Energy management methods

Abstract

To achieve required energy management in an entire vehicle group while executing charging in a schedule suitable for each electric vehicle according to a state of each electric vehicle.SOLUTION: An energy management method includes the steps of: generating (S24) a first plan indicating a charging schedule for each of a plurality of electric vehicles for performing energy management in a vehicle group at a first timing; and updating (S254) the first plan at a second timing. The method further includes the steps of: generating (S252) a second plan indicating a charging schedule for a target electric vehicle when preliminary charging operation for a target electric vehicle is detected after the first timing and before the second timing, the target electric vehicle being any of the plurality of electric vehicles; and executing (S257) charging of the target electric vehicle in accordance with the second plan when a charging start time of the target electric vehicle indicated by the second plan is earlier than that of the target electric vehicle indicated by the first plan.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to an energy management method using electric vehicles.

Background Art

[0002] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2022-113460 (Patent Document 1) discloses a method for an electric vehicle to perform energy management by charging and discharging.

Prior Art Document

Patent Document

[0003] [[ID=Z3]]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] In the technology described in Patent Document 1, one server controls a plurality of electric vehicles for energy management. This server predicts the actions of each electric vehicle, creates a charging and discharging plan for each electric vehicle based on the predicted action schedule, and controls each electric vehicle according to the created charging and discharging plan. Patent Document 1 discloses a method for realizing the required energy management for the entire vehicle group. However, Patent Document 1 does not consider executing charging with a schedule suitable for each electric vehicle according to the situation of each individual electric vehicle while realizing the required energy management.

[0005] The present disclosure has been made to solve the above problems, and an object thereof is to realize the required energy management for the entire vehicle group while executing charging with a schedule suitable for each electric vehicle according to the situation of each individual electric vehicle.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] An energy management method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure includes, at a first timing, generating a first plan showing the charging schedule for each of a group of electric vehicles for energy management in a group of vehicles including a group of electric vehicles, and, at a second timing after the first timing, updating the first plan. The method further includes, at a time after the first timing and before the second timing, if a pre-charging operation is detected for a target vehicle which is one of the group of electric vehicles, generating a second plan showing the charging schedule for the target vehicle, and, if the charging start time for the target vehicle shown in the second plan is earlier than the charging start time for the target vehicle shown in the first plan, performing charging of the target vehicle according to the second plan. [Effects of the Invention]

[0007] According to this disclosure, it becomes possible to achieve the required energy management for the entire vehicle fleet while performing charging according to a schedule suitable for each electric vehicle, depending on the circumstances of each individual electric vehicle. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0008] [Figure 1] This figure shows a schematic configuration of the energy management system according to the embodiment of the disclosure. [Figure 2] This is a flowchart showing an energy management method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 3] This figure illustrates an example of how an energy management system operates according to the process shown in Figure 2. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0009] Embodiments of this disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, the same or corresponding parts are denoted by the same reference numerals, and their descriptions will not be repeated.

[0010] Figure 1 is a diagram illustrating the schematic configuration of an energy management system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Referring to Figure 1, this system includes a plurality of electric vehicles (including vehicle 100), a plurality of EVSEs (Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment) 200, and a server 500 that collects information from each electric vehicle. Information on each electric vehicle is registered in the server 500, linked to individual vehicle identification information (vehicle ID), and updated as needed. Hereinafter, the plurality of electric vehicles managed by the server 500 may be referred to as "managed vehicles." The server 500 corresponds to an aggregator server. The aggregator server is configured to perform energy management by bundling multiple distributed energy resources (hereinafter also referred to as "DERs (Distributed Energy Resources)"). In this embodiment, electric vehicles electrically connected to the EVSEs 200 function as DERs. For example, vehicle 100 can function as a DER.

