Vehicle

Abstract

To provide a user with information on a charge amount required for returning to a departure place and information on a remaining charge amount of a driving battery without performing a troublesome operation.SOLUTION: The vehicle 1 includes a remaining charge amount acquisition unit 111 that acquires the remaining charge amount of the drive battery 310 when the vehicle 1 is powered off, a position information acquisition unit 112 that acquires the position information of the current location, a charge amount calculation unit 113 that calculates the charge amount of the drive battery 310 required for traveling from the current location to the departure location, a current location determination unit 114 that determines whether the position of the vehicle 1 when the vehicle 1 is powered off is the destination location, a communication unit 200 that transmits information including the acquired remaining charge amount of the drive battery 310 and the charge amount of the drive battery 310 required for traveling from the current location to the departure location to the user terminal 600, and a vehicle control unit 117 that controls the processing of the entire vehicle 1.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a vehicle. [Background technology]

[0002] In recent years, from the viewpoint of environmental protection, electric vehicles equipped with a drive battery that can be charged from an external power source have become widespread. Generally, in order to enjoy long-distance driving in an electric vehicle or the like, it is necessary to charge the drive battery.

[0003] For example, one such technique is disclosed in Patent Document 1, which provides a user with information about whether or not the current remaining charge of the drive battery will allow the vehicle to reach a destination designated by the user. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2017-075966 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] However, with the above-mentioned technology, although information is provided to the user as to whether the destination set by the user can be reached, there is a problem in that no information is provided as to whether the remaining charge in the drive battery will be sufficient to get from the destination to the user's home when the destination is reached. In other words, with the above-mentioned technology, in order to check whether the remaining charge in the drive battery is enough to reach home, the user needs to set home as the destination and check, and without performing cumbersome operations, the user cannot obtain information regarding the amount of charge required to return home and information regarding the remaining charge in the drive battery.

[0006] Therefore, the present invention has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned problems, and aims to provide a vehicle that provides the user with information regarding the amount of charge required to return to the starting point and information regarding the remaining charge of the drive battery, without requiring any cumbersome operations. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] Form 1: One or more embodiments of the present invention propose a vehicle that includes a remaining charge acquisition unit that acquires the remaining charge of a drive battery when the vehicle is powered off; a location information acquisition unit that acquires location information of a current location; a charge amount calculation unit that calculates the amount of charge of the drive battery required to travel from the current location to a starting location based on the acquired location information; and a communication unit that transmits information to a user terminal that includes the acquired remaining charge of the drive battery and the amount of charge of the drive battery required to travel from the current location to the starting location.

[0008] Form 2: One or more embodiments of the present invention propose a vehicle comprising a controller and a communication unit, wherein the controller includes one or more processors and one or more memories communicatively connected to the one or more processors, wherein the one or more processors obtain the remaining charge of the drive battery when the vehicle is powered off, and calculate the amount of charge of the drive battery required to travel from the current location to a starting location based on location information of the current location, and the communication unit transmits information including the remaining charge of the drive battery and the amount of charge of the drive battery required to travel from the current location to the starting location to a user terminal. [Effects of the Invention]

[0009] According to one or more embodiments of the present invention, it is possible to provide the user with information regarding the amount of charge required to return to the starting point and information regarding the remaining charge of the drive battery without having to perform any cumbersome operations. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a vehicle according to a first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a vehicle according to a first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 3] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a flow of processing in a vehicle according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 4] 3 is a diagram showing an example of a display mode of information that a vehicle according to the first embodiment of the present invention causes a user terminal to display. FIG. [Figure 5] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the configuration of a vehicle according to a second embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 6] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the configuration of a vehicle according to a second embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 7] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a flow of processing in a vehicle according to a second embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 8] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a display mode of information that a vehicle according to a second embodiment of the present invention causes a user terminal to display. [Figure 9] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a display mode of information that a vehicle according to a third modification of the present invention causes a user terminal to display. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0011] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

[0012] First Embodiment A vehicle 1 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4. FIG.

[0013] <Vehicle 1 Configuration> As shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle 1 according to this embodiment includes a controller 100, a communication unit 200, a charging control device 300, a driving battery 310, a navigation device 400, and a power control device 500. The configuration of the controller 100 will be described in detail later.

[0014] The communication unit 200 is, for example, a known wireless communication module, and transmits information output from the controller 100 to the user terminal 600. Examples of the user terminal 600 include a smartphone and a tablet. In this embodiment, the communication unit 200 transmits to the user terminal 600 information output from the controller 100, including information regarding the remaining charge of the driving battery 310 and information regarding the amount of charge of the driving battery 310 required to travel from the current location to the starting location. The user terminal 600 displays the information received from the communication unit 200 on a display unit (not shown) of the user terminal 600 . The display format of the information displayed on the user terminal 600 will be described later.

[0015] In this embodiment, the charge control device 300 controls, for example, the charging process of a driving battery 310 for driving the vehicle 1. In this embodiment, for example, when a request to acquire the remaining charge of the driving battery 310 is input from the controller 100 described below, the charging control device 300 outputs the remaining charge of the driving battery 310 to the controller 100.

