Electric vehicle charger

Abstract

To improve convenience of a user when an electric vehicle is charged using a domestic power supply.SOLUTION: An electric vehicle charger includes: a plug that is inserted into a household outlet for drawing electricity from wiring in a household; an outlet into which the plug connected to a charging cable for charging an electric vehicle is inserted; an acquisition unit for acquiring information on a current value in the household; a control unit that controls charging of the electric vehicle via the plug and the outlet based on the information on the current value acquired by the acquisition unit; and an output unit that outputs information on charging of the electric vehicle controlled by the control unit.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an electric vehicle charging device. [Background technology]

[0002] Patent document 1 discloses that in order to increase the freedom of installation location and reduce the cost and effort required to add functions, the device is provided with a box-shaped housing that houses the outlet, and the housing is stored in a storage space provided in the construction material or structure. Patent Document 2 describes that in order to appropriately charge the storage batteries installed in each of multiple electric vehicles using multiple charging devices, the distribution is determined by a charging control device so that the sum of the first current value and the second current value does not exceed a predetermined upper limit value. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2012-105375 [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2022-75347 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] In some companies that use electric vehicles (EVs) as company cars, employees may use the company car to travel directly from home to their destination without commuting to the office, and then use the company car to return home after work without returning to the office. In this type of work arrangement, employees may charge their EVs at home. In this case, if the employee already owns an EV charging device, they can simply charge the EV. However, in most cases, employees do not own an EV charging device, and therefore must install a separate EV charging device in addition to their home charging device. Furthermore, when charging a company car at home, it is necessary to distinguish between the electricity consumed by other devices used at home and the electricity consumed for charging the company EV. However, this does not allow for the measurement of the electricity charges for charging the company EV. The present invention aims to improve user convenience when charging an electric vehicle using a household power source. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] The invention described in claim 1 is an electric vehicle charging device characterized by having: a plug to be inserted into a household outlet to take electricity from household wiring; an outlet into which a plug connected to a charging cable for charging an electric vehicle is inserted; an acquisition unit that acquires information about current values ​​within the home; a control unit that controls charging of the electric vehicle via the plug and the outlet based on the information about the current value acquired by the acquisition unit; and an output unit that outputs information about the charging of the electric vehicle controlled by the control unit. The invention described in claim 2 is the electric vehicle charging equipment described in claim 1, characterized in that the acquisition unit acquires a current current value, which is the current current value, from a meter that measures current values ​​within the home. The invention described in claim 3 is an electric vehicle charging device described in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the control unit obtains a reserve current value obtained from the difference between a target current value that takes into account a margin for the contract current contracted between the electric power company and the household and the current current value. The invention described in claim 4 is the electric vehicle charging equipment described in claim 3, characterized in that the control unit performs charging when a charging current value, which is the current required to charge the electric vehicle, is smaller than the reserve current value, and does not perform charging when the charging current value is larger than the reserve current value. The invention described in claim 5 is the electric vehicle charging equipment described in claim 1, characterized in that the output unit outputs information related to charging of the electric vehicle to an external server via a network. The invention described in claim 6 is an electric vehicle charging equipment described in claim 1 or claim 5, characterized in that the information regarding charging of the electric vehicle is at least one of the charging time, charging power and charging time, and charging energy amount of the electric vehicle. [Effects of the Invention]