[0011] Vehicle 100 is a BEV (battery electric vehicle) configured to be plug-in charged using EVSE200 (external power supply equipment). Vehicle 100 includes a battery 110, an inlet 120, a charging circuit 130 (onboard charger), an ECU (Electronic Control Unit) 150, an HMI (Human Machine Interface) 180, and a communication device 190.

[0012] The charging circuit 130 is a circuit that charges the battery 110 using power supplied from outside the vehicle to the inlet 120. The charging circuit 130 is controlled by the ECU 150. The HMI 180 includes a navigation system (hereinafter referred to as "navigator"). When the user sets a destination in the navigation system, the navigation system displays the driving route to the destination to the user. The navigation system may also automatically set a destination according to the time of day based on the driving history of the vehicle 100. The ECU 150 communicates with the server 500 through the communication device 190. The communication device 190 includes a wireless communication device (e.g., a DCM (Data Communication Module)) that can access the communication network NW. The communication network NW is a wide-area network constructed by, for example, the internet and wireless base stations.

[0013] The EVSE200 is configured to receive power from a power grid (PG, for example, a power network constructed by transmission and distribution equipment) and supply power to electric vehicles. The EVSE200 is equipped with a charging cable 210. The tip of the charging cable 210 is provided with a connector 220 (plug) that can be attached to and detached from the inlet 120. When the connector 220 of the charging cable 210, which is connected to the main body of the EVSE200, is connected to the inlet 120 of a parked vehicle 100, the vehicle 100 becomes electrically connected to the EVSE200 (plug-in state). The server 500 can remotely control the charging (plug-in charging) of electric vehicles electrically connected to the power grid PG via the EVSE200.

[0014] Figure 2 is a flowchart of the energy management method according to this embodiment. In the flowchart, "S" represents a step. The process in S10 is performed by each electric vehicle included in the management. Each electric vehicle may have the same configuration as vehicle 100 (Figure 1). The process in S10 is performed by a control device (e.g., ECU 150) mounted on the electric vehicle. Each electric vehicle included in the management performs the process in S10 periodically.

[0015] In S10, the electric vehicle (e.g., vehicle 100) transmits a signal containing information about the electric vehicle (hereinafter referred to as the "vehicle signal") to the server 500 via wireless communication. The vehicle signal includes, for example, identification information of the electric vehicle (vehicle ID), location information indicating the current location of the electric vehicle, state information indicating the current state of the electric vehicle, control information relating to battery control, and action information indicating the planned actions of the electric vehicle. The state information includes information relating to the charging preparation operation, and indicates, for example, the parking state of the electric vehicle, the open / closed state of the charging lid provided in the inlet 120, and the connection state of the inlet 120 (plug in / plug out). The state information further indicates the state of the battery 110 (voltage, current, temperature, SOC, etc.). SOC (State of Charge) indicates the ratio of the current amount of charge to the amount of charge in a fully charged state. The control information may also include an upper limit SOC and a lower limit SOC. The control information may further include charging reservation information. The activity information may include the estimated time of arrival at the charging station, the State of Charge (SOC) at the estimated time of arrival, the estimated time of departure from the charging station, and the SOC at the estimated time of departure. The activity information may also include the destination of the navigation system. Hereinafter, the electric vehicle that has performed the S10 process will be referred to as the "target vehicle".

[0016] When server 500 receives the vehicle signal (S10) from the target vehicle, it starts a series of processes from S21 to S26. In S21, server 500 predicts the target vehicle's behavior based on the information contained in the received vehicle signal. The behavior prediction allows for the prediction of the target vehicle's future actions. Server 500 updates the managed information (planned actions) based on the results of the behavior prediction. In S22, server 500 determines whether the managed vehicle can perform the required energy management (hereinafter referred to as "target EM") based on the planned actions of the managed vehicle. Target EM includes at least one of energy management performed by individual vehicle control (hereinafter referred to as "individual vehicle EM") and energy management performed by vehicle group control (hereinafter referred to as "vehicle group EM"). An example of individual vehicle EM is closed energy management at the customer level (e.g., individual homes) (electricity price linkage, peak shaving, self-consumption, etc.). An example of vehicle group EM is energy management to respond to the adjustment capacity requested by the electricity market or retailers in DR (Demand Response).