[0016] In this embodiment, the navigation device 400 calculates, for example, a driving route to a destination specified by the user, displays the calculated driving route, and performs route guidance. In this embodiment, when a destination is specified by the user, the navigation device 400 outputs position information of the specified destination to the controller 100. In this embodiment, when the navigation device 400 receives location information of the departure point from the controller 100, it calculates a driving route from the destination set by the user back to the departure point, and outputs the value of the driving distance of the calculated driving route to the controller 100. The departure point is, for example, a location where the driving battery 310 of vehicle 1 is charged, and examples thereof include the user's home or the user's workplace (for example, if vehicle 1 is owned by the company for which the user works). In the following, a case where the departure point is the user's home will be described as an example.

[0017] In this embodiment, the power control device 500 controls, for example, the timing of supplying power to each device provided in the vehicle 1. In this embodiment, the power control device 500 detects, for example, the on / off state of a power switch that the user operates to start / stop the vehicle 1, and outputs the detection result to the controller 100.

[0018] <Configuration of controller 100> The controller 100 includes one or more processors and one or more memories communicatively connected to the one or more processors. As shown in FIG. 2, in this embodiment, the controller 100 includes a processor 110 and a memory 120. The processor 110 and the memory 120 input and output information via a bus line BL. The configuration of the processor 110 will be described later.

[0019] The memory 120 includes a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), and the like, which are not shown. The memory 120 stores, for example, a control program and various data output from the processor 110. In this embodiment, the memory 120 stores in advance, for example, map information, location information of the home which is the starting point, and information on charging spots where the driving battery 310 can be charged. Examples of the home location information include location information of the user's home and location information of a parking lot where the user parks the vehicle 1 when the user returns home. Examples of the information related to the charging spot include the name of the charging spot, location information of the charging spot (address, latitude and longitude, etc.), and the like.

[0020] <Configuration of the processor 110> As shown in FIG. 2, the processor 110 includes a remaining charge acquisition unit 111, a location information acquisition unit 112, a charge amount calculation unit 113, a current location determination unit 114, a determination unit 115, an extraction unit 116, and a vehicle control unit 117.

[0021] The remaining charge acquisition unit 111 acquires the remaining charge of the driving battery 310 when the power is off. In this embodiment, when the remaining charge acquisition unit 111 receives information from the vehicle control unit 117 described later that the power switch has been turned off, it outputs a request to acquire the remaining charge of the driving battery 310 to the charging control device 300 and acquires the remaining charge of the driving battery 310 from the charging control device 300. In this embodiment, the remaining charge acquisition unit 111 outputs the acquired information about the remaining charge of the driving battery 310 to the determination unit 115, extraction unit 116, and vehicle control unit 117, which will be described later, via the bus line BL.

[0022] The location information acquisition unit 112 acquires location information of the current location. In this embodiment, the location information acquisition unit 112 acquires location information of the vehicle 1 based on radio waves received from GPS (Global Positioning System) satellites, for example. In this embodiment, the location information acquisition unit 112 acquires the location information of the vehicle 1 when a location information acquisition request is input from the vehicle control unit 117, which will be described later. The position information acquisition unit 112 outputs the acquired position information to a current location determination unit 114, an extraction unit 116, and a vehicle control unit 117, which will be described later, via the bus line BL.

[0023] Based on the current location information acquired by the location information acquisition unit 112, the charge amount calculation unit 113 calculates the charge amount of the driving battery 310 required to travel from the current location to the home. In this embodiment, when travel distance information is input from a vehicle control unit 117 described later, the charge amount calculation unit 113 calculates the charge amount of the driving battery 310 required to travel the input travel distance. The charge amount calculation unit 113 calculates the charge amount required to travel the input travel distance based on, for example, the travel distance information and the average power efficiency of the vehicle 1. In this embodiment, the charge amount calculation unit 113 outputs the calculation result to a determination unit 115 and a vehicle control unit 117, which will be described later, via the bus line BL.

[0024] In this embodiment, the current location determination unit 114 determines whether the current location of the vehicle 1 when the power is off is the destination or a waypoint before the destination. In this embodiment, for example, when a request to determine the current location is input from the vehicle control unit 117 described later, the current location determination unit 114 determines whether the current location of the vehicle 1 is the destination or a waypoint before the destination based on the destination location information stored in the memory 120 and the location information of the vehicle 1 input from the location information acquisition unit 112. In this embodiment, for example, if the distance from the current position of the vehicle 1 to the position of the destination is less than 500 m, the current position determination unit 114 determines that the current position of the vehicle 1 is the destination. In this embodiment, the current location determination unit 114 determines that the current location of vehicle 1 is a waypoint before the destination if the distance from the current location of vehicle 1 to the destination location is, for example, 500 m or more. The current location determination unit 114 outputs the determination result to a vehicle control unit 117 (described later) via the bus line BL.

