicles by one or more second chargers and creates notification information for notifying the derived upper limit value of the amount of power to be supplied, and the communication unit transmits the notification information created by the charging management calculation unit to one or more of the second chargers. (6) In one aspect of the present invention, in the charging system described in (2) above, the vehicle information includes information indicating the route distance, information indicating the battery capacity, priority information, information indicating the number of movements in the certain period, information indicating the parking start time, and information indicating the parking end time, the charger information includes charger identification information, information indicating a maximum charging output, information related to charger control, and priority information, and the charging management calculation unit derives, for each of the multiple electric vehicles, information indicating the minimum power consumption in a day, information indicating the amount of charging required in the certain period, information indicating the maximum amount of charging in a day, information indicating the charging interval, and information indicating the number of charges. (7) In one aspect of the present invention, in the charging system described in (6) above, the charging management calculation unit obtains the information indicating the route distance, the information indicating the battery capacity, and the priority information from a payroll system that manages employee payroll, and obtains the information indicating the number of trips in the certain period, the information indicating the parking start time, and the information indicating the parking end time from an attendance system that manages the employee attendance. (8) In one aspect of the present invention, in the charging system described in (1) above, the charging management calculation unit acquires charger identification information and charging priority information included in the charger information of the first charger and user information input to the first charger, and creates a charging plan for charging the amount of power consumed by the electric vehicle as a result of moving along a specific route based on the acquired charger identification information, charging priority information, and user information, the communication unit transmits the charging plan created by the charging management calculation unit to the first charger, and the first charger supplies power to the electric vehicle based on the charging plan.

[0007] (9) One aspect of the present invention is a charging method executed by a charging system that manages chargers that supply power to an electric vehicle, the charging method including the steps of deriving a first amount of power to be supplied to an electric vehicle by a first charger installed at a first location or a second amount of power to be supplied to the electric vehicle by a second charger installed at a second location, and creating notification information for notifying the first charger of the derived first amount of power or notifying the second charger of the derived second amount of power, and a step of transmitting the notification information created in the step of creating the notification information, wherein the step of creating the notification information derives the first amount of power or the second amount of power based on the charging priority of the first charger or the charging priority of the second charger.

[0008] (10) One aspect of the present invention is a computer program that causes a computer to execute the steps of deriving a first amount of power to be supplied to an electric vehicle by a first charger installed at a first location or a second amount of power to be supplied to the electric vehicle by a second charger installed at a second location, creating notification information for notifying the first charger of the derived first amount of power or notifying the second charger of the derived second amount of power, and transmitting the notification information created in the step of creating the notification information, wherein in the step of creating the notification information, the first amount of power or the second amount of power is derive based on the charging priority of the first charger or the charging priority of the second charger. Effect of the Invention

[0009] According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a charging system, a charging method, and a computer program that can determine the amount of power to be supplied to an electric vehicle in at least one of a first charger installed at a first location and a second charger installed at a second location. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a charging system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2]1 is a block diagram showing an example of a charging management unit 100 and a charger 200 included in a charging system 1 according to the present embodiment. [Diagram 3] 2 is a diagram showing an example of vehicle information stored in a charging management unit 100 of the charging system 1 according to the present embodiment. FIG. [Figure 4] 2 is a diagram showing an example of charger information stored in a charging management unit 100 of the charging system 1 according to the present embodiment. FIG. [Diagram 5] 2 is a diagram showing an example of electric vehicle charging information stored in a charging management unit 100 of the charging system 1 according to the present embodiment. FIG. [Figure 6] 2 is a diagram showing an example of a charging plan stored in a charging management unit 100 of the charging system 1 according to the present embodiment. FIG. [Figure 7] 2 is a diagram showing an example of charging execution information stored in a charging management unit 100 of the charging system 1 according to the present embodiment. FIG. [Figure 8] 4 is a diagram showing an example of transportation expense appropriation shortage distance information stored in the charging management unit 100 of the charging system 1 according to the present embodiment. FIG. [Figure 9] 4 is a diagram showing an example of payment information stored in the payment system 400 of the charging system 1 according to the present embodiment. FIG. [Figure 10] 4 is a flow chart showing an example of the operation of a charging management unit 100 included in the charging system 1 according to the present embodiment. FIG. [Figure 11] 4 is a flow chart showing an example of the operation of a charging management unit 100 included in the charging system 1 according to the present embodiment. FIG. [Figure 12] 4 is a flow chart showing an example of the operation of a charging management unit 100 included in the charging system 1 according to the present embodiment. FIG. [Figure 13] 4 is a flow chart showing an example of the operation of a charging management unit 100 included in the charging system 1 according to the present embodiment. FIG. [Figure 14] 4 is a flow diagram showing an example of the operation of the charger 200 included in the charging system 1 according to the present embodiment. [Figure 15] 4 is a flow diagram showing an example of the operation of the charging system 400 included in the charging system 1 according to the present embodiment. FIG. [Figure 16] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a charging system 1a according to a first modified example of the embodiment. [Figure 17] 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a charging management unit 100a, a charger 200, and a charger 200a included in a charging system 1a according to a first modified example of the embodiment. FIG. [Figure 18] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of vehicle information stored in a charging management unit 100a of a charging system 1a according to a first modified example of the embodiment. [Figure 19] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of first charging information stored in a charging management unit 100a of a charging system 1a according to a first modification of the embodiment. [Figure 20] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a first charging plan stored in a charging management unit 100a of a charging system 1a according to a first modification of the embodiment. [Figure 21] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a second charging plan stored in a charging management unit 100a of a charging system 1a according to a first modified example of the embodiment. [Figure 22] 10 is a diagram showing an example of charging execution information stored in a charging management unit 100a of a charging system 1a according to a first modified example of the embodiment. FIG. [Figure 23] 11 is a diagram showing an example of payment information stored in a payment system 400 of a charging system 1a according to a first modified example of the embodiment. FIG. [Figure 24] FIG. 11 is a flow chart showing an example of an operation of a charging management unit 100a included in a charging system 1a according to a first modified example of the embodiment. [Diagram 25] FIG. 11 is a flow chart showing an example of an operation of a charging management unit 100a included in a charging system 1a according to a first modified example of the embodiment. [Figure 26] FIG. 11 is a flow diagram showing an example of the operation of a charger 200a included in a charging system 1a according to a first modified example of the embodiment. [Figure 27] FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of a charging system 1b according to a second modified example of the embodiment. [Figure 28] FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing an example of a charging management unit 100b, a charger 200a, and a charger 200b included in a charging system 1b according to a second modification of the embodiment. [Figure 29]FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of vehicle information stored in a charging management unit 100b of a charging system 1b according to a second modification of the embodiment. [Diagram 30] FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of charger information stored in a charging management unit 100b of a charging system 1b according to a second modification of the embodiment. [Diagram 31] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a charging plan stored in a charging management unit 100b of a charging system 1b according to a second modification of the embodiment. [Diagram 32] 11 is a flowchart showing an example of an operation of a charge management unit 100b according to a second modification of the embodiment. FIG. [Diagram 33] 11 is a flowchart showing an example of an operation of a charge management unit 100b according to a second modification of the embodiment. FIG. [Diagram 34] 11 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of a charger 200b according to a second modification of the embodiment. FIG. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0011] Next, a charging system, a charging method, and a computer program according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. The embodiment described below is merely an example, and the embodiment to which the present invention is applied is not limited to the following embodiment. In all the drawings for explaining the embodiment, the same reference numerals are used for parts having the same functions, and repeated explanations are omitted. In addition, "based on XX" in this application means "based on at least XX," and includes cases where it is based on other elements in addition to XX. Furthermore, "based on XX" is not limited to cases where XX is used directly, but also includes cases where it is based on XX that has been calculated or processed. "XX" is any element (for example, any information).

[0012] (Embodiment) (Charging system) Fig. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a charging system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The charging system 1 is a system for providing transportation expenses (commuting expenses) in kind to a plurality of employees who commute to work by electric vehicle. Specifically, in principle, the transportation expenses are provided in kind in the form of electricity to each of the plurality of employees by having them charge the electric vehicle (hereinafter also referred to as "commuting vehicle") they use for commuting at the business premises (company). In order to provide transportation expenses in the form of electricity, the charging system 1 charges a plurality of commuter cars with a preset amount of electricity for each of the plurality of commuter cars in a fixed period of time using a limited number of chargers. In this embodiment, the explanation will be continued assuming that one month is used as an example of the fixed period. In this case, the charging system 1 charges the amount of electricity equivalent to one month's worth of power consumption once or multiple times.

[0013] The charging system 1 includes a charging management unit 100 and chargers 200-1 to 200-n (n is an integer greater than 0). Each of the chargers 200-1 to 200-n is installed, for example, in a business establishment (company). In addition to the charging management unit 100 and the chargers 200-1 to 200-n, FIG. 1 also shows a time attendance system 300, a payroll system 400, and electric vehicles EV-1 to EV-k (k is an integer greater than 1), where k>n. The charging management unit 100, the chargers 200-1 to 200-n (n is an integer greater than 0), the attendance system 300, and the payroll system 400 are connected via a network NW. The network NW includes, for example, the Internet, a Wide Area Network (WAN), a Local Area Network (LAN), a provider device, a wireless base station, and the like.

[0014] The charging management unit 100, the attendance system 300, and the payroll system 400 are linked together using the cloud. Specifically, the charging management unit 100, the attendance system 300, and the payroll system 400 share data through WebAPI (Application Programming Interface) linkage. The attendance system 300 stores attendance information. The attendance system 300 transmits the attendance information to the charging management unit 100. For example, the attendance information includes, for each of a plurality of employees, an employee ID, a vehicle ID of a vehicle used, the number of trips made with the vehicle in a certain period (one month), the parking start time of the vehicle, the parking end time of the vehicle, and the parking time. Furthermore, the attendance information includes company calendar information including information on weekends, holidays, Obon holidays, consecutive holidays such as Golden Week, and the year-end and New Year holidays. The payroll system 400 stores route information. The payroll system 400 transmits the route information to the charging management unit 100. For example, the route information includes, for each of a plurality of employees, an employee ID, a vehicle ID of the vehicle used, a distance [km] of the commuting route, a battery capacity [kWh], and priority information. The priority information is information indicating the degree to which charging is prioritized at a charger. An example of the priority information is an index such as natural energy and a charging unit price.

[0015] The charging management unit 100 stores charger control information, which is control information for each of the chargers 200-1 to 200-n. The charging management unit 100 receives attendance information transmitted by the attendance system 300 and receives route information transmitted by the payroll system 400. The charging management unit 100 creates charging information based on the received attendance information and route information. The charging information includes a plan for charging each of electric vehicles EV-1 to EV-k in one or more trips to charge the amount of electricity consumed by traveling the commuting route the number of times in one month (hereinafter also referred to as the "required charging amount"). The charging management unit 100 creates a charging plan, which is a plan for supplying power to each of the electric vehicles EV-1 to EV-k, for each of the chargers 200-1 to 200-n, based on the charging information.

[0016] Charging management unit 100 transmits the created charging plan to chargers 200-1 to 200-n. Chargers 200-1 to 200-n receive the charging plans transmitted by charging management unit 100 and set the received charging plans. Chargers 200-1 to 200-n charge each of electric vehicles EV-1 to EV-k based on the set charging plans.

[0017] When each of chargers 200-1 to 200-n has performed charging on any of electric vehicles EV-1 to EV-k based on the charging plan, the charger creates charging execution information to notify that charging has been performed, and transmits the created charging execution information to charging management unit 100. The charging management unit 100 derives the charge amount remaining until the required charge amount (hereinafter also referred to as the "remaining charge amount") for each of the electric vehicles EV-1 to EV-k based on the charging execution information transmitted by each of the chargers 200-1 to 200-n. This remaining charge amount is the power that has not been actually provided and is the amount of power that is insufficient from the required charge amount.

[0018] The charging management unit 100 derives the distance that can be traveled with the remaining charge for each of the electric vehicles EV-1 to EV-k in order to pay the remaining charge as transportation expenses after one month has passed. The charging management unit 100 creates transportation expense allocation shortfall distance information including information indicating the derived transportation expense allocation shortfall distance for electric vehicles EV-1 to EV-k whose remaining charge is other than zero, and transmits the created transportation expense allocation shortfall distance information to the payment system 400.