[0006] The present invention can improve convenience for users when charging an electric vehicle using a household power source. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0007] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of the overall configuration of a charge amount grasping system according to an embodiment of the present invention; [Figure 2] 2A and 2B are diagrams illustrating an external structure of a charging device according to the present embodiment. [Figure 3] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a functional configuration of a charging device according to the present embodiment. [Figure 4] 5A to 5C are diagrams illustrating a specific example of control processing by a control unit in the present embodiment. [Figure 5] 4 is a flowchart of a control process of a control unit in the present embodiment. [Figure 6] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a modified example of the charge amount determination system. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0008] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Generally, companies that use electric vehicles as company cars may lend electric vehicles to employees, who may use the electric vehicle to travel to their destination directly from their homes without coming to the office, and then use the electric vehicle to return home after work without returning to the office. In this case, if the employee's home does not have charging equipment for the electric vehicle, the employee will have to stop at a charging station for the electric vehicle during working hours to charge (route charging), which can result in reduced work and sales efficiency. To solve this problem, companies attempting to install charging equipment for electric vehicles at employee homes typically require electrical installation work, which incurs construction costs for the company. Furthermore, when the charging equipment is no longer needed due to a transfer or other reason, restoration (removal) work is required, which incurs construction costs for the company. Furthermore, installing charging equipment for electric vehicles typically requires an increase in the contracted electricity capacity by the amount of the electric vehicle's charging current, which increases the basic electricity rate paid by employees to the power company. Furthermore, when charging company vehicles at employee homes, for example, it is necessary to distinguish between the electricity consumed by other devices used at the employee's home and the electricity consumed for charging the company's electric vehicle. However, this does not allow for the measurement of the electricity charges for charging the company's electric vehicle alone, making it difficult to accurately reimburse expenses. In response to these issues, this embodiment does not require any special construction work or an increase in the electricity contract capacity, and enables accurate settlement of the charging fee for an electric vehicle.

[0009] <Explanation of the charging amount monitoring system> 1 is a diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of a charge amount tracking system 1 according to the present embodiment. The charge amount tracking system 1 includes a charger 100, which is an example of an electric vehicle charging device that is used in home A and has a plug and an outlet for charging an electric vehicle 500. The charge amount tracking system 1 also includes an outdoor outlet 200 connected to the charger 100, a distribution board 300, a meter 400, and a charging cable 600 that connects the electric vehicle 500 and the charger 100. The charge amount tracking system 1 also includes an external server 700, for example, of a power company, that acquires information from the charger 100 via a network 900 such as the Internet, and a customer terminal 800 that is connected to the external server 700 via the network 900.

[0010] This charging equipment 100 is a charging device provided by, for example, an electric power company that provides electric power to home A. Charging equipment 100 has a plug (described later) that is inserted into outdoor outlet 200 to take electricity from wiring within home A, and an outlet (described later) into which a plug (described later) on the side of a charging cable connected to charging cable 600 for charging electric vehicle 500 is inserted.

[0011] The charging equipment 100 constantly acquires charge amount information, which is information related to the charging of the electric vehicle 500, or at timings as needed. The charge amount information is, for example, information related to the charging time of the electric vehicle 500 or the charging power of the electric vehicle 500, and is information that is distinguished from the power consumed by other devices in the home A. The acquired charge amount information is output to the external server 700 via the network 900. The charging equipment 100 also acquires information on control parameters from the external server 700 via the network 900. Examples of the control parameters include a charge current value, which is the current required to charge the electric vehicle 500, and a margin used to calculate a contract current value and a target current value (described later) under a contract between the electric power company and the home A.

[0012] Note that charging device 100 and outdoor outlet 200 are configured with a rated voltage of 125 V and a rated current of 15 A, for example, to receive the single-phase 100 V voltage that is the voltage used in home A. However, charging device 100 and outdoor outlet 200 may also be configured with a rated voltage of 250 V and a rated current of 20 A to receive the single-phase 200 V voltage.

[0013] The distribution board 300 is installed inside home A and is equipment that distributes power within home A. The distribution board 300 has a main breaker 310 that is electrically connected to the power grid via a service line (not shown). The distribution board 300 also has an earth leakage breaker 320 that is electrically connected to the main breaker 310 via a voltage line R, a voltage line T, and a neutral line N. The distribution board 300 also has branch breakers 330 that are electrically connected to the earth leakage breaker 320 via a voltage line R, a voltage line T, and a neutral line N.

[0014] The power grid is a commercial AC power grid managed by an electric power company. Furthermore, the voltage line R, voltage line T, and neutral line N are a so-called single-phase three-wire power line that distributes electricity using a combination of voltage lines and neutral lines.

[0015] The earth leakage breaker 320 is a device that detects an earth leakage and cuts off the current flow from the main breaker 310 to the branch breaker 330 via the voltage line R, the voltage line T, and the neutral line N.