[0025] The determination unit 115 determines whether the remaining charge of the driving battery 310 is less than the charge of the driving battery 310 required to travel from the current location to the starting point (home). In other words, the determination unit 115 determines whether the remaining charge of the driving battery 310 is sufficient to travel from the current location to the starting point (home). In this embodiment, when the determination unit 115 receives a determination request from the vehicle control unit 117 described later, for example, it compares the information relating to the remaining charge of the driving battery 310 received from the remaining charge acquisition unit 111 with the calculation result received from the charge amount calculation unit 113, and determines whether or not it is possible to travel from the current location to home. For example, if the remaining charge value of the driving battery 310 input from the remaining charge acquisition unit 111 exceeds the charge amount value input from the charge amount calculation unit 113, the determination unit 115 determines that it is possible to travel from the current location to home. For example, if the remaining charge value of the driving battery 310 input from the remaining charge acquisition unit 111 is lower than the charge amount value input from the charge amount calculation unit 113, the determination unit 115 determines that it is not possible to travel from the current location to home. In this embodiment, the determination unit 115 outputs the determination result to a vehicle control unit 117 (described later) via the bus line BL.

[0026] In this embodiment, when the determination unit 115 determines that the remaining charge of the driving battery 310 is lower than the charge amount required to travel from the current location to home, the extraction unit 116 extracts charging spots that can be reached with the remaining charge of the driving battery 310. In this embodiment, when a request to extract a charging spot is input from the vehicle control unit 117 (described later), the extraction unit 116 extracts charging spots that can be reached with the remaining charge of the driving battery 310. In this embodiment, the extraction unit 116 calculates the distance that can be traveled with the remaining charge of the driving battery 310 based on, for example, the remaining charge of the driving battery 310 input from the remaining charge acquisition unit 111 and the average power consumption of the vehicle 1. In this embodiment, when a request to extract a charging spot is input from the vehicle control unit 117 described later, the extraction unit 116 acquires map information and information related to the charging spot from the memory 120 via the bus line BL. In this embodiment, the extraction unit 116 extracts charging spots that can be reached with the remaining charge of the driving battery 310, for example, based on the location information of the vehicle 1 input from the location information acquisition unit 112, the map information and information about charging spots (location information of charging spots) acquired from the memory 120, and the distance that can be traveled with the remaining charge of the driving battery 310. In this embodiment, the extraction unit 116 outputs information about the extracted charging spot (such as the name and location of the charging spot) to the vehicle control unit 117, which will be described later, via the bus line BL.

[0027] In this embodiment, the vehicle control unit 117 controls the overall processing of the vehicle 1 in accordance with a control program stored in the memory 120 . In this embodiment, for example, when the user inputs location information of a destination specified by the user from the navigation device 400, the vehicle control unit 117 stores the input location information of the destination in the memory 120. In this embodiment, the vehicle control unit 117 acquires, for example, information relating to the on / off state of the power switch from the power control device 500, and determines that the state of the power switch has changed from on to off. In this embodiment, for example, when the vehicle control unit 117 determines that the state of the power switch has changed from on to off, it outputs information that the power switch has been turned off to the remaining charge acquisition unit 111 via the bus line BL, causing the remaining charge of the driving battery 310 to be acquired. In this embodiment, when the vehicle control unit 117 determines that the state of the power switch has changed from on to off, for example, it outputs a request to acquire location information to the location information acquisition unit 112 via the bus line BL, causing the location information of the current location to be acquired. In this embodiment, when the vehicle control unit 117 determines that the state of the power switch has changed from on to off, for example, it outputs a determination request to the current location determination unit 114 to determine whether the current location is the destination or a waypoint before the destination. In this embodiment, for example, when the current location of the vehicle 1 is the destination, the vehicle control unit 117 outputs the position information of the home to the navigation device 400 and causes the navigation device 400 to calculate the travel distance from the destination to the home. In this embodiment, for example, when the current location of the vehicle 1 is the destination, the vehicle control unit 117 outputs information on the distance traveled from the destination to the home obtained from the navigation device 400 to the charge amount calculation unit 113, and causes the charge amount calculation unit 113 to calculate the amount of charge required to return from the destination to the home. In this embodiment, for example, when the current location of the vehicle 1 is the destination, the vehicle control unit 117 outputs a determination request to the determination unit 115 to determine whether the remaining charge of the driving battery 310 is lower than the charge amount required to travel from the destination to home. In this embodiment, when the current location determination unit 114 determines that the current location of the vehicle 1 is the destination and the determination unit 115 determines that the remaining charge of the driving battery 310 is not lower than the charge amount required to travel from the destination to the home, the vehicle control unit 117 outputs information including the remaining charge of the driving battery 310 and the charge amount required to travel from the destination to the home to the communication unit 200. In this embodiment, when the current location determination unit 114 determines that the current location of the vehicle 1 is the destination and the determination unit 115 determines that the remaining charge of the driving battery 310 is lower than the amount of charge required to drive from the destination to home, the vehicle control unit 117 outputs a request to extract charging spots to the extraction unit 116, causing the extraction unit 116 to extract charging spots that can be reached with the current remaining charge of the driving battery 310. In this embodiment, when the current location determination unit 114 determines that the current location of the vehicle 1 is the destination and the determination unit 115 determines that the remaining charge of the driving battery 310 is less than the charge amount required to travel from the destination to the home, the vehicle control unit 117 outputs to the communication unit 200 information including the remaining charge of the driving battery 310, the charge amount required to travel from the destination to the home, and information regarding the charging spot input from the extraction unit 116 (such as the name of the charging spot and its location).