[0019] The payroll system 400 receives the transportation expense allocation shortfall distance information transmitted by the charging management unit 100. The payroll system 400 calculates a commuting allowance based on the transportation expense allocation shortfall distance for electric vehicle EV-1 to electric vehicle EV-k with a non-zero remaining charge amount included in the received transportation expense allocation shortfall distance information, and pays the commuting allowance calculated for each of electric vehicle EV-1 to electric vehicle EV-k to employees who own electric vehicle EV-1 to electric vehicle EV-k with a non-zero remaining charge amount.

[0020] Hereinafter, any one of the chargers 200-1 to 200-n will be referred to as charger 200. Any one of the electric vehicles EV-1 to EV-k will be referred to as electric vehicle EV.

[0021] Hereinafter, a detailed description will be given of the charging management unit 100 and the charger 200. Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the charging management unit 100 and the charger 200 included in the charging system 1 according to this embodiment. (Charging management section 100) The charging management unit 100 is realized by a device such as a personal computer, a server, a smartphone, a tablet computer, an industrial computer, etc. The charging management unit 100 may be a cloud server. The charging management unit 100 includes, for example, a communication unit 102, a processing unit 104, a charging management calculation unit 106, and a storage unit 110.

[0022] The communication unit 102 is realized by a communication module. The communication unit 102 communicates with external communication devices such as the charger 200, the attendance system 300, and the payroll system 400 via the network NW. The communication unit 102 may communicate using a communication method such as a wired LAN. The communication unit 102 may also communicate using a wireless communication method such as a wireless LAN, Bluetooth (registered trademark), or LTE (registered trademark). The communication unit 102 holds communication information required to communicate with the charger 200, the attendance system 300, and the payroll system 400 via the network NW.

[0023] The storage unit 110 is realized by a hard disk drive (HDD), a flash memory, a random access memory (RAM), a read only memory (ROM), or the like. The storage unit 110 stores vehicle information. The vehicle information is information that associates, for each of a plurality of employees, the vehicle ID of an electric vehicle EV owned by the employee, information indicating the distance (one way) of the employee's commute route, information indicating the battery capacity of the electric vehicle EV, priority information, information indicating the number of times the employee travels along the commute route in one month, information indicating the parking start time of the electric vehicle EV, information indicating the parking end time of the electric vehicle EV, and information indicating the parking time of the electric vehicle EV. The employee ID may be further associated with the vehicle information.

[0024] FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of vehicle information stored by the charging management unit 100 of the charging system 1 according to this embodiment. FIG. 3 shows a case where there are three employees as an example. According to FIG. 3, the vehicle information includes, for the vehicle IDs ("A", "B", "C") of the electric vehicles EV used by each of the three employees, information indicating the distance (route distance) [km] (one way) of the commuting route, information indicating the battery capacity [kWh] of the electric vehicles EV, priority information, information indicating the number of times the commuting distance has been traveled [per month], information indicating the parking start time, information indicating the parking end time, and information indicating the parking time [h]. According to FIG. 3, nothing is input into the priority information. The storage unit 110 stores information indicating the electricity consumption. The electricity consumption may be a uniform value or may vary for each vehicle. An example of the electricity consumption is 150 [Wh / km]. The information indicating the electricity consumption may be included in the vehicle information. Returning to FIG. 2, the description will be continued.

[0025] The storage unit 110 stores charger information. The charger information is information that associates, for each of the chargers 200-1 to 200-n, a charger ID, information indicating a maximum charging output, charger control information that is information for controlling the charger, and priority information. The priority information is information that indicates the degree to which charging is prioritized at the charger. Examples of priority information are indices such as natural energy and charging unit price. Fig. 4 is a diagram showing an example of charger information stored by the charging management unit 100 of the charging system 1 according to this embodiment. Fig. 4 shows, as an example, a case in which there is one charger 200. According to Fig. 4, the charger information includes, for a charger ID ("001"), information indicating the maximum charging output [kW], charger control information, and priority information. Returning to Fig. 2, the explanation will be continued.

[0026] The storage unit 110 stores electric vehicle charging information. The electric vehicle charging information is information that associates, for each of the electric vehicles EV-1 to EV-k, information indicating the minimum amount of power consumed in one day, information indicating the amount of power required to be charged in one month, information indicating the maximum amount of power charged in one day, information indicating the charging interval, information indicating the number of charges per month, and information indicating the charging output. Fig. 5 is a diagram showing an example of electric vehicle charging information stored by the charging management unit 100 of the charging system 1 according to this embodiment. According to Fig. 5, for the vehicle IDs ("A", "B", "C") of electric vehicles EV used by three employees, information indicating the minimum amount of electricity consumed in one day [kWh / day], information indicating the amount of electricity required to be charged in one month [kWh / month], information indicating the maximum amount of electricity charged in one day [kWh / day], information indicating the charging interval, information indicating the number of times of charging, and information indicating the charging output [kW] are associated with each other. Returning to Fig. 2, the explanation will be continued.

[0027] The storage unit 110 stores a charging plan. The charging plan is information that associates, for each of the chargers 200-1 to 200-n, information indicating the date and day of the week, a vehicle ID, information indicating a required charging amount in one month, information indicating a maximum charging amount in one day, information indicating a charging interval, information indicating the number of charging times in one month, information indicating the remaining number of charging times in one month, and information indicating a charging output. Fig. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a charging plan stored by the charging management unit 100 of the charging system 1 according to this embodiment. According to Fig. 6, as a charging plan for a charger ID ("001"), information indicating a date and a day of the week, a vehicle ID, information indicating a required charging amount [kWh / month], information indicating a maximum charging amount [kWh / day], information indicating a charging interval [ / month], information indicating the number of charging times [ / month], information indicating the remaining number of charging times [ / month], and information indicating a charging output [kW] are associated with each other. Returning to Fig. 2, the explanation will be continued.

[0028] The storage unit 110 stores charging execution information. The charging execution information is information that associates, for each of the electric vehicles EV-1 to EV-k, information indicating the charge amount on the day when charging was performed with information indicating the remaining charge amount for one month. For example, the charging execution information is included in the charging plan. Fig. 7 is a diagram showing an example of charging execution information stored by the charging management unit 100 of the charging system 1 according to this embodiment. According to Fig. 7, as a charging plan for a charger ID ("001"), information indicating the date and day of the week, a vehicle ID, information indicating a required charging amount [kWh / month], information indicating a maximum charging amount [kWh / day], information indicating a charging interval [ / month], information indicating the number of charging times [ / month], information indicating the remaining number of charging times [ / month], and information indicating a charging output [kW] are associated with information indicating a charging amount [kWh] on the day, information indicating an accumulated charging amount [kWh], and information indicating a remaining charging amount [kWh]. Returning to Fig. 2, the description will be continued.

[0029] The storage unit 110 stores transportation expense allocation shortfall distance information. The transportation expense allocation shortfall distance information is information that associates, for each of the electric vehicles EV-1 to EV-k, a vehicle ID, information indicating a required charge amount, information indicating a remaining charge amount, and information indicating a transportation expense allocation shortfall distance. Fig. 8 is a diagram showing an example of transportation expense allocation shortage distance information stored by the charging management unit 100 of the charging system 1 according to this embodiment. According to Fig. 8, for the vehicle IDs ("A", "B", "C") of electric vehicles EV, information indicating the required charge amount of electricity for one month [kWh / month], information indicating the remaining charge amount [kWh], and information indicating the transportation expense allocation shortage distance [km] are associated with each other. Returning to Fig. 2, the explanation will be continued.

[0030] The communication unit 102 receives the attendance information transmitted by the attendance system 300 and receives the route information transmitted by the payroll system 400 . The processing unit 104 acquires the attendance information received by the communication unit 102, and based on the vehicle ID included in the acquired attendance information, stores information indicating the number of times the commuting distance was traveled, information indicating the parking start time, information indicating the parking end time, and information indicating the parking time in the vehicle information in the memory unit 110. The processing unit 104 acquires the route information received by the communication unit 102, and stores information indicating the distance of the commuting route, information indicating the battery capacity of the electric vehicle EV, and priority information in the vehicle information of the memory unit 110 based on the vehicle ID included in the acquired route information. The processing unit 104 acquires the charger information, and based on the charger ID included in the acquired charger information, stores information indicating the maximum charging output [kW] and the charger control information in the charger information of the storage unit 110. For example, the processing unit 104 acquires the charger information from an input unit (not shown).

[0031] The charging management calculation unit 106 determines whether the priority information included in the charger information is higher based on the priority information included in the charger information stored in the storage unit 110 and the priority information included in the vehicle information. When the charging management calculation unit 106 determines that the priority information included in the charger information is higher, it decides to create an electric vehicle charging plan and sets the transmission destination of the charging plan to the charger at the business establishment. Below, the case where the charging management calculation unit 106 decides to create a charging plan will be explained further. Based on the charger information and vehicle information stored in the memory unit 110, the charging management calculation unit 106 creates charging information for each of the electric vehicles EV-1 to EV-k, for charging the amount of power consumed by traveling multiple times over a specific commuting route used by employees for commuting to work in one month. Specifically, the charging management calculation unit 106 derives, for each of the electric vehicles EV-1 to EV-n, the minimum daily power consumption [kWh / day], the required monthly charging amount [kWh / day], the maximum daily charging amount [kWh / day], the charging interval, and the number of charging times.

[0032] For example, the charging management calculation unit 106 derives the minimum amount of power consumption in one day, the amount of power required to be charged in one month, the maximum amount of charging in one day, the charging interval, and the number of charging times based on equations (1) to (5). Minimum consumption [kWh / day] = Route distance [km] x Electricity cost [Wh / km] x 2 (1) Required charging capacity [kWh / month] = route distance [km] × electricity cost [Wh / km] × 2 × number of trips [ / month] (2) Maximum charging amount [kWh / day] = Charging output [kW] x Parking time [h] (3) Charging interval = Maximum charging amount [kWh / day] / Minimum consumption amount [kWh / day] (4) Number of charging times = Required charging amount [kWh / month] / Maximum charging amount [kWh / day] (5) However, in equations (4) and (5), round up to the next integer.

[0033] The charging management calculation unit 106 creates a charging plan, which is a charging plan for each day of the month, for each of the chargers 200-1 to 200-n, based on the minimum daily electricity consumption, the required charging amount of electricity for one month, the maximum daily charging amount, the charging interval and number of charges, and the charging output [kW] derived for each of the electric vehicles EV-1 to EV-k.

[0034] For example, the charging management calculation unit 106 sets a time block consisting of each of a plurality of days included in a month and one or a plurality of time sections for each of the plurality of days included in a month for each of the chargers 200-1 to 200-n. The charging management calculation unit 106 performs scheduling to assign each of the electric vehicles EV-1 to EV-k to each of the plurality of time blocks. The charging management calculation unit 106 may assign electric vehicles EV with short charging intervals or electric vehicles EV with many charging times to one of the plurality of time blocks. The charging management calculation unit 106 may create a charging plan prospectively at the beginning of the month. This is because it is unknown when travel expenses will not be required due to employee vacations, business trips, etc.

[0035] The charging management calculation unit 106 creates charging plan notification information including a charging plan and addressed to the addresses of the chargers 200-1 to 200-n. The charging management calculation unit 106 outputs the created charging plan notification information to the communication unit 102. The communication unit 102 acquires the charging plan notification information output by the charging management calculation unit 106, and transmits the acquired charging plan notification information to each of the chargers 200-1 to 200-n.

[0036] The communication unit 102 receives charging execution information transmitted from each of the chargers 200-1 to 200-n. The charging management calculation unit 106 acquires the charging execution information from the communication unit 102. The charging management calculation unit 106 calculates the accumulated charging amount [kWh] and the remaining charging amount [kWh] based on the charger ID, the date, the vehicle ID, and information indicating the charging amount [kWh] on the day, which are included in the acquired charging execution information. The charging management calculation unit 106 identifies a charging plan associated with the charger ID from the charging plans stored in the storage unit 110, and stores the charging amount [kWh] on the day, the accumulated charging amount [kWh], and the remaining charging amount [kWh] in the identified charging plan based on the date and the vehicle ID, as shown in FIG. 7.

[0037] The charge management calculation unit 106 derives the travel expense allocation shortfall distance for each of the electric vehicles EV-1 to EV-k in order to cover the remaining charge amount as travel expenses after one month has passed. For example, the charging management calculation unit 106 derives the travel expense allocation shortfall distance based on the formula (6). Distance covered by transportation expenses [km] = Remaining charge amount [kWh] × 1000 / Electricity cost [Wh / km] (6) The charging management calculation unit 106 creates transportation expense allocation shortfall distance notification information, which includes the vehicle ID and information indicating the transportation expense allocation shortfall distance for the electric vehicle EV whose derived transportation expense allocation shortfall distance is not zero, and is addressed to the address of the payment system 400. The charging management calculation unit 106 outputs the created transportation expense allocation shortfall distance notification information to the communication unit 102. The communication unit 102 acquires the travel expense appropriation insufficient distance notification information output by the charging management calculation unit 106 , and transmits the acquired travel expense appropriation insufficient distance notification information to the payroll system 400 .