[0016] The branch breaker 330 has an upper branch breaker 331 electrically connected to the earth leakage breaker 320 via a voltage line R and a neutral line N. It also has a lower branch breaker 332 electrically connected to the earth leakage breaker 320 via a voltage line T and a neutral line N.

[0017] The upper branch breaker 331 and the lower branch breaker 332 are electrically connected via wiring within the home to the equipment and outlets in each room within home A. For example, the outdoor outlet 200 is electrically connected to the upper branch breaker 331 via branch circuit L1, which is wiring within the home.

[0018] The measuring instruments 400 are provided on the voltage lines R and T of the distribution board 300 and are devices that measure the value of the current supplied to the home A. The measuring instruments 400 acquire the current value, which is the current value of the current being supplied to the equipment and outlets in each room in the home A. For example, the measuring instrument 400 on the voltage line R acquires the current value of the current being supplied to each equipment via the upper branch breaker 331. The measuring instrument 400 on the voltage line T acquires the current value of the current being supplied to each equipment via the lower branch breaker 332. The current current values ​​acquired by the measuring instruments 400 on the voltage lines R and T are output to the charging device 100 via wireless communication (Wi-Fi (registered trademark), Bluetooth (registered trademark), etc.) constantly or as needed. The measuring instruments 400 on the voltage lines R and T may output the current current values ​​via power line communication using the branch circuit L1 as a communication circuit.

[0019] Note that the measuring instrument 400 on the voltage line R and the measuring instrument 400 on the voltage line T may add up the current value acquired by the measuring instrument 400 on the voltage line R and the current value acquired by the measuring instrument 400 on the voltage line T and output the sum as the current current value in home A. For example, the current current value acquired by the measuring instrument 400 on the voltage line R may be acquired by the measuring instrument 400 on the voltage line T, and the sum of the current current value acquired by the measuring instrument 400 on the voltage line R and the current current value acquired by the measuring instrument 400 on the voltage line T may be output as the current current value in home A.

[0020] Furthermore, it is not necessary to provide a plurality of measuring instruments 400, and one measuring instrument 400 may be provided on the voltage line R and the voltage line T.

[0021] In this embodiment, for example, a smart meter equipped with a communication function may be adopted as a watt-hour meter (not shown) that calculates the amount of electricity used in home A, thereby substituting the function of measuring instrument 400.

[0022] Electric vehicle 500 is a vehicle that runs using a rechargeable battery (not shown). Electric vehicle 500 has a charging port 510 into which charging cable 600 is inserted. The charging cable 600 has a plug 610 on the charging cable side for insertion into a socket (described later) of the charging device 100. Electrically powered vehicle 500 can be charged by connecting charging port 510 and charging equipment 100 via charging cable 600. In the present embodiment, for example, electrically powered vehicle 500 is charged with a voltage of 100 V, a current of 12 A, and a power of 1.2 kW.

[0023] The external server 700 is a server device that manages information about the charger 100. For example, the external server 700 is a server device used by an electric power company that provides electric power to the electrically powered vehicle 500. The external server 700 outputs information about control parameters to the charger 100 via the network 900. Furthermore, the external server 700 acquires charge amount information from the charger 100 via the network 900.

[0024] Furthermore, the external server 700 acquires values ​​for calculating the charging fee for the electric vehicle 500, for example, from a terminal (not shown) of an administrator of an electric power company. Examples of values ​​for calculating the charging fee for the electric vehicle 500 include the charging power of the electric vehicle 500 and the charging fee per kWh. The external server 700 also holds values ​​for calculating CO2 information, which is information about CO2 emitted by electricity used to charge the electric vehicle 500. Examples of values ​​for calculating the CO2 information include the charging power of the electric vehicle 500 and the amount of CO2 emitted per kWh. The charging power for the electric vehicle 500 may be acquired as charging information from the charging equipment 100.

[0025] Then, the external server 700 calculates the amount of charging energy for the electric vehicle 500 using the charging time of the electric vehicle 500 and the charging power of the electric vehicle 500. For example, if the charging time for one month is 100 hours and the charging power of the electric vehicle 500 is 1.2 kW, the amount of charging energy is calculated as 120 kWh.

