electric vehicles

Abstract

The navigation system suggests more appropriate timings for battery charging, even when no destination is set. [Solution] The electric vehicle comprises a power storage device, an electric motor that outputs power for driving using electricity from the power storage device, a control device that controls the electric motor, and a navigation system. When the control device can estimate a driving route based on the user's past driving history when a destination has not been set by the navigation system, or when it can estimate the direction of travel on the road as the driving route because the vehicle is traveling on a main road, it will suggest charging the power storage device based on traffic information of the driving route and the user's charging history.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to an electric vehicle, and more particularly to an electric vehicle equipped with a navigation system.

Background Art

[0002] Conventionally, as this type of technology, a proposal has been made to display icons of facilities farther from the current position than the predicted reach distance in a lighter color (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In this technology, by making the color of the icon of a facility with a predicted arrival time later than the business closing time lighter, it is intended to simply and clearly inform the user about the possibility of reaching the target facility.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] However, in the above-described technology, when a destination is not set by the navigation system, no driving route is set because no destination is set. Therefore, it is not possible to propose necessary facilities, such as charging locations in the case of an electric vehicle.

[0005] The main object of the electric vehicle of the present disclosure is to propose charging of the battery at a more appropriate timing even when no destination is set by the navigation system.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] The electric vehicle of the present disclosure has taken the following means to achieve the above main object.

[0007] The electric vehicle of the present disclosure is An electric vehicle comprising a power storage device, an electric motor that outputs power for driving using the power from the power storage device, a control device that controls the electric motor, and a navigation system, When the control device can estimate a driving route based on the user's past driving history, or when it can estimate the direction of travel on a main road as the driving route, based on traffic information of the driving route and the user's charging history, the control device will suggest charging the energy storage device based on the traffic information of the driving route and the user's charging history. It is characterized by the following:

[0008] The electric vehicle of this disclosure comprises a power storage device, an electric motor that outputs power for driving using electricity from the power storage device, a control device that controls the electric motor, and a navigation system. When the control device of the electric vehicle of this disclosure can estimate a driving route based on the user's past driving history when a destination has not been set by the navigation system, or when it can estimate the direction of travel on the road as the driving route because it is traveling on a main road, it proposes charging the power storage device based on traffic information of the driving route and the user's charging history. This will enable the navigation system to suggest battery charging at a more appropriate time, even when no destination is set. Traffic information will include congestion and accident information. User charging history will include the state of charge (SOC) of the battery when charging was previously initiated. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0009] [Figure 1] This is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of an electric vehicle 20 as one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 2] This flowchart shows an example of a charge suggestion process performed by the electronic control unit 50. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0010] Next, embodiments for implementing this disclosure will be described. Figure 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of an electric vehicle 20 as one embodiment of this disclosure. As shown in the figure, the electric vehicle 20 of the embodiment includes a motor 22, an inverter 24, a battery 30, a bidirectional charging device 32, a navigation system 80, and an electronic control unit 50.

[0011] The motor 22 is configured, for example, as a three-phase AC motor, and comprises a rotor in which permanent magnets are embedded in a rotor core, and a stator in which three-phase coils are wound around a stator core. The rotor of the motor 22 is connected to a drive shaft 26 which is connected to drive wheels 28a and 28b via a differential gear 27.

[0012] The inverter 24 is used to drive the motor 22. The inverter 24 is connected to the battery 30 via a power line and consists of a well-known inverter circuit having six transistors as switching elements and six diodes connected in parallel to each of the six transistors.

[0013] The battery 30 is configured as a lithium-ion secondary battery or a nickel-metal hydride secondary battery and is connected to the inverter 24 via a power line.

[0014] The bidirectional charging device 32 is connected to the power line between the battery 30 and the inverter 24, and is configured as a circuit that charges the battery 30 with power from an external power source or supplies power from the battery 30 to an external power supply. The bidirectional charging device 32 is equipped with a connector 34 for connecting to an external charging stand or an external power supply stand.