[0038] The processing unit 104 and the charging management calculation unit 106 are realized by, for example, a hardware processor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) executing a computer program (software) stored in the storage unit 110. Furthermore, some or all of these functional units may be realized by hardware (including circuitry) such as an LSI (Large Scale Integration), an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), an FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array), or a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), or may be realized by a combination of software and hardware.

[0039] (Charger 200) The charger 200 is realized by including a device such as a personal computer, a server, an industrial computer, etc. The charger 200 includes, for example, a communication unit 202, a processing unit 204, a charging device 206, and a storage unit 210.

[0040] The communication unit 202 is realized by a communication module. The communication unit 202 communicates with an external communication device such as the charging management unit 100 via the network NW. The communication unit 202 may communicate using a communication method such as a wired LAN. The communication unit 202 may also communicate using a wireless communication method such as a wireless LAN, Bluetooth (registered trademark), or LTE (registered trademark). The communication unit 202 holds communication information required to communicate with the charging management unit 100 via the network NW.

[0041] The storage unit 210 is realized by a HDD, a flash memory, a RAM, a ROM, etc. The storage unit 210 stores a charging plan. The charging plan is information that associates, for each of the chargers 200-1 to 200-n, information indicating the date and the day of the week, a vehicle ID, information indicating the required charging amount in one month, information indicating the maximum charging amount in one day, information indicating the charging interval, information indicating the number of charging times in one month, information indicating the remaining number of charging times in one month, and information indicating the charging output. An example of the charging plan stored in the charger 200 is the same as that in FIG. 6, and therefore a description thereof will be omitted here.

[0042] The communication unit 202 receives the charging plan notification information transmitted by the charging management unit 100. The processing unit 204 acquires the charging plan notification information received by the communication unit 202, and stores in the storage unit 210 the charging plan included in the acquired charging plan notification information.

[0043] The charging device 206 charges any one of the electric vehicles EV-1 to EV-k based on a charging plan stored in the memory unit 210. The charging device 206 may be of a cableless (outlet type) type or a cabled type. Specifically, the charging device 206 acquires a vehicle ID from the connected electric vehicle EV, among electric vehicles EV-1 to EV-k. The charging device 206 acquires information indicating the maximum charging amount in one day from the charging plan based on the date, day of the week, and the acquired vehicle ID. The charging device 206 performs charging based on the acquired information indicating the maximum charging amount in one day.

[0044] After performing charging, the charger 200 creates charging execution information addressed to the address of the charging management unit 100, and including the charger ID, information indicating the date, the vehicle ID, and information indicating the charging amount [kWh] on that day, and outputs the created charging execution information to the communication unit 202. The communication unit 202 acquires the charging execution information output by the charging device 206 , and transmits the acquired charging execution information to the charging management unit 100 .

[0045] The processing unit 204 and the charging device 206 are realized, for example, by a hardware processor such as a CPU executing a computer program (software) stored in the storage unit 210. In addition, some or all of these functional units may be realized by hardware (including circuitry) such as an LSI, ASIC, FPGA, or GPU, or may be realized by a combination of software and hardware.

[0046] (Time attendance system 300) The attendance system 300 is realized by a device such as a personal computer, a server, a smartphone, a tablet computer, an industrial computer, etc. The attendance system 300 may be a cloud server. The attendance system 300 stores attendance information. For example, the attendance information includes, for each of a plurality of employees, a vehicle ID of a vehicle used, information indicating the number of trips made by the vehicle in a certain period (one month), information indicating the parking start time of the vehicle, information indicating the parking end time of the vehicle, and information indicating the parking time. The attendance system 300 updates the attendance information every month and transmits the updated attendance information to the charging management unit 100.

[0047] (Payroll System 400) The payroll system 400 is realized by a device such as a personal computer, a server, a smartphone, a tablet computer, or an industrial computer. The payroll system 400 may be a cloud server. The payroll system 400 stores payroll information. For example, the payroll information includes, for each of a plurality of employees, an employee ID, a vehicle ID of a vehicle used by the employee, information indicating a distance [km] of a commuting route, information indicating a battery capacity [kWh], priority information, information indicating a transportation expense allocation shortfall distance [km], and information indicating a commuting allowance [yen]. Among the payroll information, for each of a plurality of employees, the vehicle ID of a vehicle used by the employee, information indicating a distance [km] of a commuting route, information indicating a battery capacity [kWh], and priority information are also route information. The payroll system 400 updates the route information every month and transmits the updated route information to the charging management unit 100.

[0048] The payment system 400 receives the transportation expense allocation shortfall distance information transmitted by the charging management unit 100. The payment system 400 calculates the commuting allowance based on the information indicating the transportation expense allocation shortfall distance included in the received transportation expense allocation shortfall distance information. The payment system 400 stores the information indicating the transportation expense allocation shortfall distance and the calculation result of the commuting allowance in association with the payment information.

[0049] Fig. 9 is a diagram showing an example of salary information stored by the salary system 400 of the charging system 1 according to this embodiment. Fig. 9 shows, as an example, a case in which there are three employees. According to Fig. 9, the salary information includes, for the employee IDs of the three employees ("Ah", "Good", "Uh"), the vehicle IDs of the electric vehicles EV used by each of the three employees, information indicating the distance of the commuting route (route distance) [km] (one way), information indicating the battery capacity [kWh] of the electric vehicles EV, priority information, information indicating the transportation expense allocation shortfall distance [km], and information indicating the commuting allowance [yen].

[0050] (Charging system 1 operation) Fig. 10 is a flow diagram showing an example of the operation of the charging management unit 100 included in the charging system 1 according to this embodiment. With reference to Fig. 10, a process in which the charging management unit 100 acquires attendance information from the attendance system 300, acquires route information from the payroll system 400, and creates a charging plan based on the acquired attendance information and route information will be described.

[0051] (Step S1-1) The processing unit 104 judges whether or not the communication unit 102 has received the attendance information transmitted by the attendance system 300. If it is judged that the attendance information has not been received, the process returns to step S1-1. (Step S2-1) When the processing unit 104 determines that attendance information has been received, it acquires the attendance information from the communication unit 102, and based on the vehicle ID included in the acquired attendance information, stores information indicating the number of trips made over the commuting distance, information indicating the parking start time, information indicating the parking end time, and information indicating the parking time in the vehicle information in the memory unit 110.

[0052] (Step S3-1) The processing unit 104 judges whether or not the communication unit 102 has received the route information transmitted by the payroll system 400. If it is judged that the route information has not been received, the process returns to step S3-1. (Step S4-1) When the processing unit 104 determines that route information has been received, it acquires the route information from the communication unit 102, and stores information indicating the distance of the commuting route, information indicating the battery capacity of the electric vehicle EV, and priority information in the vehicle information of the memory unit 110 based on the vehicle ID included in the acquired route information.

[0053] (Step S5-1) The processing unit 104 judges whether or not all the vehicle information has been acquired. If it is judged that the vehicle information includes information that has not been acquired, the process returns to step S1-1. (Step S6-1) When the processing unit 104 determines that all of the vehicle information has been acquired, the charging management calculation unit 106 determines whether or not the charger information is stored in the storage unit 110 .

[0054] (Step S7-1) If the processing unit 104 determines that the charger information is not stored in the storage unit 110, the processing unit 104 accepts the input data. (Step S8-1) The processing unit 104 determines whether or not the charger information has been input. If it is determined that the charger information has not been input, the process returns to step S7-1.

[0055] (Step S9-1) When the processing unit 104 determines that the charger information has been input, the processing unit 104 acquires the charger information and stores the acquired charger information in the storage unit 110. (Step S10-1) If it is determined in step S6-1 that the charger information is stored in the storage unit 110, or if the charger information is saved in the storage unit 110 in step S9-1, the charging management calculation unit 106 determines whether the priority information included in the charger information is higher based on the priority information included in the charger information stored in the storage unit 110 and the priority information included in the vehicle information. If the priority information included in the charger information is lower, the process ends. (Step S11-1) When it is determined that the priority information included in the charger information is higher, the charge management calculation unit 106 decides to create a charging plan, and sets the transmission destination of the charging plan to the charger at the business establishment. (Step S12-1) The charging management calculation unit 106 creates charging information for each of the electric vehicles EV-1 to EV-k based on the charger information and vehicle information stored in the memory unit 110, for charging the amount of power consumed by traveling multiple times over a specific commuting route used by employees for commuting in one month, and creates and saves a charging plan based on the created charging information.

[0056] Fig. 11 is a flow diagram showing an example of the operation of the charging management unit 100 included in the charging system 1 according to this embodiment. With reference to Fig. 11, a process in which the charging management unit 100 transmits a charging plan to the charger 200 will be described. (Step S1-2) The communication unit 102 receives the charging plan request transmitted by the charger 200 in the business establishment. (Step S2-2) The charging management calculation unit 106 creates charging plan notification information including a charging plan and addressed to the addresses of each of the chargers 200-1 to 200-n. The charging management calculation unit 106 outputs the created charging plan notification information to the communication unit 102. The communication unit 102 acquires the charging plan notification information output by the charging management calculation unit 106, and transmits the acquired charging plan notification information to each of the chargers 200-1 to 200-n.

[0057] (Step S3-2) The processing unit 104 determines whether or not the communication unit 102 has received a charging plan reception response. If it is determined that the charging plan reception response has not been received, the process returns to step S2-2, and if it is determined that the charging plan reception response has been received, the process ends.

[0058] Fig. 12 is a flow diagram showing an example of the operation of the charging management unit 100 included in the charging system 1 according to this embodiment. With reference to Fig. 12, a process from when the charging management unit 100 acquires charging execution information from the charger 200 to when the charging management unit 100 transmits shortfall distance information will be described. (Step S1-3) The processing unit 104 determines whether or not the communication unit 102 has received the charging execution information transmitted by the business charger 200. If it is determined that the charging execution information has not been received, the process returns to step S1-3.

[0059] (Step S2-3) When the processing unit 104 determines that the communication unit 102 has received the charging execution information, the processing unit 104 acquires the charging execution information from the communication unit 102 and stores the acquired charging execution information in the storage unit 110 . (Step S3-3) The charge management calculation unit 106 judges whether or not the end of the month has arrived. If it is judged that the end of the month has not arrived, the process returns to step S1-3.

[0060] (Step S4-3) When it is determined that the end of the month has arrived, the charge management calculation unit 106 determines that the charge plan is completed. (Step S5-3) The charging management calculation unit 106 calculates the travel expense allocation shortfall distance for all vehicles by dividing the remaining charge amount by the electricity cost.

[0061] (Step S6-3) The charging management calculation unit 106 creates transportation expense allocation shortfall distance notification information addressed to the address of the payment system 400, including the vehicle ID and information indicating the transportation expense allocation shortfall distance, for electric vehicles EV for which the derived transportation expense allocation shortfall distance is not zero. The charging management calculation unit 106 outputs the created transportation expense allocation shortfall distance notification information to the communication unit 102. The communication unit 102 acquires the transportation expense allocation shortfall distance notification information output by the charging management calculation unit 106, and transmits the acquired transportation expense allocation shortfall distance notification information to the payment system 400.

[0062] (Step S7-3) The processing unit 104 determines whether or not the communication unit 102 has received a travel expense appropriation insufficient distance notification information reception response transmitted by the business charger 200. If it is determined that the communication unit 102 has not received a travel expense appropriation insufficient distance notification information reception response, the processing unit 104 returns to step S6-3. (Step S8-3) When the processing unit 104 determines that the communication unit 102 has received a response to the transportation expense insufficient distance notification information sent by the business charger 200, the processing unit 104 determines that payroll integration with the payroll system 400 has been completed.

[0063] Fig. 13 is a flow diagram showing an example of the operation of the charging management unit 100 included in the charging system 1 according to this embodiment. A process in which the charging management unit 100 creates a charging plan will be described with reference to Fig. 13. That is, the details of step S12-1 in Fig. 10 will be described. (Step S1-4) The charging management calculation unit 106 calculates the minimum consumption amount in one day based on the above-mentioned formula (1). The charging management calculation unit 106 stores information indicating the calculated minimum consumption amount in one day in the storage unit 110. (Step S2-4) The charge management calculation unit 106 calculates the amount of charge required for one month based on the above-mentioned formula (2). The charge management calculation unit 106 stores information indicating the calculated amount of charge required for one month in the storage unit 110.