[0017] If there is a target EM that can be executed under management (YES in S22), in S23, that target EM is reserved by the server 500. The reserved energy management is excluded from the target EM (S22). In the following S24, the server 500 determines the managed vehicle (hereinafter referred to as "EM-controlled vehicle") on which to execute the reserved energy management, creates a charging plan for the EM-controlled vehicle, and saves it linked to the vehicle ID. For individual vehicle EMs, the individual vehicle becomes the EM-controlled vehicle, and the server 500 generates a plan (hereinafter referred to as "individual vehicle EM plan") that shows the charging schedule for the individual vehicle to perform energy management on the individual vehicle. For vehicle group EMs, a vehicle group including multiple electric vehicles becomes the EM-controlled vehicle, and the server 500 generates a plan (hereinafter referred to as "vehicle group EM plan") that shows the charging schedule for each of the multiple electric vehicles to perform energy management on the vehicle group.

[0018] When the process of S24 is executed, the process proceeds to S25. Also, when there is no target EM that can be executed among the management targets (NO in S22), the processes of S23 and S24 are not executed, and the process proceeds to S25. In S25, the server 500 determines whether the vehicle group EM is reserved. When the vehicle group EM is reserved (YES in S25), the server 500 executes a series of processes of S251 to S257 for the reserved vehicle group EM.

[0019] In S251, the server 500 determines whether a charging preparation operation has been detected for the EM control target (electric vehicle). The charging preparation operation is a preparatory operation for the electric vehicle to become in a chargeable state. Examples of the charging preparation operation include that the electric vehicle is electrically connected to the power supply facility outside the vehicle (plug-in), the charging lid of the electric vehicle is opened, and the electric vehicle is parked at a place where charging is possible (for example, a parking lot where a power supply facility is installed). When a charging preparation operation is detected for any of the electric vehicles included in the EM control target (YES in S251), the server 500 generates an individual vehicle plan indicating a charging schedule for that electric vehicle in S252 and saves it in association with the vehicle ID. The server 500 may generate an individual vehicle plan based on the state of the electric vehicle (for example, the power storage amount) and the action plan of the electric vehicle. For the EM control target for which no charging preparation operation has been detected, the process of S252 (generation of an individual vehicle plan) is not executed.

[0020] Note that the server 500 may generate an individual vehicle plan based on the degree of deviation between the predicted action and the actual action of the electric vehicle at the time of generating (or the most recent update of) the vehicle group EM plan. If the electric vehicle behaves as predicted during the period from when the vehicle group EM plan is generated until a charging preparation operation of the electric vehicle is detected, and the future action (action plan) of the electric vehicle has not been changed, the individual vehicle plan generated in S252 may match the vehicle group EM plan.

[0021] In the following S253, the server 500 determines whether or not it is time to update the vehicle group EM plan. The update timing occurs, for example, every predetermined time (e.g., 30 minutes) after the vehicle group EM is reserved. If the update timing has not yet arrived (NO in S253), the process proceeds to S256. In S256, the server 500 identifies electric vehicles among the EM-controlled vehicles that are in a state where external charging (plug-in charging) is possible, and then in the following S257, it remotely controls the charging of the identified electric vehicles. Specifically, for EM-controlled vehicles for which an individual vehicle plan was set in S252, the server 500 causes external charging to be performed according to the charging schedule indicated in the individual vehicle plan. Also, for EM-controlled vehicles for which an individual vehicle plan has not been set, the server 500 causes external charging to be performed according to the charging schedule indicated in the vehicle group EM plan.