[0015] The electronic control unit 50 is configured as a microcomputer having a CPU 51, ROM 52, RAM 53, flash memory 54, input / output ports (not shown), and communication ports. Signals from various sensors are input to the electronic control unit 50 via input ports. Examples of signals input to the electronic control unit 50 include the rotational position θ from the rotational position detection sensor 23 that detects the rotational position of the rotor of the motor 22, the battery voltage Vb from the voltage sensor 31a attached between the output terminals of the battery 30, the battery current Ib from the current sensor 31b attached to the power line, and the battery temperature Tb from the temperature sensor 31c attached to the battery 30. Other examples include the ignition signal from the ignition switch 60, the vehicle speed V from the vehicle speed sensor 61, the acceleration α from the acceleration sensor 62, and the wheel speeds Vw1 to Vw4 of each wheel from the wheel speed sensor 63. Furthermore, other signals include the shift position signal SP from the shift position sensor 65 that detects the position of the shift lever 64, the accelerator opening degree Acc from the accelerator pedal position sensor 67 that detects the amount the accelerator pedal 66 is pressed, and the brake pedal position BP from the brake pedal position sensor 69 that detects the amount the brake pedal 68 is pressed. In addition, an on / off signal from an air conditioning switch (not shown) that instructs the on / off status of the air conditioning unit 74 can also be mentioned.

[0016] Various control signals are output from the electronic control unit 50 via its output ports. Examples of control signals output from the electronic control unit 50 include display control signals to the display device 70, communication control signals to the communication device 72, and air conditioning control signals to the air conditioning device 74. The electronic control unit 50 calculates the charge level (SOC) of the battery 30 based on the battery voltage Vb from the voltage sensor 31a and the battery current Ib from the current sensor 31b, and calculates the rotational speed (Nm) of the motor 22 based on the rotational position θ from the rotational position detection sensor 23.

[0017] The navigation system 80 comprises a main unit 82 with a built-in control unit, a GPS antenna 84 that receives information about the vehicle's current location, and a display 86. The control unit of the main unit 82 has a storage medium (e.g., a hard disk or SSD) that stores map information, as well as input / output ports and communication ports. The map information includes service information (e.g., tourist information and parking information) and road information for each driving section (e.g., between traffic lights or between intersections) stored in a database. The road information includes distance information, width information, number of lanes information, regional information (urban or suburban), type information (general road or highway), gradient information, legal speed limit, number of traffic lights, and turning radius of each curve. The display 86 displays various information such as the vehicle's current location and the planned driving route to the destination, and is configured as a touch panel display that allows the user to input various instructions. When a destination is set by the user operating the display 86, the main unit 82 of the navigation system 80 sets a planned route from the vehicle's current location to the destination based on the map information stored in the main unit 82 and the vehicle's current location and destination from the GPS antenna 84, and displays the set planned route on the display 86 to provide route guidance.

[0018] Next, the operation of the electric vehicle 20 of the embodiment configured in this way, particularly the operation when a charging is suggested when no destination has been set by the navigation system 80, will be described. Figure 2 is a flowchart showing an example of the charging suggestion process performed by the electronic control unit 50.

[0019] When the charging proposal process is executed, the electronic control unit 50 first inputs the current driving data (step S100). The driving data includes the departure location, current location, traveling direction, type of the road being traveled, vehicle speed, and the like. Subsequently, a driving route is estimated based on the past driving history (step S110), and it is determined whether the driving route could be estimated (step S120). The past driving history includes the departure location, arrival location, driving route, and the like. The estimation of the driving route can be performed, for example, by estimating the driving route in the past driving history that matches when the departure location in the current driving data matches the departure location in the past driving history and the current location exists on the driving route in the past driving history as the current driving route.

[0020] When it is determined in step S120 that the driving route could not be estimated based on the past driving history, it is determined whether the vehicle is traveling on an arterial road (expressway or main road) (step S130). When it is determined that the vehicle is not traveling on an arterial road (expressway or main road), since the driving route cannot be estimated, it is judged that the proposal to charge the battery 30 is unnecessary, and this process ends. On the other hand, when it is determined that the vehicle is traveling on an arterial road (expressway or main road), it is judged that the vehicle will continue to travel on the arterial road, and the traveling direction of the arterial road is estimated as the driving route (step S140).

[0021] When the driving route is estimated in this way, traffic information on the driving route is acquired (step S150), and it is determined whether a traffic event such as a traffic jam or an accident has occurred on the driving route (step S160). When it is determined that no traffic event has occurred on the driving route, it is judged that the proposal to charge the battery 30 is unnecessary, and this process ends.

[0022] When it is determined in step S160 that a traffic event has occurred on the driving route, a power storage ratio threshold value Sref for starting charging is set based on the past charging information of the battery 30 of the user (step S170). The power storage ratio threshold value Sref can be set, for example, as the average value or median value of the power storage ratio SOC at the start of charging in the past charging of the battery 30. Next, the power storage ratio SOC of the battery 30 when passing through the traffic event due to the traffic event on the driving route is calculated as the power storage ratio predicted value Sest (step S180). For example, it can be calculated by subtracting the amount of power required to pass through the traffic event converted into the power storage ratio SOC from the power storage ratio SOC predicted immediately before this traffic event.