[0064] (Step S3-4) The charge management calculation unit 106 calculates the maximum charge amount in one day based on the above-mentioned formula (3). The charge management calculation unit 106 stores information indicating the calculated maximum charge amount in one day in the storage unit 110. (Step S4-4) The charging management calculation unit 106 calculates the charging interval based on the above-mentioned formula (4). The charging management calculation unit 106 stores information indicating the calculated charging interval in the storage unit 110.

[0065] (Step S5-4) The charging management calculation unit 106 calculates the number of charging times per month based on the above-mentioned formula (5). The charging management calculation unit 106 stores information indicating the calculated number of charging times per month in the storage unit 110. (Step S6-4) The charging management calculation unit 106 judges whether or not the calculation and storage for all the vehicles has been completed. If the calculation and storage for all the vehicles has not been completed, the process returns to step S1-4.

[0066] (Step S7-4) When the calculation and storage for all vehicles is completed, the charging management calculation unit 106 determines whether or not a charging plan for the previous month exists. (Step S8-4) If a charging plan for the previous month exists, the charging management calculation unit 106 creates a charging calendar by implementing allocation of charging days while observing charging intervals from the last charging day of the previous month.

[0067] (Step S9-4) If there is no charging plan for the previous month, the charging management calculation unit 106 creates a charging calendar by allocating charging days to users with shortest charging intervals or users with the most frequent charging based on the calculation results for all vehicles. (Step S10-4) The charging management calculation unit 106 stores the created charging calendar in the storage unit 110 as a charging plan.

[0068] Fig. 14 is a flow diagram showing an example of the operation of the charger 200 included in the charging system 1 according to this embodiment. A process in which the charger 200 transmits charging execution information after an electric vehicle is connected to the charger 200 will be described with reference to Fig. 14. (Step S1-5) The charging device 206 determines whether or not the electric vehicle EV is connected. If the electric vehicle EV is not connected, the process returns to step S1-5.

[0069] (Step S2-5) When an electric vehicle EV is connected, the charging device 206 acquires a vehicle ID from the connected electric vehicle EV. (Step S3-5) The charging device 206 creates a charging plan request for requesting a charging plan from the charging management unit 100, and outputs the created charging plan request to the communication unit 202. The communication unit 202 acquires the charging plan request output by the charging device 206, and transmits the acquired charging plan request to the charging management unit 100.

[0070] (Step S4-5) The processing unit 204 determines whether or not the charging plan has been received by the communication unit 202. If the charging plan has not been received, the process returns to step S3-5. (Step S5-5) When the processing unit 204 determines that the communication unit 202 has received the charging plan, the processing unit 204 acquires the charging plan from the communication unit 202 and stores the acquired charging plan in the storage unit 210 .

[0071] (Step S6-5) The charging device 206 determines, based on the charging plan, whether or not the vehicle ID acquired from the electric vehicle EV corresponds to the vehicle to be charged. (Step S7-5) If the vehicle ID acquired from the electric vehicle EV corresponds to the vehicle to be charged, the charging device 206 performs a charging permission determination.

[0072] (Step S8-5) The charging device 206 charges the electric vehicle EV based on the charging plan. (Step S9-5) The charging device 206 completes charging the electric vehicle EV based on the charging plan.

[0073] (Step S10-5) The charging device 206 creates charging execution information, and outputs the created charging execution information to the communication unit 202. The communication unit 202 acquires the charging execution information output by the charging device 206, transmits the acquired charging execution information to the charging management unit 100, and ends the process. (Step 11-5) If the vehicle ID acquired from the electric vehicle EV does not correspond to the vehicle to be charged, the charging device 206 determines whether charging is permitted and ends the process.

[0074] Fig. 15 is a flow diagram showing an example of the operation of the payment system 400 included in the charging system 1 according to this embodiment. With reference to Fig. 15, a process of the payment system 400 calculating a commuting allowance based on the travel expense allocation shortage distance information will be described. (Step S1-6) The pay system 400 judges whether or not the travel expense appropriation shortage distance information transmitted by the charging management unit 100a has been received. If it is judged that the travel expense appropriation shortage distance information has not been received, the process returns to step S1-6. (Step S2-6) When the payroll system 400 receives the travel expense allocation shortfall distance information, it stores the received travel expense allocation shortfall distance information.

[0075] (Step S3-6) The payroll system 400 transmits a travel expense allocation insufficient distance information reception response to the charging management unit 100a. (Step S4-6) The pay system 400 calculates the commuting allowance based on the information indicating the shortfall in travel expense allocation distance.

[0076] In the above embodiment, the charging management unit 100 receives the attendance information transmitted by the attendance system 300 and stores the received attendance information, but the present invention is not limited to this example. For example, for each of a plurality of employees included in the attendance information, the employee ID, information indicating the vehicle ID of the vehicle used, information indicating the number of trips made by the vehicle in a certain period (one month), information indicating the parking start time of the vehicle, information indicating the parking end time of the vehicle, and information indicating the parking time may be input to the charging management unit 100. In the above embodiment, the charging management unit 100 receives the route information transmitted by the payroll system 400 and stores the received route information, but the present invention is not limited to this example. For example, for each of a plurality of employees included in the route information, the employee ID, information indicating the vehicle ID of the vehicle used, information indicating the distance [km] of the commuting route, information indicating the battery capacity [kWh], and priority information may be input to the charging management unit 100. In the above-described embodiment, as an example, the case where the charger information is stored in the storage unit 110 in the charging management unit 100 has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this example. For example, the charger information may be stored in a charger information system (not shown), and the charging management unit 100 may be configured to be able to refer to the charger information stored in the charger information system as appropriate.

[0077] In the above-described embodiment, a charging schedule may be set, including an upper limit value of charging power that can be simultaneously supplied by the charger 200 and a charging stop time. By configuring in this way, a charging plan can be created so as not to exceed the demand power or the transformer capacity. In the above-described embodiment, if the charging plan cannot be completed, charging may be performed on a reserve day. In the above-described embodiment, if the parking time is extended due to overtime work, etc., and the vehicle can be charged more than the maximum charge amount in one day, the vehicle may be allowed to be charged more. However, it is preferable not to exceed the required charge amount for one month. In the above-described embodiment, the charging date may be determined by taking over the charging interval from the previous month.

[0078] According to the charging system 1 according to the embodiment, the charging system 1 manages a charger that supplies power to an electric vehicle EV. The charging system 1 includes a charging management calculation unit 106 that derives a first amount of power to be supplied to the electric vehicle EV by the charger 200 as a first charger installed at a first location or a second amount of power to be supplied to the electric vehicle EV by the charger 200 as a second charger installed at a second location, and creates notification information for notifying the first charger of the derived first amount of power or for notifying the second charger of the derived second amount of power, and a communication unit 102 that transmits the notification information created by the charging management calculation unit 106. The charging management calculation unit 106 derives the first amount of power or the second amount of power based on the charging priority of the first charger or the charging priority of the second charger.

[0079] With this configuration, the charging management unit 100 can derive a first amount of power to be supplied to the electric vehicle EV by a first charger installed at a first location based on the charging priority of the first charger, or a second amount of power to be supplied to the electric vehicle EV by a second charger installed at a second location based on the charging priority of the second charger. Therefore, an appropriate amount of power can be supplied to the electric vehicle EV at the first location or the second location.

[0080] In the charging system 1, the charging management calculation unit 106 creates a charging plan for charging each of the multiple electric vehicles EV with the amount of power consumed by traveling a specific route multiple times in a certain period of time, based on vehicle information for each of the multiple electric vehicles EV and charger information for each of the chargers 200 serving as one or more first chargers. The communication unit 102 transmits the charging plan created by the charging management calculation unit 106 to the one or more first chargers, and each of the one or more first chargers supplies power to each of the multiple electric vehicles EV based on the charging plan. By configuring in this manner, the charging management calculation unit 106 can create a charging plan for charging, in one or more trips, the amount of electricity consumed by traveling a specific route multiple times over a certain period of time for each of the multiple electric vehicles EV, based on vehicle information including information about the commuting of each of the multiple electric vehicles EV and information about the battery, and charger information which is information about the charger of each of the one or more chargers 200.Therefore, the amount of electricity required over a certain period of time for the electric vehicles EV used by each of the multiple employees can be charged in one or more trips.

[0081] In the charging system 1, the charging management calculation unit 106 derives, as a charging plan for each of the electric vehicles EV, an amount of power to be supplied in one or more separate charges. Each of the one or more first chargers supplies power to the electric vehicles EV based on the amount of power to be supplied in one charge. By configuring in this manner, the charging management unit 100 can derive the amount of electricity supplied in one charge, so that in an electric vehicle EV used by each of multiple employees, the amount of electricity required over a certain period of time can be charged in one or more installments based on the derived amount of electricity supplied in one charge.

[0082] In the charging system 1, the communication unit 102 receives information indicating the amount of power supplied for each of the multiple electric vehicles EV from each of the one or more first chargers. The charging management calculation unit 106 derives the amount of power supplied for each of the multiple electric vehicles EV in a certain period based on the information indicating the amount of power supplied for each of the multiple electric vehicles EV received by the communication unit 102, and derives the amount of power that has not been supplied based on the derived amount of power supplied in the certain period and the amount of power that should be supplied in the certain period. By configuring in this manner, the charging management calculation unit 106 can derive the amount of electricity supplied over a certain period for each of multiple electric vehicles EV based on information indicating the amount of electricity supplied for each of the multiple electric vehicles EV, and can derive the amount of electricity that has not been supplied based on the derived amount of electricity supplied over the certain period and the amount of electricity that should be supplied over the certain period.This makes it possible to grasp the situation when the amount of electricity required over a certain period for an electric vehicle EV used by each of multiple employees is charged in one or more installments based on the derived amount of electricity to be supplied in one charge.

[0083] In the charging system 1, the vehicle information includes information indicating the route distance, information indicating the battery capacity, priority information, information indicating the number of movements in a certain period, information indicating the parking start time, and information indicating the parking end time. The charger information includes charger identification information, information indicating the maximum charging output, information related to charger control, and priority information. The charging management calculation unit 106 derives, for each of the electric vehicles EV, information indicating the minimum power consumption in a day, information indicating the amount of charging required in a certain period, information indicating the maximum amount of charging in a day, information indicating the charging interval, and information indicating the number of charging times. By configuring in this manner, the charging management calculation unit 106 can derive, for each of a plurality of electric vehicles EV, information indicating the minimum amount of power consumption in one day, information indicating the amount of charging required in a certain period of time, information indicating the maximum amount of charging in one day, information indicating the charging interval, and information indicating the number of charges, so that the amount of power required in a certain period of time for the electric vehicles EV used by each of a plurality of employees can be charged in one or more installments.

[0084] In the charging system 1, the charging management calculation unit 106 acquires information indicating the route distance, information indicating the battery capacity, and priority information from a payroll system 400 that manages employee payroll. Information indicating the number of trips in a certain period, information indicating the parking start time, and information indicating the parking end time are acquired from an attendance system 300 that manages employee attendance. By configuring in this manner, the charging management calculation unit 106 can obtain information indicating the route distance, information indicating battery capacity, and priority information from the payroll system 400, and information indicating the number of trips in a certain period of time, information indicating the parking start time, and information indicating the parking end time from the attendance system 300.Based on the obtained information, the electric vehicles EV used by each of multiple employees can be charged in one or more installments with the amount of electricity required for a certain period of time.

[0085] (First Modification of the Embodiment) (Charging system) 16 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a charging system 1a according to a first modified example of the embodiment. The charging system 1a is a system for providing transportation expenses (commuting expenses) in kind to a plurality of employees who commute to work by electric vehicle. Specifically, in principle, the transportation expenses are provided in kind in the form of electricity to each of the plurality of employees by having them charge their commuting vehicles at the business premises (company).

[0086] In order to cover transportation expenses with electricity, the charging system 1a charges a plurality of commuter cars with a preset amount of electricity for each of the plurality of commuter cars using a limited number of chargers for a certain period of time, without excess or deficiency. In the first modified example of the embodiment, the explanation will continue for a case where one month is used as an example of the certain period. The charging system 1a charges the cars with electricity equivalent to one month's worth of power consumption once or multiple times. Furthermore, the charging system 1a calculates an upper limit of the charging amount when the commuter car is charged at a charger other than the business (company). An example of a charger other than the business (company) is a charger at home. Below, the case where the charger other than the business (company) is a charger at home will be described.