[0028] <Processing flow for vehicle 1> The processing flow of the vehicle 1 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

[0029] The vehicle control unit 117 determines whether or not a destination has been set (step S110). When the vehicle control unit 117 determines that the location information of the destination has not been input from the navigation device 400 ("NO" in step S110), the process returns to the standby state. When the vehicle control unit 117 determines that the location information of the destination has been input from the navigation device 400 ("YES" in step S110), it stores the location information of the destination input from the navigation device 400 in the memory 120 (step S120).

[0030] The vehicle control unit 117 determines whether the state of the power switch has changed from an on state to an off state (step S130). If the vehicle control unit 117 determines that the state of the power switch has not changed from the on state to the off state ("NO" in step S130), it returns the process to the standby state. When the vehicle control unit 117 determines that the state of the power switch has changed from the on state to the off state ("YES" in step S130), it causes the position information acquisition unit 112 to acquire the position information of the vehicle 1 (step S140).

[0031] Vehicle control unit 117 causes remaining charge acquisition unit 111 to acquire the remaining charge of drive battery 310 (step S150), and then causes the process to proceed to step S160.

[0032] The vehicle control unit 117 causes the current location determination unit 114 to determine whether the position of the vehicle 1 is the destination or not (step S160). If the current location determination unit 114 determines that the current location is a waypoint before the destination ("NO" in step S160), the vehicle control unit 117 ends the process. If the current location determination unit 114 determines that the current location is the destination ("YES" in step S160), the vehicle control unit 117 shifts the processing to step S170.

[0033] Vehicle control unit 117 causes charge amount calculation unit 113 to calculate the charge amount required to return home from the destination (step S170), and then causes the process to proceed to step S180.

[0034] Vehicle control unit 117 causes determination unit 115 to determine whether the remaining charge of drive battery 310 is lower than the charge amount required to return from the destination to home (step S180). If the determination unit 115 determines that the remaining charge of the driving battery 310 is not less than the charge amount required to return home from the destination ("NO" in step S180), the vehicle control unit 117 controls the communication unit 200 to transmit information including the remaining charge of the driving battery 310 and the charge amount required to travel from the destination to home to the user terminal 600 (step S210), and terminates the processing. If the determination unit 115 determines that the remaining charge of the driving battery 310 is less than the charge amount required to return home from the destination ("YES" in step S180), the vehicle control unit 117 transitions the processing to step S190.

[0035] Vehicle control unit 117 causes extraction unit 116 to extract charging spots within a range that can be reached with the remaining charge of driving battery 310 (step S190), and then causes the process to proceed to step S200.

[0036] The vehicle control unit 117 controls the communication unit 200 to transmit information including the remaining charge of the driving battery 310, the charge amount required to travel from the destination to home, and information about the extracted charging spots to the user terminal 600 (step S200), and then ends the processing.

[0037] An example of a display mode of information that the vehicle 1 causes the user terminal 600 to display will be described with reference to FIG. Based on the information received from the vehicle 1, the user terminal 600 displays information including, for example, an indication of the remaining charge of the driving battery 310 and a message about the remaining charge. An example of a display relating to the remaining charge of the driving battery 310 is a graph showing the current remaining charge when the fully charged charge of the driving battery 310 is taken as 100%. As a message regarding the remaining charge, for example, if the current remaining charge of the drive battery 310 is sufficient to reach home from the current location, a message such as "To return home from the current location, a remaining charge of 50% or more is required. The current remaining charge is 65%. You can travel from your current location to home without charging" is displayed. As a message regarding the remaining charge, for example, if the current remaining charge of the drive battery 310 is not enough to reach home, a message such as "To return home from your current location, a remaining charge of 70% or more is required. The current remaining charge is 45%. The drive battery needs to be charged" is displayed, along with information about the charging spot (name, location, etc.).

[0038] <Actions and Effects> As described above, the vehicle 1 of this embodiment is equipped with a remaining charge acquisition unit 111 that acquires the remaining charge of the drive battery 310 when the vehicle is powered off, a location information acquisition unit 112 that acquires location information of the current location, a charge amount calculation unit 113 that calculates the amount of charge of the drive battery 310 required to travel from the current location to the departure location, a current location determination unit 114 that determines whether the location of the vehicle 1 when the vehicle is powered off is the destination, a communication unit 200 that transmits information to the user terminal 600 including the acquired remaining charge of the drive battery 310 and the amount of charge of the drive battery 310 required to travel from the current location to the departure location, and a vehicle control unit 117 that controls the processing of the entire vehicle 1. If the current location of vehicle 1 when powered off is the destination, vehicle 1 transmits information to user terminal 600 including the current remaining charge of drive battery 310 and the amount of charge required to return from the current location to the departure point. In other words, when the vehicle 1 arrives at the destination, the user terminal 600 displays information including the current remaining charge of the driving battery 310 and the amount of charge required to return to the starting point (e.g., home) from the current position of the vehicle 1. This allows the user, when arriving at the destination, to obtain information regarding the amount of charge required to return from the destination to the starting point and information regarding the current remaining charge of the drive battery 310 without having to perform any cumbersome operations. If the vehicle 1 cannot reach the departure point with the current remaining charge of the drive battery 310, the user terminal 600 displays a message such as, "To return home from your current location, a remaining charge of 70% or more is required. The current remaining charge is 45%. The drive battery needs to be charged." This allows the user to recognize that charging of the drive battery 310 is necessary to return from the current location to the starting point, allowing for a smooth transition to the next action (charging, driving a power-saving route, etc.).