[0026] Furthermore, the external server 700 uses the amount of charging energy and the charging fee per kWh to calculate the charging fee for the electric vehicle 500. For example, if the amount of charging energy for the electric vehicle 500 is 120 kWh and the charging fee per kWh is 31 yen, the charging fee for the electric vehicle 500 is calculated as 3,720 yen. The amount of charging energy may be acquired from the charging equipment 100.

[0027] Furthermore, the external server 700 calculates CO2 information for the electric vehicle 500 using the amount of charging energy and the amount of CO2 emissions per kWh. For example, if the amount of charging energy for the electric vehicle 500 is 120 kWh and the amount of CO2 emissions per kWh is 0.5 kg-CO2, the CO2 information is calculated as 60 kg-CO2. The calculated charging fee and CO2 information for the electric vehicle 500 are output to the customer terminal 800 via the network 900.

[0028] In the present embodiment, the charging fee for electric vehicle 500 is calculated based on the charging time of electric vehicle 500, and this charging time of electric vehicle 500 is information that is distinguished from the power consumed by other devices in home A. Therefore, this charging fee is provided to the customer as a fee that is distinguished from the power consumed by other devices in home A. Then, the charging fee is reimbursed to the employee who is the user of electric vehicle 500 as a customer expense at customer-side terminal 800.

[0029] <External configuration of charging device 100> 2 is a diagram illustrating the external structure of charging equipment 100 in this embodiment. Charging equipment 100 has plug 110 that is inserted into outdoor outlet 200 (see FIG. 1), and outlet 120 into which plug 610 (see FIG. 1) of a charging cable connected to electric vehicle 500 is inserted. Plug 110 has a ground pin 111 that is inserted into a ground terminal (not shown) of outdoor outlet 200, and is connected to the main body of charging equipment 100 via cable 112. In addition, outlet 120 has a ground terminal 121 into which a ground pin (not shown) of plug 610 of the charging cable is inserted. 2, the cable 112 is used, but the plug 110 may be provided directly on the main body of the charger 100 without the cable 112. In this case, the plug 110 of the charger 100 can be inserted into the outdoor outlet 200 without the cable 112.

[0030] <Functional configuration of the charging device 100> FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the functional configuration of the charging equipment 100 in this embodiment. The charging equipment 100 has a plug 110, an outlet 120, and a relay 130. This relay 130 switches between energizing and cutting off current from the plug 110 to the outlet 120 via a current path L2 in response to an instruction from a control unit 140. The charging equipment 100 also has a control unit 140 that controls charging of the electric vehicle 500 (see FIG. 1), and a communication unit 150 that communicates with the outside via a communication interface. The functions of the control unit 140 are realized by the CPU executing a program stored in the ROM using a storage area of ​​the RAM. The charging equipment 100 also has a memory (not shown) that stores various information.

[0031] The control unit 140 includes a target current value calculation unit 141 that calculates a target current value, which is a value that takes into account a margin of error for the contract current value under contract between the electric power company and household A; a reserve current value calculation unit 142 that calculates a reserve current value from the difference between the target current value and the current current value in household A; a relay control unit 143 that compares the target current value with the reserve current value and controls the relay 130; a charge amount information acquisition unit 144 that acquires charge amount information when current is flowing through the current path L2 of the charging device 100; and an error flag acquisition unit 145 that acquires an error that occurs due to the control processing of the control unit 140 as an error flag.

[0032] The target current value calculation unit 141 calculates the target current value by multiplying the contract current value by the margin. Note that this margin may be changed depending on the temperature of the day, for example, by lowering the margin on a midsummer day.

[0033] The reserve current value calculation unit 142 calculates the reserve current value from the difference between the current current value and the target current value in home A. Note that the reserve current value may be calculated from the difference between the current current value and the target current value acquired by the measuring instrument 400 (see FIG. 1) on the voltage line R (see FIG. 1), or the reserve current value may be calculated as the difference between the current current value and the target current value acquired by the measuring instrument 400 on the voltage line T (see FIG. 1).