[0087] The charging system 1a includes a charging management unit 100a and chargers 200-1 to 200-n. Each of the chargers 200-1 to 200-n is installed, for example, at a business establishment (company). In addition to the charging management unit 100a and the chargers 200-1 to 200-n, FIG. 16 shows chargers 200a-1 to 200a-k, a time attendance system 300, a payroll system 400, and electric vehicles EV-1 to EV-k, where k>n. The chargers 200a-1 to 200a-k are installed in the homes of the users of the electric vehicles EV-1 to EV-k, respectively. The charging management unit 100a, the chargers 200-1 to 200-n, the chargers 200a-1 to 200a-k, the attendance system 300, and the payroll system 400 are connected via a network NW. The charging management unit 100a, the attendance system 300, and the payroll system 400 are linked together using the cloud. Specifically, the charging management unit 100a, the attendance system 300, and the payroll system 400 share data through WebAPI linkage.

[0088] The charging management unit 100a has the following functions in addition to the functions of the charging management unit 100. The charging management unit 100a stores charger control information, which is control information for each of the chargers 200-1 to 200-n and each of the chargers 200a-1 to 200a-k. The charging management unit 100a receives attendance information transmitted by the attendance system 300 and receives route information transmitted by the payroll system 400. The charging management unit 100a creates a charging plan based on the received attendance information and route information. The charging plan includes a first charging plan which is a plan for charging each of electric vehicles EV-1 to EV-k in one or more trips with the amount of charge required to be consumed by traveling along the commute route the number of times in one month. The charging plan further includes a second charging plan, which is a plan for supplying power to each of electric vehicles EV-1 to EV-k for each of chargers 200a-1 to 200a-k, and is created based on the created electric vehicle charging plan and an upper limit value of the charging amount when the commuter car is charged at a home charger. Here, the upper limit value of the charging amount is determined based on the battery capacity of electric vehicle EV and the maximum charging amount in one day.

[0089] Charging management unit 100a transmits the created first charging plan to chargers 200-1 to 200-n, and transmits the second charging plan to chargers 200a-1 to 200a-k. Chargers 200-1 to 200-n and chargers 200a-1 to 200a-k receive and set the first and second charging plans transmitted by charging management unit 100a, respectively. Chargers 200-1 to 200-n and chargers 200a-1 to 200a-k charge electric vehicles EV-1 to EV-k based on the first and second charging plans that they have set, respectively.

[0090] When each of chargers 200-1 to 200-n has charged any of electric vehicles EV-1 to EV-k based on the first charging plan, the charger creates charging execution information to notify that charging has been performed, and transmits the created charging execution information to charging management unit 100a. The charging management unit 100a derives the remaining charge amount for each of the electric vehicles EV-1 to EV-k based on the charging execution information transmitted by each of the chargers 200-1 to 200-n. This remaining charge amount is the power that has not been actually provided and is the amount of power that is insufficient compared to the required charging amount.

[0091] The charging management unit 100a derives a transportation expense allocation shortfall distance for each of the electric vehicles EV-1 to EV-k in order to pay the remaining charge amount as transportation expenses after a certain period of time, such as one month, has elapsed. The charging management unit 100a creates transportation expense allocation shortfall distance information including information indicating the derived transportation expense allocation shortfall distance for electric vehicles EV-1 to EV-k whose remaining charge amount is other than zero, and transmits the created transportation expense allocation shortfall distance information to the payment system 400.

[0092] The payroll system 400 receives the transportation expense allocation shortfall distance information transmitted by the charging management unit 100a. The payroll system 400 calculates a commuting allowance based on the transportation expense allocation shortfall distance for electric vehicles EV-1 to EV-k whose remaining charge amount is other than zero, among electric vehicles EV-1 to EV-k, which are included in the received transportation expense allocation shortfall distance information, and pays the commuting allowance calculated for each of electric vehicles EV-1 to EV-k to the multiple employees who own electric vehicles EV-1 to EV-k, respectively.

[0093] Hereinafter, any one of the chargers 200a-1 to 200a-k will be referred to as charger 200a. The charging management unit 100a and the charger 200a will be described in detail below. Fig. 17 is a block diagram showing an example of the charging management unit 100a, the charger 200, and the charger 200a included in the charging system 1a according to the first modification of the embodiment.

[0094] (Charging management section 100a) The charging management unit 100a is realized by a device such as a personal computer, a server, a smartphone, a tablet computer, an industrial computer, etc. The charging management unit 100a may be a cloud server. The charging management unit 100a includes, for example, a communication unit 102, a processing unit 104, a charging management calculation unit 106a, and a storage unit 110.

[0095] The storage unit 110 stores vehicle information. The vehicle information is information that associates, for each of a plurality of employees, the vehicle ID of an electric vehicle EV owned by the employee, information indicating the distance (one way) of the employee's commute route, information indicating the battery capacity of the electric vehicle EV, priority information, information indicating the number of times the employee travels along the commute route in one month, information indicating the parking start time of the electric vehicle EV, information indicating the parking end time of the electric vehicle EV, and information indicating the parking time of the electric vehicle EV. The employee ID may be further associated with the vehicle information. FIG. 18 is a diagram showing an example of vehicle information stored by the charging management unit 100a of the charging system 1a according to the first modified example of the embodiment. FIG. 18 shows an example in which there are three employees. According to FIG. 18, the vehicle information includes, for the vehicle IDs ("A", "B", "C") of the electric vehicles EV used by each of the three employees, information indicating the distance (route distance) [km] (one way) of the commuting route, information indicating the battery capacity [kWh] of the electric vehicles EV, priority information, information indicating the number of times the commuting distance has been traveled [per month], information indicating the parking start time, information indicating the parking end time, and information indicating the parking time [h]. According to FIG. 18, "exhaustible energy" is input as the priority information. The storage unit 110 stores information indicating the electricity consumption. The electricity consumption may be a uniform value or may vary for each vehicle. An example of the electricity consumption is 150 [Wh / km]. The information indicating the electricity consumption may be included in the vehicle information. The storage unit 110 stores charger information. The charger information is the same as that in FIG. 4, and therefore a description thereof will be omitted here.

[0096] The storage unit 110 stores charging information, which is information associating, for each of the electric vehicles EV-1 to EV-k, a vehicle ID, information indicating the minimum amount of power consumed in one day, information indicating the amount of power required to be charged in one month, information indicating the maximum amount of power charged in one day, information indicating the charging interval, information indicating the number of charges per month, information indicating the charging output, and a charger ID of the home charger 200a. Fig. 19 is a diagram showing an example of the first charging information stored by the charging management unit 100a of the charging system 1a according to the first modification of the embodiment. According to Fig. 19, for the vehicle IDs ("A", "B", "C") of the electric vehicles EV used by each of the three employees, information indicating the minimum amount of power consumption [kWh / day] in one day, information indicating the amount of power required for charging in one month [kWh / month], information indicating the maximum amount of power charged in one day [kWh / day], information indicating the charging interval, information indicating the number of times of charging, information indicating the charging output [kW], and the charger ID of the home charger 200a are associated with each other. Returning to Fig. 17, the description will be continued.

[0097] The storage unit 110 stores a first charging plan. The first charging plan is information that associates, for each of the chargers 200-1 to 200-n, information indicating the date and the day of the week, a vehicle ID, information indicating a required charging amount in one month, information indicating a maximum charging amount in one day, information indicating a charging interval, information indicating the number of charging times in one month, information indicating the remaining number of charging times in one month, information indicating a charging output, a home charger ID, and information indicating a home charging upper limit amount. Fig. 20 is a diagram showing an example of a first charging plan stored by the charging management unit 100a of the charging system 1a according to the first modification of the embodiment. According to Fig. 20, as the first charging plan of the charger ID ("001"), information indicating the date and the day of the week, the vehicle ID, information indicating the required charging amount [kWh / month], information indicating the maximum charging amount [kWh / day], information indicating the charging interval, information indicating the number of charging times [ / month], information indicating the remaining number of charging times [ / month], information indicating the charging output [kW], the home charger ID, and information indicating the home charging upper limit amount [kWh] are associated with each other. Returning to Fig. 17, the explanation will be continued.

[0098] The storage unit 110 stores a second charging plan. The second charging plan is information that associates, for each of the chargers 200a-1 to 200a-k, information indicating the date and day of the week, a vehicle ID, information indicating a required charging amount for one month, information indicating a maximum charging amount for one day, information indicating the number of charging times for one month, information indicating the remaining number of charging times for one month, and information indicating a home charging upper limit. Fig. 21 is a diagram showing an example of a second charging plan stored by the charging management unit 100a of the charging system 1a according to the first modified example of the embodiment. According to Fig. 21, as the second charging plan of the charger ID ("aaa"), information indicating the date and the day of the week, the vehicle ID, information indicating the required charging amount [kWh / month], information indicating the maximum charging amount [kWh / day], information indicating the number of charging times [ / month], information indicating the remaining number of charging times [ / month], and information indicating the home charging upper limit amount [kWh] are associated with each other. Returning to Fig. 17, the explanation will be continued.

[0099] The storage unit 110 stores charging execution information. The charging execution information is information that associates, for each of the electric vehicles EV-1 to EV-k, information indicating the charge amount on the day charging was performed, information indicating the accumulated charge amount, and information indicating the remaining charge amount for one month. For example, the charging execution information is included in a charging plan. Fig. 22 is a diagram showing an example of charging execution information stored by the charging management unit 100a of the charging system 1a according to the first modified example of the embodiment. According to Fig. 22, as a charging plan for a charger ID ("001"), information indicating a date and a day of the week, a vehicle ID, information indicating a required charging amount [kWh / month], information indicating a maximum charging amount [kWh / day], information indicating a charging interval, information indicating a number of charging times [ / month], information indicating a remaining number of charging times [ / month], information indicating a charging output [kW], a home charger ID, and information indicating a home charging upper limit amount [kWh], as well as information indicating a charging amount on the day [kWh], information indicating a cumulative charging amount [kWh], and information indicating a remaining charging amount [kWh] are associated with each other. Returning to Fig. 17, the description will be continued.

[0100] The storage unit 110 stores the travel expense allocation shortage distance information. The charger information is the same as that in FIG. The charging management calculation unit 106 of this embodiment can be applied to the charging management calculation unit 106a. Furthermore, the charging management calculation unit 106a derives an upper limit value of the charging amount when the electric vehicles EV-1 to EV-k are charged by the chargers 200a-1 to 200a-k, respectively. For example, the charging management calculation unit 106a derives a home charging upper limit value [kWh] based on the formula (7). Home charging upper limit [kWh] = battery capacity [kWh] - maximum charging amount [kWh / day] (7) The charging management calculation unit 106a creates a charging plan, which is a charging plan for each day of the month, for each of the chargers 200-1 to 200-n, based on the minimum daily electricity consumption, the required monthly charging amount, the maximum daily charging amount, the charging interval, the number of charging attempts, the charging output [kW], the home charger ID, and the home charging upper limit derived for each of the electric vehicles EV-1 to EV-k.

[0101] The charging management calculation unit 106a creates first charging plan notification information including the first charging plan and addressed to the addresses of each of the chargers 200-1 to 200-n, and creates second charging plan notification information including the second charging plan and addressed to the addresses of each of the chargers 200a-1 to 200a-k. The charging management calculation unit 106a outputs the created first charging plan notification information and second charging plan notification information to the communication unit 102. The communication unit 102 acquires the first charging plan notification information and the second charging plan notification information output by the charging management calculation unit 106a, transmits the acquired first charging plan notification information to each of the chargers 200-1 to 200-n, and transmits the acquired second charging plan notification information to each of the chargers 200a-1 to 200a-k.

[0102] The communication unit 102 receives charging execution information transmitted from each of the chargers 200-1 to 200-n. The charging management calculation unit 106a acquires the charging execution information from the communication unit 102. The charging management calculation unit 106a calculates the accumulated charging amount [kWh] and the remaining charging amount [kWh] based on the charger ID, the date, the vehicle ID, and information indicating the charging amount [kWh] on the day included in the acquired charging execution information. The charging management calculation unit 106a identifies a charging plan associated with the charger ID from the charging plans stored in the storage unit 110, and stores information indicating the charging amount [kWh] on the day, information indicating the accumulated charging amount [kWh], and information indicating the remaining charging amount [kWh] in the identified charging plan based on information indicating the date and the vehicle ID.