[0039] The vehicle 1 according to the present embodiment described above further includes a determination unit 115 that determines whether the remaining charge of the drive battery 310 is less than the charge of the drive battery 310 required to travel from the current location to the departure location, and an extraction unit 116 that extracts charging spots that can be reached from the current location with the remaining charge of the drive battery 310. In other words, when vehicle 1 determines that vehicle 1 has arrived at the destination and that the remaining charge of drive battery 310 is less than the amount of charge required to travel from the current location to the departure location, it extracts charging spots that can be reached with the remaining charge of drive battery 310 and transmits information about the extracted charging spots (e.g., charging spot name, location) to user terminal 600. In other words, when vehicle 1 arrives at the destination, if it determines that the current remaining charge of drive battery 310 is not enough to reach the departure point (e.g., home) from the current location, it extracts charging spots that can be reached with the current remaining charge of drive battery 310, and displays information about the extracted charging spots on user terminal 600. As a result, when the user reaches the destination, the user can obtain information about charging spots that can be reached with the current remaining charge of the driving battery 310 without having to perform any troublesome operations. If the vehicle 1 determines that the remaining charge of the driving battery 310 is not lower than the charge amount required to travel from the current location to the departure point, the vehicle 1 does not cause the user terminal 600 to display information about charging spots. That is, if the vehicle 1 determines that it can reach the departure point from the current location with the current remaining charge of the driving battery 310, it does not provide the user with information about charging spots. This allows the vehicle 1 to prevent the user terminal 600 from displaying information about charging spots that are not useful to the user, thereby preventing the user from feeling annoyed.

[0040] <Second embodiment> A vehicle 1A according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. Note that components with the same reference numerals as those in the first embodiment have the same functions, and therefore detailed descriptions thereof will be omitted.

[0041] <Vehicle 1A Configuration> As shown in FIG. 5, a vehicle 1A according to this embodiment includes a controller 100A, a communication unit 200, a charge control device 300, a driving battery 310, a navigation device 400A, and a power control device 500. The configuration of the controller 100A will be described in detail later.

[0042] In this embodiment, the navigation device 400A calculates a driving route to a destination specified by the user, displays the calculated driving route, and performs route guidance. In this embodiment, when a destination is designated by the user, the navigation device 400A outputs position information of the designated destination to the controller 100A. In this embodiment, when the navigation device 400A receives, for example, home position information from the controller 100A, it calculates a driving route from the current location back to the home via the destination, and outputs travel distance information of the calculated driving route to the controller 100A.

[0043] <Configuration of Controller 100A>

[0044] The controller 100A includes one or more processors and one or more memories communicatively coupled to the one or more processors. As shown in FIG. 6, the controller 100A in this embodiment includes a processor 110A and a memory 120. The processor 110A and the memory 120 input and output information via a bus line BL. The configuration of the processor 110A will be described later.

[0045] <Configuration of Processor 110A>

[0046] As shown in FIG. 6, the processor 110A includes a remaining charge acquisition unit 111, a location information acquisition unit 112, a charge amount calculation unit 113A, a current location determination unit 114, a determination unit 115, an extraction unit 116, and a vehicle control unit 117A.

[0047] Based on the current location information acquired by the location information acquisition unit 112, the charge amount calculation unit 113A calculates the charge amount of the driving battery 310 required to travel from the current location to the home via the destination. In this embodiment, when the vehicle control unit 117A, which will be described later, inputs information about the distance traveled along the route from the current location to the home via the destination, the charge amount calculation unit 113A calculates the amount of charge required to travel the input distance. The charge amount calculation unit 113A calculates the charge amount required to travel the input travel distance based on, for example, the travel distance information input from the vehicle control unit 117A and the average power consumption of the vehicle 1A. In this embodiment, the charge amount calculation unit 113A outputs the calculation result to the determination unit 115 and a vehicle control unit 117A (described later) via the bus line BL.