[0022] When the update timing arrives (YES in S253), the processes in S254 and S255 are executed. In S254, the server 500 updates the vehicle group EM plan based on the information contained in the latest vehicle signal (S10) (e.g., location information, status information, control information, and action information). In S255, the server 500 deletes the individual vehicle plan saved in S252. After that, the process proceeds to S256. The server 500 sequentially receives vehicle signals (S10) from each electric vehicle included in the management. Therefore, the server 500 continuously performs vehicle group control (S257) according to the reserved vehicle group EM. Note that the transmission cycle of the vehicle signal (S10) is shorter than the update cycle of the vehicle group EM plan (S253). In addition, each electric vehicle may execute the process in S10 when a predetermined event occurs (e.g., pre-charging operation).

[0023] FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining an operation example of an energy management system according to the process shown in FIG. 2. For example, in an example where the EM control target includes electric vehicles Y1 to Y4 shown in FIG. 3, each of the electric vehicles Y1 to Y4 is controlled as follows. When a charging standby operation is detected for an electric vehicle, an individual vehicle plan is generated (S252). The electric vehicle is controlled according to the individual vehicle plan until the vehicle group EM plan is updated after the EM control target becomes plug-in chargeable (S257). For this reason, when the charging start time of the electric vehicle indicated by the individual vehicle plan is earlier than the charging start time of the electric vehicle indicated by the vehicle group EM plan, the server 500 executes the charging of the electric vehicle according to the individual vehicle plan. After that, when the vehicle group EM plan is updated, thereafter, the electric vehicle is controlled according to the vehicle group EM plan (S257). By controlling the EM control target according to the vehicle group EM plan, the vehicle group EM reserved in the server 500 is executed.

[0024] The energy management method according to this embodiment includes each process shown in FIG. 2. This method includes generating a vehicle group EM plan (first plan) at a first timing (for example, "t0" in FIG. 3) (S24), and updating the vehicle group EM plan at a second timing (for example, "t1" in FIG. 3) after the first timing (S254). Further, this method includes generating an individual vehicle plan (second plan) indicating a charging schedule for the electric vehicle when a charging standby operation is detected for the electric vehicle included in the EM control target after the first timing and before the second timing (S252), and when the charging start time of the electric vehicle indicated by the individual vehicle plan is earlier than the charging start time of the electric vehicle indicated by the vehicle group EM plan, further including executing the charging of the electric vehicle according to the individual vehicle plan (S257).

[0025] In the method described above, when a pre-charging operation is detected for an electric vehicle included in the EM-controlled system, a separate individual vehicle charging schedule (individual vehicle plan) is generated in addition to the group charging schedule (group EM plan). For that electric vehicle, if the charging start time indicated in the individual vehicle plan is earlier than the charging start time indicated in the group EM plan, charging is performed according to the individual vehicle plan. Subsequently, when the second timing occurs, the group EM plan is updated. This makes it possible to perform charging according to the status of each electric vehicle, while achieving the required energy management for the entire group of vehicles.

[0026] Furthermore, the vehicle group EM plan indicates the charging schedule for each electric vehicle included in the vehicle group. Therefore, the computational load for generating the vehicle group EM plan is greater than the computational load for generating the individual vehicle plan. To reduce the computational load, it is desirable to reduce the frequency of generating the vehicle group EM plan. In this regard, with the above method, when a pre-charging operation is detected for an electric vehicle, a charging schedule for the electric vehicle (individual vehicle) is generated, and if it is determined that charging is necessary for the electric vehicle based on the individual vehicle plan, charging of the electric vehicle is performed without waiting for the charging start time for the electric vehicle indicated in the vehicle group EM plan. Therefore, even if the interval between the first timing and the second timing is increased, it becomes easier for the necessary charging to be performed for each electric vehicle. By increasing the interval between the first timing and the second timing, the computational load on server 500 can be reduced. In the example shown in Figure 3, the frequency of generating the vehicle group EM plan is once every 30 minutes. In this embodiment, the series of processes S251 to S257 in Figure 2 are repeatedly executed, and at a third timing later than the second timing (for example, "t2" in Figure 3), the server 500 further updates the vehicle group EM plan (S254).