[0023] Then, it is determined whether the power storage ratio predicted value Sest is less than the power storage ratio threshold value Sref (step S190). When it is determined that the power storage ratio predicted value Sest is less than the power storage ratio threshold value Sref, it is determined that it is preferable to charge the battery 30 before reaching the traffic event on the driving route, and the user is notified of the power storage ratio predicted value Sest when passing through the traffic event and the proposal to charge the battery 30 (step S200), and this process ends. This notification can be performed, for example, by displaying a message such as "Traffic congestion has occurred in the traveling direction, and it is estimated that the remaining battery level will be the power storage ratio predicted value Sest when passing through the congestion. Therefore, it is proposed to charge the battery." on the display device 70 and outputting it as voice. When it is determined in step S190 that the power storage ratio predicted value Sest is greater than or equal to the power storage ratio threshold value Sref, it is determined that the proposal to charge the battery 30 is unnecessary, and this process ends.

[0024] In the electric vehicle 20 of the embodiment described above, even when a destination has not been set by the navigation system 80, if a driving route can be estimated based on the user's past driving history, or if the direction of travel on the road can be estimated as the driving route because the vehicle is traveling on a main road, the system will suggest charging the battery 30 based on the estimated driving route traffic information and the user's charging history. This makes it possible to suggest charging the battery 30 at a more appropriate timing, even when a destination has not been set by the navigation system 80.

[0025] In this embodiment, the contents of this disclosure were applied to an electric vehicle 20 in which a motor 22 is attached to a drive shaft 26 connected to drive wheels 28a and 28b. However, it may also be applied to an electric vehicle with in-wheel motors in which a motor is attached to each wheel, a fuel cell vehicle having a fuel cell in addition to a motor, or a hybrid vehicle having an engine in addition to a motor.

[0026] The correspondence between the main elements of the embodiment and the main elements of the invention described in the section on means for solving the problem will be explained. In the embodiment, the battery 30 corresponds to the "energy storage device", the motor 22 corresponds to the "electric motor", the electronic control unit 50 corresponds to the "control device", and the navigation system 80 corresponds to the "navigation system".

[0027] Furthermore, the correspondence between the main elements of the embodiment and the main elements of the invention described in the section on means for solving the problem is merely an example to specifically explain the form in which the embodiment implements the invention described in the section on means for solving the problem, and does not limit the elements of the invention described in the section on means for solving the problem. In other words, the interpretation of the invention described in the section on means for solving the problem should be based on the description in that section, and the embodiment is merely one specific example of the invention described in the section on means for solving the problem.

[0028] Although embodiments for carrying out the present invention have been described above using examples, the present invention is not limited in any way to these embodiments, and can be carried out in various forms without departing from the spirit of the present invention. [Industrial applicability]

[0029] This invention can be used in industries such as electric vehicle manufacturing. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0030] 20 Electric vehicle, 22 Motor, 24 Inverter, 26 Drive shaft, 27 Differential gear, 28a, 28b Drive wheels, 30 Battery, 31a Voltage sensor, 31b Current sensor, 31c Temperature sensor, 32 Bidirectional charging device, 34 Connector, 50 Electronic control unit, 51 CPU, 52 ROM, 53 RAM, 54 Flash memory, 60 Ignition switch, 61 Vehicle speed sensor, 62 Acceleration sensor, 63 Wheel speed sensor, 64 Shift lever, 65 Shift position sensor, 66 Accelerator pedal, 67 Accelerator pedal position sensor, 68 Brake pedal, 69 Brake pedal position sensor, 70 Display device, 72 Communication device, 74 Air conditioning device, 80 Navigation system, 82 Main unit, 84 GPS antenna, 86 Display.

Claims

[Claim 1] An electric vehicle comprising a power storage device, an electric motor that outputs power for driving using the power from the power storage device, a control device that controls the electric motor, and a navigation system, When the control device can estimate a driving route based on the user's past driving history, or when it can estimate the direction of travel on a main road as the driving route, based on traffic information of the driving route and the user's charging history, the control device will suggest charging the energy storage device based on the traffic information of the driving route and the user's charging history. An electric vehicle characterized by the following features.

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