[0034] The relay control unit 143 controls to charge the electric vehicle 500 when the charging current value, which is the current required to charge the electric vehicle 500, is smaller than the remaining current value, and controls not to charge the electric vehicle 500 when the charging amount current value is larger than the remaining current value. In other words, when the remaining current value is larger than the charging current value, the relay control unit 143 controls the relay 130 to conduct current path L2, and when the remaining current value is smaller than the charging current value, the relay control unit 143 controls the relay 130 to interrupt the current path L2.

[0035] The charge amount information acquisition unit 144 acquires, for example, the charging time of the electric vehicle 500 as the charge amount information. Note that, as the charge amount information, the charging power of the electric vehicle 500 may be acquired together with the charging time of the electric vehicle 500. Furthermore, the amount of charging power of the electric vehicle 500 may be acquired as the charge amount information.

[0036] The error flag acquisition unit 145 acquires, as an error flag, an error that has occurred due to the control processing of the control unit 140, which will be described with reference to Fig. 5. An example of an error flag that has occurred due to the control processing of the control unit 140 is a communication error with the measuring instrument 400.

[0037] The communication unit 150 has a charge amount information output unit 151 that outputs charge amount information to the external server 700 (see FIG. 1) via the network 900 (see FIG. 1). It also has a current current value information acquisition unit 152 that acquires the current current value in home A from the meter 400 via wireless communication. It also has a control information acquisition unit 153 that acquires control parameters and control logic from the external server 700 via the network 900. It also has an error flag output unit 154 that outputs an error flag to the external server 700 via the network 900.

[0038] The charge amount information output unit 151 outputs the charge amount information acquired by the charge amount information acquisition unit 144 to the external server 700 constantly or at times as needed. For example, the charge amount information is output once a day, and is the charging time of the electric vehicle 500 from 5:00 PM on the previous day to 5:00 PM on the current day.

[0039] The current current value information acquisition unit 152 acquires the current current value from the measuring instrument 400 on the voltage line R and the measuring instrument 400 on the voltage line T. As described above, the current current value acquired may be the current current value within home A. The current current value acquired from the measuring instrument 400 on the voltage line R and the current current value acquired from the measuring instrument 400 on the voltage line T may be summed to obtain the current current value within home A.

[0040] The control information acquisition unit 153 acquires the control parameters and the control logic from the external server 700. The control logic is a program that realizes the control process of the control unit 140 shown in FIG. 5. The control parameters are, for example, the margin, as described above. The control parameters and the control logic may be stored in advance in a memory provided in the charging equipment 100, instead of being acquired from the external server 700. The error flag output unit 154 outputs the error flag acquired by the error flag acquisition unit 145 to the external server 700 .

[0041] <Control Processing of the Control Unit 140> FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a specific example of the control processing of the control unit 140 in this embodiment. The vertical axis of FIG. 4 represents the current value in home A. The horizontal axis of FIG. 4 represents time. FIG. 4 also shows the contracted current value in home A and the target current value in home A. The target current value is a value that takes into account a margin for the contracted current value, and in this case is the value obtained by multiplying the contracted current value by the margin. In FIG. 4, the contracted current value is 40 A, the margin is 95%, and the target current value is 38 A.

[0042] Furthermore, examples of the reserve current value are a1, which is a time point when the reserve current value is large, and a2, which is a time point when the reserve current value is small. The reserve current value is the difference between the target current value and the current current value in household A. The reserve current value at time a1 is 33 A, which is the difference between the target current value 38 A and the current current value 5 A in household A. Furthermore, the reserve current value at time a2 is 6 A, which is the difference between the target current value 38 A and the current current value 32 A in household A. Furthermore, as a guideline for charging control of the electric vehicle 500, 26 A, which is the difference between the target current value (38 A) and the charging current value (12 A), is exemplified.

[0043] In the example shown in Fig. 4, the reserve current value is greater than the charging current value between midnight and 5pm. For example, at 12pm, the reserve current value a1 is 33A, which is greater than the charging current value of 12A for the electric vehicle 500. Therefore, during the time period between midnight and 5pm, the control unit 140 performs control so that the electric vehicle 500 is charged.