[0027] When the process in S257 shown in Figure 2 is executed, the process proceeds to S26. Also, if no vehicle group EM is reserved at server 500 (NO in S25), the process proceeds to S26. At S26, server 500 determines whether or not an individual vehicle EM is reserved. If an individual vehicle EM is reserved at server 500 (YES in S26), server 500 executes the series of processes S261 to S264 described below with respect to the reserved individual vehicle EM.

[0028] In S261, the server 500 determines whether a predetermined update condition is met. For example, an update condition may be met if the degree of deviation between the predicted value at the time of generation (or most recent update) of the individual vehicle EM plan and the actual value exceeds a predetermined level. The predicted value related to the update condition may be a predicted value of a parameter indicating the planned actions of the EM-controlled target (such as the arrival time at the charging point and the battery level at arrival), or a predicted value of the consumer's power demand. An update condition may also be met if the destination or charging reservation set for the EM-controlled target is changed.

[0029] If the update conditions are met (YES in S261), the server 500 updates the individual vehicle EM plan in S262 based on the information contained in the latest vehicle signal (S10). If the update conditions are not met (NO in S261), the process in S262 is not executed. In the following S263, the server 500 determines whether the EM-controlled vehicle is in a state where it can perform external charging. For example, if the EM-controlled vehicle is in a controllable state and plugged in, the server 500 determines that the EM-controlled vehicle is in a state where it can perform external charging (YES in S263) and proceeds to S264. If an abnormality (e.g., a failure) occurs in the EM-controlled vehicle (NO in S263), the EM-controlled vehicle may be changed. In S264, the server 500 remotely controls the EM-controlled vehicle to perform external charging according to the charging schedule indicated in the individual vehicle EM plan. This executes the reserved individual vehicle EM.

[0030] For example, in an example where the EM control target is the electric vehicle X1 shown in Figure 3, when an individual vehicle EM plan is generated for the electric vehicle X1 (S24), the server 500 performs charging of the electric vehicle X1 according to the individual vehicle EM plan. The server 500 continuously performs individual vehicle control (S264) according to the reserved individual vehicle EM by repeatedly executing the processing flow of the individual vehicle EM.

[0031] In the above embodiment, each of the processes shown in Figure 2 is executed by one or more processors executing programs stored in one or more memories. However, these processes may be executed by dedicated hardware (electronic circuits) instead of software. The configuration of the electric vehicle is not limited to the configuration described above (see Figure 1). Other xEVs besides BEVs may be used, for example, a PHEV (plug-in hybrid vehicle) equipped with an internal combustion engine may be used. The electric vehicle may be configured to enable contactless charging. The electric vehicle may be equipped with a charge / discharge circuit having an external power supply function (e.g., V2G function) instead of a charging circuit.

[0032] The embodiments disclosed herein should be considered in all respects to be illustrative and not restrictive. The scope of this disclosure is indicated by the claims rather than by the description of the embodiments above, and all modifications within the meaning and scope equivalent to the claims are intended to be included. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0033] 100 vehicles, 150 ECUs, 200 EVSEs, 500 servers.

Claims

[Claim 1] At the first timing, a first plan is generated that shows the charging schedule for each of the multiple electric vehicles in order to perform energy management in a group of vehicles including multiple electric vehicles, The first plan is updated at a second timing that occurs after the first timing, Energy management method including, If a pre-charging operation is detected for any of the multiple electric vehicles after the first timing and before the second timing, a second plan is generated that indicates a charging schedule for the vehicle. If the charging start time for the target vehicle indicated in the second plan is earlier than the charging start time for the target vehicle indicated in the first plan, the charging of the target vehicle shall be carried out according to the second plan. Energy management methods, including further details.

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