[0048] In this embodiment, the vehicle control unit 117A controls the overall processing of the vehicle 1A in accordance with a control program stored in the memory 120. In this embodiment, for example, when the user inputs location information of a destination designated by the user from the navigation device 400A, the vehicle control unit 117A stores the input location information of the destination in the memory 120. In this embodiment, the vehicle control unit 117A acquires, for example, information relating to the on / off state of the power switch from the power control device 500, and determines that the state of the power switch has changed from on to off. In this embodiment, for example, when the vehicle control unit 117A determines that the state of the power switch has changed from on to off, it outputs information that the power switch has been turned off to the remaining charge acquisition unit 111 via the bus line BL, causing the remaining charge of the driving battery 310 to be acquired. In this embodiment, for example, when the vehicle control unit 117A determines that the state of the power switch has changed from on to off, it outputs a request to acquire location information to the location information acquisition unit 112 via the bus line BL, causing the location information of the current location to be acquired. In this embodiment, for example, when the vehicle control unit 117A determines that the state of the power switch has changed from on to off, it outputs a request to determine the current location to the current location determination unit 114, causing it to determine whether the current location is the destination or a waypoint before the destination. In this embodiment, for example, when the current location of the vehicle 1A is a waypoint before the destination, the vehicle control unit 117A outputs the home location information to the navigation device 400A and causes the navigation device 400A to calculate the travel distance of the travel route from the current location to the home via the destination. In this embodiment, for example, when the current location of vehicle 1A is a waypoint before the destination, vehicle control unit 117A outputs travel distance information of the travel route from the current location to home via the destination, obtained from navigation device 400A, to charge amount calculation unit 113A, and causes the charge amount calculation unit 113A to calculate the charge amount required to return from the current location to home via the destination. In this embodiment, for example, when the current location of vehicle 1A is a waypoint before the destination, vehicle control unit 117A outputs a determination request to determination unit 115 to determine whether the remaining charge of drive battery 310 is less than the charge amount required to travel from the current location to home via the destination. In this embodiment, when the current location determination unit 114 determines that the current location of vehicle 1A is a waypoint before the destination and the determination unit 115 determines that the remaining charge of drive battery 310 is not less than the charge amount required to travel from the current location to home via the destination, vehicle control unit 117A outputs information including the remaining charge of drive battery 310 and the charge amount required to travel from the current location to home via the destination to communication unit 200. In this embodiment, for example, when the current location determination unit 114 determines that the current location of vehicle 1A is a waypoint before the destination and the determination unit 115 determines that the remaining charge of the driving battery 310 is less than the amount of charge required to travel from the current location to home via the destination, the vehicle control unit 117A outputs a request to extract charging spots to the extraction unit 116, causing the extraction unit 116 to extract charging spots that can be reached with the current remaining charge of the driving battery 310. In this embodiment, for example, when the current location determination unit 114 determines that the current location of vehicle 1A is a waypoint before the destination and the determination unit 115 determines that the remaining charge of drive battery 310 is less than the charge amount required to travel from the current location to home via the destination, vehicle control unit 117A outputs information to communication unit 200 including the remaining charge of drive battery 310, the charge amount required to travel from the current location to home via the destination, and information regarding the charging spot input from extraction unit 116.

[0049] <Processing flow for vehicle 1A> The processing flow of the vehicle 1A according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

[0050] The vehicle control unit 117A determines whether or not a destination has been set (step S110). When the vehicle control unit 117A determines that the location information of the destination has not been input from the navigation device 400A ("NO" in step S110), the process returns to the standby state. When it is determined that the location information of the destination has been input from the navigation device 400A ("YES" in step S110), the vehicle control unit 117A stores the location information of the destination input from the navigation device 400A in the memory 120 (step S120).

[0051] The vehicle control unit 117A determines whether the state of the power switch has changed from the on state to the off state (step S130). When vehicle control unit 117A determines that the state of the power switch has not changed from the on state to the off state ("NO" in step S130), it returns the process to the standby state. When vehicle control unit 117A determines that the state of the power switch has changed from the on state to the off state ("YES" in step S130), it causes position information acquisition unit 112 to acquire position information of vehicle 1A (step S140).

[0052] Vehicle control unit 117A causes remaining charge acquisition unit 111 to acquire the remaining charge of driving battery 310 (step S150), and then causes the process to proceed to step S310.

[0053] The vehicle control unit 117A causes the current location determination unit 114 to determine whether or not the position of the vehicle 1A is at a waypoint before the destination (step S310). If the current location determination unit 114 determines that the position of the vehicle 1A is the destination ("NO" in step S310), the vehicle control unit 117A ends the process. If the current location determination unit 114 determines that the position of the vehicle 1A is a waypoint before the destination ("YES" in step S310), the vehicle control unit 117A shifts the process to step S320.

[0054] Vehicle control unit 117A causes charge amount calculation unit 113A to calculate the charge amount required to return to home from the current location via the destination (step S320), and then causes the process to proceed to step S330.

[0055] Vehicle control unit 117A causes determination unit 115 to determine whether the remaining charge of driving battery 310 is less than the charge amount required to travel from the current location to home via the destination (step S330). If the determination unit 115 determines that the remaining charge of the driving battery 310 is not less than the charge amount required to return home from the destination ("NO" in step S330), the vehicle control unit 117A controls the communication unit 200 to transmit information including the remaining charge of the driving battery 310 and the charge amount required to travel from the current location to home via the destination to the user terminal 600 (step S210), and then terminates the processing. If the determination unit 115 determines that the remaining charge of the driving battery 310 is less than the charge amount required to return from the destination to home ("YES" in step S330), the vehicle control unit 117A transitions the processing to step S190.