[0044] Next, between 17:00 and 20:00, the reserve current value is smaller than the charging current value. For example, at 19:00, the reserve current value a2 is 6 A, which is smaller than the charging current value of 12 A of the electric vehicle 500. In other words, the control unit 140 controls the electric vehicle 500 not to charge during the time period between 17:00 and 20:00. Then, the surplus current value is greater than the charging current value between 8 PM and midnight. That is, in the time period between 8 PM and midnight, the control unit 140 controls the charging of the electric vehicle 500 to be performed again.

[0045] 5 is a flowchart of the control process of control unit 140 in this embodiment. When power is supplied from home A, charging device 100 is turned on (step 501). At this point, current path L2 (see FIG. 3) is interrupted. Then, it is determined whether or not control logic and control parameters are present (step 502). If control logic and control parameters are present (YES in step 502), it is determined whether or not communication with measuring instrument 400 is present (step 503). If control logic and control parameters are not present (NO in step 502), an error flag is output and control process of control unit 140 ends.

[0046] If there is communication with the meter 400 (YES in step 503), it is determined whether the current current value acquired from the meter 400 is greater than a predetermined value X (step 504). The predetermined value X is, for example, the value of the standby current in home A. If there is no communication with the meter 400 (NO in step 503), an error flag is acquired and the control process of the control unit 140 is terminated.

[0047] If the current current value is greater than the predetermined value X (YES in step 504), a target current value is calculated from the control parameters (step 505). The calculation of the target current value has been described with reference to Fig. 4. If the current current value is smaller than the predetermined value X (NO in step 504), an error flag is acquired, and the control process of the control unit 140 is terminated.

[0048] Next, the current value of the current in home A is obtained as the current value from meter 400 (step 506), a reserve current value is calculated from the current value of home A (step 507), and it is determined whether this reserve current value is greater than the charging current value (step 508). If the reserve current value is greater than the charging current value (YES in step 508), power is turned ON (step 509), and the relay is controlled so that current path L2 is energized. If the reserve current value is smaller than the charging current value (NO in step 508), power is turned OFF (step 510), and the relay is controlled to keep current path L2 interrupted.

[0049] Then, after turning on (step 509) and turning off (step 510), the charge amount information and an error flag are transmitted to the external server 700 (step 511). Then, the processing from step 506 to step 511 is repeated. Note that step 511 does not have to be performed every time. For example, when a predetermined time has passed, the charge amount information acquired up until the predetermined time has passed may be added up and output to the external server 700.

[0050] As described above, in the present embodiment, by connecting charging device 100 to outdoor outlet 200 and charging electric vehicle 500 using 100V, which is a common voltage used in home A, it is possible to charge electric vehicle 500 without constructing new charging equipment. Furthermore, because charging control by control unit 140 prevents electric vehicle 500 from being charged if there is no remaining current value, there is no need to change the contract current value in home A when charging electric vehicle 500. Furthermore, as described above, the charging fee for electric vehicle 500 is provided to the customer at a rate that is separate from the rate for power consumed by other devices in home A. In this way, in the present embodiment, it is possible to improve convenience for the user when charging electric vehicle 500 using a power source for home A.

[0051] In this embodiment, the control unit 140 performs control processing based on the current current value in home A, which is the sum of the current current value acquired by the measuring instrument 400 on the voltage line R and the current current value acquired by the measuring instrument 400 on the voltage line T. However, the control unit 140 may perform control processing based on the current current value acquired by the measuring instrument 400 on the voltage line R, or may perform control processing based on the current current value acquired by the measuring instrument 400 on the voltage line T.

[0052] <Modification> 6 is a diagram illustrating a charge amount determination system 2 which is a modified example of the above-described charge amount determination system 1. The charge amount determination system 2 illustrates a case where charging control of the electric vehicle 500 is performed in accordance with instructions from an external server 700. Note that the same functions as those in the above-described embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted here.

[0053] The charging amount monitoring system 2 includes a charging equipment 101 for charging an electric vehicle 500. The charging equipment 101 includes a wireless communication device 10 that controls a relay 130 based on information related to charging control, and a measuring instrument 20 on the charging equipment side that measures charging amount information of the electric vehicle 500. The charge amount monitoring system 2 also includes a wireless communication device 30 on the distribution board side that outputs a current current value to an external server 700. The system 2 also includes a router 40 that communicates with the external server 700, the wireless communication device 10, and the wireless communication device 30 on the distribution board side.