[0103] The charging management calculation unit 106a derives the transportation expense allocation shortfall distance for each of the electric vehicles EV-1 to EV-k in order to pay the remaining charge amount as transportation expenses after one month has passed. The charging management calculation unit 106a creates transportation expense allocation shortfall distance information addressed to the address of the payment system 400, including the vehicle ID and information indicating the transportation expense allocation shortfall distance, for the electric vehicles EV whose derived transportation expense allocation shortfall distance is not zero. The charging management calculation unit 106a outputs the created transportation expense allocation shortfall distance information to the communication unit 102. The communication unit 102 acquires the travel expense allocation shortfall distance information output by the charging management calculation unit 106 a, and transmits the acquired travel expense allocation shortfall distance information to the payroll system 400.

[0104] The charging management calculation unit 106a is realized by, for example, a hardware processor such as a CPU executing a computer program (software) stored in the storage unit 110. Furthermore, some or all of these functional units may be realized by hardware (including circuitry) such as an LSI, ASIC, FPGA, or GPU, or may be realized by a combination of software and hardware.

[0105] (Charger 200a) The charger 200a is realized by including a device such as a personal computer, a server, or an industrial computer. The charger 200a includes, for example, a communication unit 202, a processing unit 204, a charging device 206a, and a storage unit 210. The storage unit 210 stores the second charging plan. The second charging plan is information that associates, for each of the chargers 200a-1 to 200a-k, information indicating the date and day of the week, a vehicle ID, information indicating the required charging amount for one month, information indicating the maximum charging amount for one day, information indicating the number of charging times for one month, information indicating the remaining number of charging times for one month, and information indicating the home charging upper limit. An example of the second charging plan stored in the charger 200a is the same as that shown in FIG. 21, and therefore description thereof will be omitted here.

[0106] The charging device 206a charges any one of the electric vehicles EV-1 to EV-k based on the second charging plan stored in the memory unit 210. The charging device 206a may be of a cableless (outlet type) type or a cabled type.

[0107] The charging device 206a acquires a vehicle ID from the connected electric vehicle EV, among electric vehicles EV-1 to EV-k. The charging device 206a acquires information indicating the maximum charging amount in one day from the second charging plan based on information indicating the date and day of the week and the acquired vehicle ID. The charging device 206a performs charging based on the acquired information indicating the maximum charging amount in one day.

[0108] The charging device 206a is realized, for example, by a hardware processor such as a CPU executing a computer program (software) stored in the storage unit 210. In addition, some or all of these functional units may be realized by hardware (including circuitry) such as an LSI, ASIC, FPGA, or GPU, or may be realized by cooperation between software and hardware.

[0109] (Payroll System 400) The payroll system 400 is realized by a device such as a personal computer, a server, a smartphone, a tablet computer, or an industrial computer. The payroll system 400 may be a cloud server. The payroll system 400 stores payroll information. For example, the payroll information includes, for each of a plurality of employees, an employee ID, a vehicle ID of a vehicle used by the employee, a charger ID of the employee's home, information indicating a battery capacity [kWh], priority information, information indicating a distance [km] of a commuting route, information indicating a transportation expense allocation shortfall distance [km], and information indicating a commuting allowance [yen]. Among the payroll information, for each of a plurality of employees, the vehicle ID of a vehicle used by the employee, information indicating a distance [km] of a commuting route, information indicating a battery capacity [kWh], and priority information are also route information. The payroll system 400 updates the route information every month and transmits the updated route information to the charging management unit 100a.

[0110] The pay system 400 receives the shortfall distance notification information transmitted by the charging management unit 100a. The pay system 400 calculates the commuting allowance based on the information indicating the shortfall distance in the transportation expenses allocation included in the received shortfall distance notification information. The pay system 400 stores the information indicating the shortfall distance in the transportation expenses allocation and the calculation result of the commuting allowance in association with the pay information.

[0111] Fig. 23 is a diagram showing an example of salary information stored by the salary system 400 of the charging system 1a according to the first modified example of the embodiment. Fig. 23 shows an example in which there are three employees. According to Fig. 23, the salary information includes, for the employee IDs of the three employees ("Ah", "Good", "Uh"), the vehicle IDs of the electric vehicles EV used by each of the three employees, the home charger IDs, information indicating the battery capacities [kWh] of the electric vehicles EV, priority information, information indicating the distance (route distance) [km] (one way), information indicating the transportation expense allocation shortfall distance [km], and information indicating the commuting allowance [yen].

[0112] (Operation of charging system 1a) Fig. 24 is a flow diagram showing an example of the operation of the charging management unit 100a included in the charging system 1a according to the modified example 1 of the embodiment. With reference to Fig. 24, a process in which the charging management unit 100a acquires attendance information from the attendance system 300, acquires route information from the payroll system 400, and creates a charging plan based on the acquired attendance information and route information will be described. Steps S1-1 to S10-7 can be implemented using steps S1-1 to S10-1 in FIG. 10, and therefore a description thereof will be omitted. (Step S11-7) When the charging management calculation unit 106a determines that the priority information included in the charger information is higher, it decides to create a first charging plan and a second charging plan, sets the transmission destination of the first charging plan to the business charger 200, and sets the transmission destination of the second charging plan to the home charger 200a. (Step S12-7) Based on the charger information and vehicle information stored in the memory unit 110, the charging management calculation unit 106a creates a first charging plan and a second charging plan for each of the electric vehicles EV-1 to EV-k, for charging the amount of electricity consumed by traveling multiple times over a specific commuting route used by employees for commuting in one month, and stores the plans in the memory unit 110.

[0113] Fig. 25 is a flow chart showing an example of the operation of the charging management unit 100a included in the charging system 1a according to the embodiment modification 1. A process in which the charging management unit 100a transmits a charging plan to the charger 200 or the charger 200a will be described with reference to Fig. 25. (Step S1-8) The processing unit 104 determines whether or not the communication unit 102 has received a charging plan request transmitted by the charger 200 in the business establishment. (Step S2-8) When the processing unit 104 determines that the processing unit 104 has received a charging plan request transmitted by the charger 200 at the business establishment, the charging management calculation unit 106a creates first charging plan notification information including the first charging plan and addressed to the addresses of each of the chargers 200-1 to 200-n. The charging management calculation unit 106a outputs the created first charging plan notification information to the communication unit 102. The communication unit 102 acquires the first charging plan notification information output by the charging management calculation unit 106a, and transmits the acquired first charging plan notification information to each of the chargers 200-1 to 200-n.

[0114] (Step S3-8) The processing unit 104 determines whether or not the communication unit 102 has received the first charging plan reception response. If it is determined that the first charging plan reception response has not been received, the process returns to step S2-8, and if it is determined that the first charging plan reception response has been received, the process ends. (Step S4-8) When the communication unit 102 determines that the charging plan request transmitted by the business charger 200 has not been received, the processing unit 104 determines whether or not the charging plan request transmitted by the home charger 200a has been received. If the charging plan request has not been received, the processing returns to step S1-8.

[0115] (Step S5-8) When the processing unit 104 determines that the charging plan request transmitted by the home charger 200a has been received, the charging management calculation unit 106a creates second charging plan notification information including the second charging plan and addressed to the addresses of each of the chargers 200a-1 to 200a-k. The charging management calculation unit 106a outputs the created second charging plan notification information to the communication unit 102. The communication unit 102 acquires the second charging plan notification information output by the charging management calculation unit 106a, and transmits the acquired second charging plan notification information to each of the chargers 200a-1 to 200a-k. (Step S6-8) The processing unit 104 determines whether or not the communication unit 102 has received a second charging plan reception response. If it is determined that the second charging plan reception response has not been received, the process returns to step S5-8, and if it is determined that the second charging plan reception response has been received, the process ends. The process performed by the charging management unit 100a from when it acquires the charging execution information from the charger 200 to when it transmits the travel expense appropriation shortfall distance information is the same as that shown in FIG. The process in which the charging management unit 100a creates a charging plan is similar to that shown in FIG.

[0116] Fig. 26 is a flow diagram showing an example of the operation of the charger 200a included in the charging system 1a according to the embodiment modification 1. A process of transmitting charging execution information after the electric vehicle EV is connected to the charger 200a will be described with reference to Fig. 26. (Step S1-9) The charging device 206a determines whether or not the electric vehicle EV is connected. If the electric vehicle EV is not connected, the process returns to step S1-9.

[0117] (Step S2-9) When an electric vehicle EV is connected, the charging device 206a acquires a vehicle ID from the connected electric vehicle EV. (Step S3-9) The charging device 206a creates a charging plan request for requesting a charging plan from the charging management unit 100a, and outputs the created charging plan request to the communication unit 202. The communication unit 202 acquires the charging plan request output by the charging device 206a, and transmits the acquired charging plan request to the charging management unit 100a.

[0118] (Step S4-9) The processing unit 204 determines whether or not the charging plan has been received by the communication unit 202. If the charging plan has not been received, the process returns to step S3-9. (Step S5-9) When the processing unit 204 determines that the communication unit 202 has received the charging plan, the processing unit 204 acquires a second charging plan from the communication unit 202 and stores the acquired second charging plan in the storage unit 210.

[0119] (Step S6-9) The charging device 206a determines, based on the second charging plan, whether or not the vehicle ID acquired from the electric vehicle EV corresponds to the vehicle to be charged. (Step S7-9) When the vehicle ID acquired from the electric vehicle EV corresponds to the vehicle to be charged, the charging device 206a performs charging determination with an upper limit.

[0120] (Step S8-9) The charging device 206a judges whether or not charging with an upper limit may be performed, and ends the process if it is judged that charging with an upper limit is not to be performed. (Step S9-9) When it is determined that charging with an upper limit may be performed, the charging device 206a performs charging of the electric vehicle EV based on the charging plan. (Step S10-9) The charging device 206a ends charging the electric vehicle EV based on the charging plan. (Step S11-9) If the vehicle ID acquired from the electric vehicle EV does not correspond to the vehicle to be charged, the charging device 206a determines whether or not charging without an upper limit may be performed, and ends the process.

[0121] In the first variant of the embodiment, for example, in a case where the day before charging occurs when the charge amount is higher than the upper limit due to charging on a holiday, it is expected that the control of the charge amount will not be complete by simply determining an upper limit value for the previous day. However, since the formula for calculating the upper limit does not take into account the consumption during the morning commute on that day, by having that amount as a buffer, it is possible to increase the possibility of executing the charging plan. In the above-described first modification of the embodiment, as an example, the case where the charger information is stored in the storage unit 110 in the charging management unit 100a has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this example. For example, the charger information may be stored in a charger information system (not shown), and the charging management unit 100a may be configured to be able to refer to the charger information stored in the charger information system as needed. According to the charging system 1a according to the first modification of the embodiment, the charging management calculation unit 106a derives an upper limit value of the amount of power supplied to one or more electric vehicles EV by one or more second chargers, and creates notification information for notifying the derived upper limit value of the amount of power to be supplied. The communication unit 102 transmits the notification information created by the charging management calculation unit 106a to one or more second chargers. With this configuration, the charging management calculation unit 106a can notify the second charger of the upper limit of the amount of power to be supplied, and the second charger can supply power to the electric vehicle EV based on the notified upper limit of the amount of power. For example, if the employee comes to work with the battery fully charged at home, the company's charging plan cannot be completed. Therefore, in order to prevent the employee from charging at home more than necessary, the upper limit is transmitted to the home charger 200a via the network, and charging at home is restricted. This allows the electric vehicle EV to be charged while leaving room for one or more chargers 200 to supply power.

[0122] (Modification 2 of the embodiment) (Charging system) In the above-described first modification of the embodiment, as an example, a case has been described in which the power consumed by an electric vehicle EV while traveling between a home and a business (company) is charged at the business, but the present invention is not limited to this example. The present invention can be applied to a case in which the power consumed while traveling between any locations is charged, not limited to a home and a business (company). Specifically, consider the traveling of an electric vehicle EV from a first location to a second location. FIG. 27 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a charging system 1b according to a second modified example of the embodiment. The charging system 1b includes a charging management unit 100b. In addition to the charging management unit 100b, FIG. 27 shows chargers 200a-1 to 200a-k (k is an integer greater than 0) and chargers 200b-1 to 200b-n (n is an integer greater than 0). The chargers 200a-1 to 200a-k (k is an integer greater than 0) and chargers 200b-1 to 200b-n (n is an integer greater than 0) are installed at arbitrary locations. The charging management unit 100b, the chargers 200a-1 to 200a-k, and the chargers 200b-1 to 200b-n are connected via a network NW. Any one of the chargers 200a-1 to 200a-k will be referred to as charger 200a, and any one of the chargers 200b-1 to 200b-k will be referred to as charger 200b.