[0056] Vehicle control unit 117A causes extraction unit 116 to extract charging spots within a range that can be reached with the remaining charge of driving battery 310 (step S190), and then causes the process to proceed to step S200.

[0057] The vehicle control unit 117A controls the communication unit 200 to transmit information including the remaining charge of the driving battery 310, the charge amount required to travel from the current location to the home via the destination, and information about the extracted charging spots to the user terminal 600 (step S200), and then ends the processing.

[0058] An example of a display mode of information that the vehicle 1A causes the user terminal 600 to display will be described with reference to FIG. Based on the information received from the vehicle 1A, the user terminal 600 displays, for example, a display relating to the remaining charge of the driving battery 310 and a message relating to the remaining charge. An example of a display relating to the remaining charge of the driving battery 310 is a graph showing the current remaining charge when the fully charged charge of the driving battery 310 is taken as 100%. As a message regarding the remaining charge, for example, if the current remaining charge of the drive battery 310 is sufficient to travel from the current location to home via the destination, a message such as "To return home from the current location via the destination, a remaining charge of 50% or more is required. The current remaining charge is 65%. It is possible to travel from the current location to home via the destination without charging" is displayed. As a message regarding the remaining charge, for example, if the current remaining charge of the drive battery 310 is not enough to reach home from the current location via the destination, a message such as "To return home from the current location via the destination, a remaining charge of 70% or more is required. The current remaining charge is 45%. The drive battery needs to be charged" is displayed, along with information about the charging spot (name, location, etc.).

[0059] <Actions and Effects> As described above, the vehicle 1A of this embodiment is equipped with a remaining charge acquisition unit 111 that acquires the remaining charge of the drive battery 310 when the vehicle is powered off, a location information acquisition unit 112 that acquires location information of the current location, a charge amount calculation unit 113A that calculates the amount of charge of the drive battery 310 required to travel from the current location to the departure point via the destination, a current location determination unit 114 that determines whether the location of the vehicle 1A when the vehicle is powered off is the destination, a communication unit 200 that transmits information to the user terminal 600 including the acquired remaining charge of the drive battery 310 and the amount of charge of the drive battery 310 required to travel from the current location to the departure point via the destination, and a vehicle control unit 117A that controls the overall processing of the vehicle 1A. If the vehicle 1A is located at a waypoint before the destination when the power is turned off, the vehicle 1A transmits to the user terminal 600 information regarding the current remaining charge of the driving battery 310 and the amount of charge required to return from the current location via the destination to the starting point. In other words, when vehicle 1A arrives at a waypoint before the destination, it displays on user terminal 600 information including the current remaining charge of drive battery 310 and the amount of charge required to return to the starting point (e.g., home) via the destination. This allows the user, when arriving at a waypoint before the destination, to obtain information regarding the amount of charge required to return from the current location via the destination to the starting point and information regarding the remaining charge of the drive battery 310 without having to perform any cumbersome operations. If vehicle 1A cannot reach the departure point from its current location via the destination with the current remaining charge of drive battery 310, it displays a message on user terminal 600, such as, "To return home from your current location via the destination, a remaining charge of 70% or more is required. The current remaining charge is 45%. The drive battery needs to be charged." This allows the user to recognize that charging the drive battery 310 is necessary to return from the current location via the destination to the starting point, allowing for a smooth transition to the next action (charging, driving a power-saving route, etc.).

[0060] The vehicle 1A according to the present embodiment described above includes a determination unit 115 that determines whether the remaining charge of the drive battery 310 is less than the amount of charge required to travel from the current location to the departure point via the destination, and an extraction unit 116 that extracts charging spots that can be reached from the current location with the remaining charge of the drive battery 310. In other words, when vehicle 1A determines that vehicle 1A has arrived at a waypoint before the destination and determines that the remaining charge of drive battery 310 is less than the amount of charge required to travel from the current location to the starting location (e.g., home) via the destination, extraction unit 116 extracts charging spots that can be reached with the remaining charge of drive battery 310 and transmits information about the extracted charging spots to user terminal 600. In other words, when vehicle 1A arrives at a waypoint before the destination, if it determines that the current remaining charge in drive battery 310 is not enough to reach the departure point from the current location via the destination, it causes user terminal 600 to display information about charging spots that can be reached with the current remaining charge in drive battery 310. As a result, when the user arrives at a waypoint before the destination, the user can obtain information about charging spots that can be reached with the current remaining charge of the driving battery 310 without having to perform any cumbersome operations. If the vehicle 1A determines that the remaining charge of the driving battery 310 is not less than the charge amount required to travel from the current location to the departure point via the destination, the vehicle 1A does not display information about charging spots on the user terminal 600. That is, if the vehicle 1A determines that it is possible to reach the departure point from the current location via the destination with the current remaining charge of the driving battery 310, it does not provide the user with information about charging spots. This prevents the vehicle 1A from displaying information about charging spots that are not useful to the user on the user terminal 600, thereby preventing the user from feeling annoyed.

[0061] <Variation 1> The processor 110 and memory 120 of the vehicle 1 described above may be configured using the processor and memory provided in the navigation device 400.