[0054] The wireless communication device 10 acquires charge amount information of the electric vehicle 500 from the measuring instrument 20 on the charging equipment side. The acquired charge amount information is output to the router 40 by wireless communication.

[0055] The wireless communication device 10 acquires information related to charging control from the external server 700 via the router 40. The information related to charging control includes information instructing to charge the electric vehicle 500. The information related to charging control also includes information instructing not to charge the electric vehicle 500.

[0056] The wireless communication device 10 then controls the relay 130 based on the acquired information related to charging control. For example, when the wireless communication device 10 acquires information instructing the electric vehicle 500 to be charged, the wireless communication device 10 controls the relay 130 to energize the current path L2. Furthermore, when the wireless communication device 10 acquires information instructing the electric vehicle 500 not to be charged, the wireless communication device 10 controls the relay 130 to interrupt the current path L2.

[0057] The wireless communication device 30 on the distribution board side acquires the current current value of the home A from the meter 400. The acquired current current value is output to the router 40 by wireless communication.

[0058] The router 40 acquires charging amount information from the wireless communication device 10 via wireless communication. The router 40 also outputs the charging amount information to the external server 700 via the network 900. The router 40 also acquires a current current value from the wireless communication device 30 on the distribution board side via wireless communication. The router 40 also outputs the current current value to the external server 700 via the network 900. The router 40 also acquires information related to charging control from the external server 700 via the network 900. The router 40 also outputs information related to charging control to the wireless communication device 10 via wireless communication.

[0059] In the charge amount monitoring system 2, the external server 700 acquires charge amount information and a current current value from the router 40 via the network 900. In the charge amount grasping system 2, the external server 700 calculates the target current value, the reserve current value, and the charging current value from the control parameters and the current current value. The calculation method is the same as the method described for the control unit 140 in FIG. The external server 700 then compares the difference between the remaining current value and the charging current value and outputs information related to charging control. For example, if the remaining current value is greater than the charging current value, the external server 700 outputs information to the wireless communication device 10 instructing the wireless communication device 10 to charge the electric vehicle 500. Also, for example, if the remaining current value is smaller than the charging current value, the external server 700 outputs information to the wireless communication device 10 instructing the wireless communication device 10 not to charge the electric vehicle 500.

[0060] In this way, according to the modification, the configuration of the charger 101 can be simplified by using the router 40 in the home A to communicate with the external server 700. [Explanation of symbols]

[0061] 100, 101... charging equipment, 400... measuring instrument, 500... electric vehicle, 700... external server, 800... customer side terminal

Claims

1. A plug that plugs into a household outlet to draw electricity from the household wiring, an outlet for inserting a plug connected to a charging cable for charging the electric vehicle; an acquisition unit that acquires information about current values ​​in the home; a control unit that controls charging of the electric vehicle via the plug and the outlet based on information about the current value acquired by the acquisition unit; an output unit that outputs information related to the charging of the electric vehicle controlled by the control unit; An electric vehicle charging device comprising:

2. The electric vehicle charging equipment according to claim 1 , wherein the acquisition unit acquires a current current value from a meter that measures a current value in the home.

3. The electric vehicle charging device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the control unit acquires a reserve current value obtained from the difference between a target current value, which takes into account a margin for the contract current contracted between the electric power company and the household, and a current current value.

4. The electric vehicle charging equipment according to claim 3, characterized in that the control unit performs charging when a charging current value, which is a current required to charge the electric vehicle, is smaller than the remaining current value, and does not perform charging when the charging current value is larger than the remaining current value.

5. The charging equipment for electric vehicles according to claim 1 , wherein the output unit outputs information relating to charging of the electric vehicle to an external server via a network.

6. 6. The charging equipment for electric vehicles according to claim 1, wherein the information relating to charging of the electric vehicle is at least one of a charging time, charging power and charging time, and a charging energy amount of the electric vehicle.

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