[0123] The charging system 1b sets (determines) an upper limit value for the amount of charge by the charger 200a and the charger 200b in order to charge the amount of power required for one trip at low cost. For example, the charging system 1b determines the upper limit value for the amount of charge by the charger 200a and the charger 200b based on priority. The charging cost that determines the priority may vary from day to day. For this reason, a one-time trip is assumed, rather than multiple trips in a certain period of time. For example, a round trip is repeated once. When an electric vehicle EV moves between a first location and a second location, the charging system 1b compares the priority of the charger 200b at the first location with the priority of the charger 200a at the second location, derives an upper limit value of the charging amount at the starting point between the first location and the second location, and calculates the charging amount based on the derived upper limit value of the charging amount.

[0124] The charging management unit 100b stores charger information of each of the chargers 200a-1 to 200a-k and the chargers 200b-1 to 200b-n. The charging management unit 100b receives the charger ID, the remaining battery level, the user information, and the charging plan request transmitted by the charger 200b, and stores the received charger ID, the remaining battery level, and the user information. The charging management unit 100b transmits a priority information request to the charger 200a and the charger 200b. The charging management unit 100b acquires priority information included in a priority information response that is a response to the transmitted priority information request, and stores the acquired priority information. The charging management unit 100b creates a charging plan based on the priority information and the user information, and stores the created charging plan. The charging management unit 100b transmits the charging plan to the charger 200b. The charger 200b receives the charging plan transmitted by the charging management unit 100b, sets the received charging plan, and charges the electric vehicle EV based on the set charging plan.

[0125] The charging management unit 100b and the charger 200b will be described in detail below. Fig. 28 is a block diagram showing an example of the charging management unit 100b, the charger 200a, and the charger 200b included in a charging system 1b according to the second modification of the embodiment. (Charging management section 100b) The charging management unit 100b is realized by a device such as a personal computer, a server, a smartphone, a tablet computer, an industrial computer, etc. The charging management unit 100b may be a cloud server. The charging management unit 100b includes, for example, a communication unit 102, a processing unit 104, a charging management calculation unit 106b, and a storage unit 110. The communication unit 102 communicates with external communication devices such as the charger 200a and the charger 200b via the network NW. The communication unit 102 holds communication information required to communicate with the charger 200a and the charger 200b via the network NW.

[0126] The storage unit 110 stores vehicle information. The vehicle information is information that associates the vehicle ID of the electric vehicle EV, information indicating the battery capacity of the electric vehicle EV, information indicating the remaining battery level, a charger ID, a destination address, and power consumption related to travel. Among the information included in the vehicle information, the information indicating the battery capacity of the electric vehicle EV is information that is stored in advance, the information indicating the remaining battery level is information acquired from the vehicle, the charger ID is information acquired from the charger 200b, and the destination address and the power consumption related to travel are information acquired from the charger 200b when the charger 200b and the vehicle are connected. The destination address and the power consumption related to travel may be acquired from the charger 200b when they are input by the user. Fig. 29 is a diagram showing an example of vehicle information stored by the charging management unit 100b of the charging system 1b according to the second modification of the embodiment. Fig. 29 shows an example in which there are three vehicles. According to Fig. 29, the vehicle information includes, for the vehicle IDs of the electric vehicles EV ("Vehicle A", "Vehicle B", "Vehicle C"), information indicating the battery capacity [kWh], information indicating the remaining battery power [kWh], information indicating the charger ID, information indicating the destination address, and information indicating the power consumption [kWh] related to travel. The storage unit 110 stores information indicating the electricity consumption. The electricity consumption may be a uniform value or may vary for each vehicle. An example of the electricity consumption is 150 [Wh / km]. The information indicating the electricity consumption may be included in the vehicle information.

[0127] The storage unit 110 stores charger information. The charger information is information that associates a charger ID, a charger name, information indicating a maximum charging output, a vehicle ID registered in the home, a charger address, and priority information for each of the chargers 200a-1 to 200a-k and the chargers 200b-1 to 200b-n. The priority information is information that indicates the degree to which charging is prioritized at the charger. Examples of priority information are indices such as natural energy and charging unit price. Fig. 30 is a diagram showing an example of charger information stored by the charging management unit 100b of the charging system 1b according to the second modification of the embodiment. Fig. 30 shows, as an example, a case where there are four chargers. According to Fig. 30, the charger information includes, for each charger ID ("001", "002", "003", "004"), the charger name, information indicating the maximum charging output [kW], the vehicle ID registered at the home, the charger address, and priority information.

[0128] The storage unit 110 stores a charging plan. The charging plan is information that associates the vehicle ID of the electric vehicle EV, the amount of power consumption related to the movement, the remaining battery level, the charger name and priority information of the departure point (first location), the charger name and priority information of the destination (second location), a comparison result of the priorities of the departure point and the destination, the upper limit value of the departure point, and the amount of power at the departure point. Of the information included in the charging plan, the charger name and priority information of the departure point (first location) are derived based on the charger ID and charger information acquired from the charger 200b, and the charger name and priority information of the destination (second location) are derived based on the user information and charger information acquired from the charger 200a.

[0129] FIG. 31 is a diagram showing an example of a charging plan stored by the charging management unit 100b of the charging system 1b according to the second modified example of the embodiment. FIG. 31 shows an example in which there are three vehicles. According to FIG. 31, the charging plan includes, for the vehicle IDs of the electric vehicles EV ("Vehicle A", "Vehicle B", "Vehicle C"), the amount of power consumed [kWh] related to travel, the remaining battery power [hWh], the name and priority information of the charger at the departure point (first point), the name and priority information of the charger at the destination (second point), a comparison result of the priorities of the departure point and the destination, the upper limit value [kWh] at the departure point, and the amount of power [kWh] at the departure point. Returning to FIG. 28, the explanation will be continued.

[0130] The communication unit 102 receives the charging plan request transmitted by the charger 200b. The processing unit 104 acquires the charging plan request received by the communication unit 102, and acquires the charger ID, remaining battery level, and user information included in the acquired charging plan request. The processing unit 104 stores the acquired charger ID, remaining battery level, and user information in the vehicle information of the storage unit 110. The processing unit 104 derives priority information of a charger at a first location based on the charger ID and the charger information. The processing unit 104 derives priority information of a charger at a second location based on the user information and the charger information. The processing unit 104 stores the priority information of the chargers at the first location and the second location in the charger information.

[0131] The charging management calculation unit 106b creates a charging plan based on the priority information included in the charger information stored in the storage unit 110. Specifically, the charging management calculation unit 106b compares the priority information of the charger 200b at the departure point with the priority information of the charger 200a at the destination point. The charging management calculation unit 106b identifies the charger with the higher priority among the charger 200b and the charger 200a, and temporarily stores information indicating the identified charger. The charging management calculation unit 106b calculates the upper limit value of the power amount of the charger 200b at the departure point, and temporarily stores the calculation result of the upper limit value of the power amount of the charger 200b at the departure point. For example, when the battery capacity of the electric vehicle EV is 60 kWh, the remaining battery amount before charging at the first point is 10 kWh, and the second point has a higher priority than the first point, the charging management calculation unit 106b determines the amount of power supplied to the electric vehicle EV by the charger 200b at the first point as the upper limit value of the amount of power obtained by subtracting the remaining battery amount of the electric vehicle EV from the power consumption related to the movement to the second point. In other words, the charging management calculation unit 106b determines the amount of power of 10 kWh obtained by subtracting the remaining capacity of the electric vehicle EV of 10 kWh from the amount of power consumption of 20 kWh for the trip to the second point as the upper limit of the amount of power to be supplied to the electric vehicle EV by the charger 200b at the first point.

[0132] The charging management calculation unit 106b calculates the amount of power at the departure location based on the calculation result of the upper limit value of the amount of power at the departure location, and temporarily stores the calculation result of the amount of power at the departure location. The charging management calculation unit 106b stores the temporarily stored information indicating the charger with high priority, the calculation result of the upper limit value of the amount of power at the departure location, and the calculation result of the amount of power at the departure location in the charging plan in the storage unit 110. The processing unit 104 acquires the charging plan stored in the storage unit 110, and creates charging plan notification information including the acquired charging plan. The processing unit 104 outputs the created charging plan notification information to the communication unit 102.

[0133] (Charger 200b) The charger 200b is realized by including a device such as a personal computer, a server, an industrial computer, etc. The charger 200b includes, for example, a communication unit 202, a processing unit 204b, a charging device 206, an input unit 208, and a storage unit 210. The input unit 208 inputs information. As an example, the input unit 208 may have an operation unit such as a keyboard and a mouse. In this case, the input unit 208 inputs information according to an operation performed by a user on the operation unit. As another example, the input unit 208 may input information from an external device. The external device may be, for example, a portable storage medium.

[0134] User information is input to the input unit 208. The processing unit 204b acquires the user information from the input unit 208, and stores the acquired user information in the storage unit 210. The processing unit 204b creates a charging plan request including a charger ID, a remaining battery level, and the user information, and outputs the created charging plan request to the communication unit 202. The communication unit 202 transmits the charging plan request output by the processing unit 204b to the charging management unit 100b. The communication unit 202 receives the charging plan response transmitted by the charging management unit 100b in response to the charging plan request. The processing unit 204b acquires the charging plan response from the communication unit 202, and acquires the charging plan included in the acquired charging plan response. The processing unit 204b stores the acquired charging plan in the storage unit 210. The processing unit 204b executes charging based on the charging plan stored in the storage unit 210.

[0135] (Operation of charging management unit 100b) Fig. 32 is a flow chart showing an example of the operation of the charging management unit 100b according to the modified example 2 of the embodiment. With reference to Fig. 32, a process of transmitting a charging plan after an electric vehicle is connected to the charger 200b will be described. (Step S1-10) The communication unit 102 receives the charging plan request transmitted by the charger 200b. (Step S2-10) The processing unit 104 acquires the charging plan request received by the communication unit 102, and acquires the charger ID, the remaining battery level, and the user information included in the acquired charging plan request. The processing unit 104 stores the acquired charger ID, the remaining battery level, and the user information in the vehicle information of the storage unit 110.

[0136] (Step S3-10) The processing unit 104 derives priority information of the charger at the first location based on the charger ID and the charger information. (Step S4-10) The processing unit 104 derives priority information for the charger at the second location based on the user information and the charger information.

[0137] (Step S5-10) The processing unit 104 stores priority information of the chargers at the first location and the second location in the charger information. (Step S6-10) The charging management calculation unit 106b creates a charging plan based on the priority information included in the charger information stored in the storage unit 110, and causes the storage unit 110 to store the created charging plan.

[0138] (Step S7-10) The charging management calculation unit 106b acquires the charging plan stored in the storage unit 110, and creates charging plan notification information including the acquired charging plan. The charging management calculation unit 106b outputs the created charging plan notification information to the communication unit 102. The communication unit 102 transmits the charging plan notification information output by the charging management calculation unit 106b to the charger 200a and the charger 200b. (Step S8-10) The processing unit 104 determines whether or not a charging plan reception response, which is a response signal to the charging plan notification information, has been received by the communication unit 102. If not, the process returns to step S7-10. If received, the process ends.

[0139] Fig. 33 is a flow chart showing an example of the operation of the charging management unit 100b according to the modified example 2 of the embodiment. With reference to Fig. 33, a process in which the charging management unit 100b creates a charging plan will be described. (Step S1-11) The charging management calculation unit 106b compares the priority information of the charger 200b at the departure point with the priority information of the charger 200a at the destination point, identifies a charger with a higher priority, and temporarily stores information indicating the identified charger. (Step S2-11) The charging management calculation unit 106b calculates the upper limit value of the amount of power of the charger 200b at the departure point, and temporarily stores the calculation result of the upper limit value of the amount of power at the departure point.

[0140] (Step S3-11) The charge management calculation unit 106b calculates the amount of power at the departure point based on the calculation result of the upper limit value of the amount of power at the departure point, and temporarily stores the calculation result of the amount of power at the departure point. (Step S4-11) The charge management calculation unit 106b judges whether the calculation and storage are completed or not. If not, the process returns to step S1-11.