[0062] <Variation 2> In the vehicle 1 described above, information relating to the remaining charge level is displayed on the user terminal 600, but it may also be displayed on the display unit of the navigation device 400 or the like. This allows the user to recognize the state of charge of the driving battery 310 of the vehicle 1 when getting off the vehicle 1. In addition, other passengers can also recognize the state of charge of the driving battery 310 of the vehicle 1.

[0063] <Variation 3> When the vehicle 1 described above displays information about the remaining charge on the user terminal 600, it may also display a display for obtaining information about the next destination that the user is to set. The vehicle 1 displays, for example, request information as shown in FIG. 9 on the user terminal 600, and acquires from the user terminal 600 information on whether the user's next destination is the departure point (home). For example, if the next destination is home, the vehicle 1 causes the navigation device 400 to set a travel route from the current location to home via a charging spot, or a travel route from the current location to home. This allows the user to set a travel route from the current location to his / her home in the navigation device 400 simply by performing a touch operation on the user terminal 600. If the next destination is other than the home, the vehicle 1 calculates the amount of charge required to travel to the next destination specified by the user, and displays the calculation result and information including the current remaining charge of the driving battery 310 on the user terminal 600. This allows the user to know whether or not it is possible to reach the designated next destination from the current location without charging.

[0064] The vehicle 1 and vehicle 1A of the present invention can be realized by recording the processing of the above-mentioned vehicle control unit 117 and vehicle control unit 117A on a recording medium readable by a computer system, reading the program recorded on this recording medium into memory, and executing it. The computer system here includes the OS and hardware such as peripheral devices.

[0065] If the above computer system uses a WWW (World Wide Web) system, it also includes the homepage providing environment (or display environment). The above 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 transmission waves in the transmission medium. The transmission medium for transmitting the above-mentioned program refers to a medium having a function for transmitting information, such as a network (communication network) such as the Internet or a communication line (communication line) such as a telephone line.

[0066] The above program may be for realizing part of the above-mentioned functions. The above program may be a so-called differential file (differential program) that can realize the above-mentioned functions in combination with a program already recorded in the computer system.

[0067] The above has described in detail an embodiment of the present invention with reference to the drawings, but all vehicles that can be implemented by a person skilled in the art by making appropriate design modifications based on the vehicle described above as an embodiment of the present invention also fall within the scope of the present invention as long as they include the gist of the present invention. Within the scope of the concept of the present invention, a person skilled in the art may conceive of various modifications and alterations, and it is understood that these modifications and alterations also fall within the scope of the present invention. For example, any embodiment in which a person skilled in the art has appropriately added or deleted components or modified the design, or added or omitted steps or modified conditions, is included within the scope of the present invention as long as it contains the essence of the present invention.

[0068] Furthermore, other effects and advantages brought about by the aspects described in this embodiment that are clear from the description in this specification or that can be appropriately thought of by a person skilled in the art are naturally understood to be brought about by the present invention. Various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining the multiple components disclosed in the above embodiments. For example, some components may be omitted from all the components shown in the embodiment. Furthermore, components from different embodiments may be combined as appropriate. [Explanation of symbols]

[0069] 1;Vehicle 100;controller 110;processor 111: Remaining charge acquisition unit 112;Location information acquisition unit 113; Charge amount calculation unit 114; Current location determination section 115; Judgment section 116;Extraction part 117;Vehicle control unit 120;Memory 200;Communications Department 300: Charging control device 310: Drive battery 400;Navigation equipment 500; Power control device 600 User terminal

Claims

1. a remaining charge acquisition unit that acquires the remaining charge of the drive battery when the power is off; a location information acquisition unit that acquires location information of a current location; a charge amount calculation unit that calculates the charge amount of the drive battery required to travel from the current location to the departure point based on the acquired position information; a communication unit that transmits to a user terminal information including the acquired remaining charge of the drive battery and the charge amount of the drive battery necessary for traveling from the current location to the departure point; A vehicle comprising:

2. 2. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the timing for powering off the vehicle is when the vehicle reaches a destination.

3. 2. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the timing for powering off the vehicle is when the vehicle reaches a destination.

4. a determination unit that determines whether the remaining charge of the drive battery is less than the charge amount required to travel from the current location to the departure point; an extracting unit that extracts charging spots that are reachable from the current location based on the remaining charge of the drive battery, 4. The vehicle according to claim 2, wherein when the determination unit determines that the remaining charge of the drive battery is lower than the amount of charge required to travel from the current location to the departure point, the extraction unit extracts the charging spots that can be reached with the remaining charge of the drive battery, and the communication unit transmits information about the extracted charging spots to a user terminal.

5. a controller; a communication unit; Equipped with The controller one or more processors; and one or more memories communicatively coupled to the one or more processors; the one or more processors: The remaining charge of the drive battery when the vehicle is powered off is acquired, and the amount of charge of the drive battery required to travel from the current location to the starting point is calculated based on the position information of the current location. The communication unit A vehicle characterized in that it transmits information to a user terminal, the information including the remaining charge of the drive battery and the charge amount of the drive battery required for traveling from the current location to the departure location.

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