[0141] (Step S5-11) When the charging management calculation unit 106b determines that the calculation and storage have been completed, it stores in the charging plan in the memory unit 110 the temporarily stored information indicating the high priority charger, the calculation result of the upper limit value of the power amount at the departure location, and the calculation result of the power amount at the departure location.

[0142] Fig. 34 is a flow diagram showing an example of the operation of the charger 200b according to the second modification of the embodiment. With reference to Fig. 34, the operation after the electric vehicle EV is connected to the charger 200b will be described. (Step S1-12) The charging device 206 determines whether or not the electric vehicle EV is connected. If the electric vehicle EV is not connected, the process returns to step S1-12. (Step S2-12) When an electric vehicle EV is connected, the charging device 206 acquires a vehicle ID and a remaining battery level from the connected electric vehicle EV. The processing unit 204b acquires the vehicle ID and the remaining battery level from the charging device 206, and stores the acquired vehicle ID and remaining battery level in the storage unit 210. (Step S3-12) Processing unit 204b determines whether or not user information has been input to input unit 208. If user information has not been input, the process returns to step S3-12.

[0143] (Step S4-12) When it is determined that user information has been input to the input unit 208, the processing unit 204b acquires the user information and causes the storage unit 210 to store the acquired user information. (Step S5-12) The charging device 206 creates a charging plan request including the charger ID, the remaining battery level, and user information, and outputs the created charging plan request to the communication unit 202. The communication unit 202 transmits the charging plan request output by the charging device 206 to the charging management unit 100b. (Step S6-12) The processing unit 204b judges whether or not a charging plan response to the charging plan request has been received from the charging management unit 100b. If a charging plan response has not been received, the process returns to step S5-12.

[0144] (Step S7-12) When determining that a charging plan response has been received from the charging management unit 100b in response to the charging plan request, the processing unit 204b acquires the charging plan included in the charging plan response and causes the storage unit 210 to store the acquired charging plan. (Step S8-12) The charging device 206 executes charging based on the charging plan stored in the storage unit 210. (Step S9-12) The charging device 206 ends the charging plan.

[0145] In the charging system 1b according to the second modification of the embodiment, the charging management calculation unit 106b may determine an upper limit value of a first amount of power to be supplied to the electric vehicle EV by the charger 200b based on a charging plan of the charger 200a at the second point. For example, it is assumed that the battery capacity of the electric vehicle EV is 60 kWh, the remaining battery amount before charging at the first point is 3 kWh, and the charging plan is to charge 20 kWh by the charger 200a. In this case, the charging management calculation unit 106b determines, as an upper limit value, the amount of power to be supplied to the electric vehicle EV by the charger 200b at the first point, the amount of power obtained by subtracting the amount of power to be charged by the charger 200a installed at the second point from the battery capacity of the electric vehicle EV. In other words, the charging management calculation unit 106b determines the amount of power 40 kWh obtained by subtracting the amount of power 20 kWh charged by the charger 200a installed at the second location from the battery capacity of the electric vehicle EV of 60 kWh as the upper limit of the amount of power to be supplied to the electric vehicle EV by the charger 200b at the first location.

[0146] The charging management calculation unit 106b may also determine an upper limit value of the second amount of power supplied to the electric vehicle EV by the charger 200a based on the charging plan of the charger 200b at the first point. For example, the battery capacity of the electric vehicle EV is 60 kWh, the remaining battery capacity before charging at the second point is 3 kWh, and the charging plan is to charge 20 kWh by the charger 200b. In this case, the charging management calculation unit 106b determines the amount of power supplied to the electric vehicle EV by the charger 200a at the second point as the upper limit value of the amount of power obtained by subtracting the amount of power charged by the charger 200b installed at the first point from the battery capacity of the electric vehicle EV. In other words, the charging management calculation unit 106b determines the amount of power 40 kWh obtained by subtracting the amount of power charged by the charger 200b installed at the first point from the battery capacity of the electric vehicle EV of 60 kWh as the upper limit value of the amount of power supplied to the electric vehicle EV by the charger 200a at the second point.

[0147] In the charging system 1b according to the second modification of the embodiment, the charger information stored in the charging management unit 100b is read out and displayed on the input unit 208. The user may input the location information of the second charger at the second location by selecting the location information of the second charger at the second location from the charger information displayed on the input unit 208. Alternatively, the user may manually input the location information into the input unit 208, or may input the location information via a storage medium provided in an IC card, a smartphone, or the like.

[0148] For example, the memory unit 110 may store map information, and the charging management calculation unit 106b may determine a route between the first point and the second point using the map information stored in the memory unit 110, or may determine a route between the first point and the second point by accessing a system (not shown) that provides map information via the network NW. The charging management calculation unit 106b derives a travel distance based on the determined route between the first point and the second point, and calculates the power consumption of the electric vehicle EV based on the derived travel distance. Alternatively, the charging management calculation unit 106b may obtain the power consumption between the first point and the second point input to the input unit 208 of the charger 200b.

[0149] If the charging price of charger 200b installed at the first point is higher than the charging price of charger 200a installed at the second point, charging management calculation unit 106b determines the amount of power to be supplied to electric vehicle EV by charger 200b at the first point as the amount of power required for movement from the first point to the second point, as the upper limit value. On the other hand, if the charging price of charger 200b installed at the first point is lower than the charging price of charger 200a installed at the second point, charging management calculation unit 106b determines the amount of power to be supplied to electric vehicle EV by charger 200b at the first point as full charge, that is, without an upper limit value.

[0150] According to the charging system 1b according to the second modification of the embodiment, the charging management calculation unit 106b acquires the charger identification information and the charging priority information included in the charger information of the first charger and the user information input to the first charger, and creates a charging plan for charging the amount of power consumed by the electric vehicle EV when the electric vehicle EV moves along a specific route based on the acquired charger identification information, charging priority information, and user information. The communication unit 102 transmits the charging plan created by the charging management calculation unit 106b to the first charger. The first charger supplies power to the electric vehicle EV based on the charging plan.

[0151] With this configuration, the charging management calculation unit 106b can create a charging plan for charging the electric vehicle EV with the amount of power consumed by traveling a specific route, based on the charging priority information included in the charger information of the first charger. Therefore, the first charger can supply power to the electric vehicle EV based on the charging plan.

[0152] Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail above with reference to the drawings, the specific configuration is not limited to this embodiment, and design changes within the scope of the present invention are also included. For example, the embodiment and the modified example of the embodiment may be implemented independently. For example, a computer program for implementing the functions of each of the above-mentioned devices may be recorded on a computer-readable recording medium, and the computer program recorded on the recording medium may be read into a computer system and executed. Note that the "computer system" referred to here may include hardware such as an OS and peripheral devices.

[0153] In addition, "computer-readable recording media" refers to writable non-volatile memories such as flexible disks, optical magnetic disks, ROMs, and flash memories, portable media such as DVDs (Digital Versatile Discs), and storage devices such as hard disks built into computer systems. Furthermore, "computer-readable recording media" also includes those that hold programs for a certain period of time, such as volatile memory (e.g., DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory)) inside computer systems that act as servers or clients when a computer program is transmitted via a network such as the Internet or a communication line such as a telephone line.

[0154] The program may be transmitted from a computer system in which the program is stored in a storage device or the like to another computer system via a transmission medium, or by a transmission wave in the transmission medium. Here, the "transmission medium" that transmits the program refers to a medium that has a function of transmitting information, such as a network (communication network) such as the Internet or a communication line (communication line) such as a telephone line. The program may be for realizing part of the functions described above. Furthermore, the above-mentioned functions may be realized in combination with a program already recorded in the computer system, that is, a so-called differential file (differential program). [Explanation of symbols]

[0155] 1, 1a, 1b...charging system, 100, 100a, 100b...charging management unit, 102...communication unit, 104...processing unit, 106, 106a, 106b...charging management calculation unit, 110...storage unit, 200, 200a, 200-1 to 200-n, 200a-1 to 200a-k, 200b-1 to 200b-n...charger, 202...communication unit, 204, 204b...processing unit, 206, 206a...charging device, 208...input unit, 210...storage unit, 300...attendance system, 400...payroll system

Claims

1. A charging system for managing a charger that supplies power to an electric vehicle, a charge management calculation unit that derives a first amount of power to be supplied to an electric vehicle by a first charger installed at a first location or a second amount of power to be supplied to the electric vehicle by a second charger installed at a second location, and creates notification information for notifying the first charger of the derived first amount of power or for notifying the second charger of the derived second amount of power; a communication unit that transmits the notification information created by the charge management calculation unit; Equipped with The charging management calculation unit derives the first amount of power or the second amount of power based on a charging priority of the first charger or a charging priority of the second charger.

2. the charging management calculation unit creates a charging plan for charging an amount of power consumed by traveling a specific route a plurality of times in a certain period of time for each of the plurality of electric vehicles, based on vehicle information for each of the plurality of electric vehicles and charger information for each of the one or more first chargers; The communication unit transmits the charging plan created by the charging management calculation unit to one or more of the first chargers; The charging system according to claim 1 , wherein each of the one or more first chargers supplies electric power to each of the electric vehicles based on the charging plan.

3. the charging management calculation unit derives, as the charging plan, an amount of power to be supplied in one charging operation when charging is performed once or in a plurality of separate charging operations for each of a plurality of electric vehicles; The charging system according to claim 2 , wherein each of the one or more first chargers supplies power to the electric vehicles based on the amount of power supplied in one charge.

4. the communication unit receives information indicating an amount of electric power supplied to each of the plurality of electric vehicles from each of the one or more first chargers; 3. The charging system according to claim 2, wherein the charging management calculation unit derives an amount of power supplied during the fixed period for each of the plurality of electric vehicles based on the information indicating the amount of power supplied for each of the plurality of electric vehicles received by the communication unit, and derives an amount of power that has not been supplied based on the derived amount of power supplied during the fixed period and an amount of power that should be supplied during the fixed period.

5. the charging management calculation unit derives an upper limit value of an amount of power to be supplied to one or more of the electric vehicles by one or more second chargers, and creates notification information for notifying the derived upper limit value of the amount of power to be supplied; The charging system according to claim 1 , wherein the communication unit transmits the notification information generated by the charging management calculation unit to one or more of the second chargers.

6. The vehicle information includes information indicating a route distance, information indicating a battery capacity, priority information, information indicating a number of movements in the certain period, information indicating a parking start time, and information indicating a parking end time; The charger information includes charger identification information, information indicating a maximum charging output, information related to control of the charger, and priority information; 3. The charging system according to claim 2, wherein the charging management calculation unit derives, for each of the plurality of electric vehicles, information indicating a minimum amount of power consumption in a day, information indicating an amount of charging required in the certain period, information indicating a maximum amount of charging in a day, information indicating a charging interval, and information indicating a number of charges.

7. 7. The charging system of claim 6, wherein the charging management calculation unit acquires the information indicating the route distance, the information indicating the battery capacity, and the priority information from a payroll system that manages employee payroll, and acquires the information indicating the number of trips in the certain period, the information indicating the parking start time, and the information indicating the parking end time from an attendance system that manages the attendance of the employees.

8. the charging management calculation unit acquires charger identification information and charging priority information included in the charger information of the first charger and user information input to the first charger, and creates a charging plan for charging an amount of power consumed by the electric vehicle as a result of moving along a specific route, based on the acquired charger identification information, the charging priority information, and the user information; The communication unit transmits the charging plan created by the charging management calculation unit to the first charger; The charging system according to claim 1 , wherein the first charger supplies power to the electric vehicle based on the charging plan.

9. A charging method executed by a charging system that manages a charger that supplies power to an electric vehicle, comprising: deriving a first amount of power to be supplied to an electric vehicle by a first charger installed at a first location or a second amount of power to be supplied to the electric vehicle by a second charger installed at a second location, and creating notification information for notifying the first charger of the derived first amount of power or for notifying the second charger of the derived second amount of power; a step of transmitting the notification information created in the step of creating the notification information; having The step of generating notification information derives the first amount of power or the second amount of power based on a charging priority of the first charger or a charging priority of the second charger.

10. On the computer, deriving a first amount of power to be supplied to an electric vehicle by a first charger installed at a first location or a second amount of power to be supplied to the electric vehicle by a second charger installed at a second location, and creating notification information for notifying the first charger of the derived first amount of power or for notifying the second charger of the derived second amount of power; a step of transmitting the notification information created in the step of creating the notification information; Run the command, a step of generating notification information for deriving the first amount of power or the second amount of power based on a charging priority of the first charger or a charging priority of the second charger, the step of generating notification information being a computer program product;

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