Evaluation of an energy consumption of an electric vehicle

Abstract

A computer-implemented method for generating data indicative of an energy consumption of an electric vehicle (110) is provided. In the method a first charging session and a second charging session are detected (310); data descriptive of a state of charge of the electric vehicle in relation to the charging sessions is obtained (320); an estimation of an energy consumption over a distance of a trip is determined (330); and an electric vehicle specific data record comprising the estimation of the energy consumption is generated (340). Also a computing system (120) and a computer program (525) are provided to.

Description

[0001] EVALUATION OF AN ENERGY CONSUMPTION OF AN ELECTRIC VEHICLE

[0002] TECHNICAL FIELD

[0003] The invention concerns in general the technical field of electric vehicles. More particularly, the invention concerns an evaluation of an energy consumption of electric vehicles and a generation of data in relation to that.

[0004] BACKGROUND

[0005] Electric vehicles are more and more replacing traditional vehicles. This change is not only related to vehicles but also an infrastructure for charging needs to be in place in order to enhance the green transition. As a result, different operators have brought into markets a network of charging stations in order to charge the electric vehicles.

[0006] One topic around the electric vehicles is an operating range of the electric vehicles which is one essential criterium in selecting the electric vehicle by consumers. The information relating to the operating range of the electric vehicles is currently provided by the manufacturers and due to its nature as a marketing data, the information may be formed in a manner that is favorable to the manufacturer in question.

[0007] On the other hand, access to data descriptive of energy consumption is limited since it is primarily available from the electric vehicles, i.e. on-board energy consumption determination, which typically have sophisticated mechanisms to monitor the energy consumption.

[0008] In the described environment there is a clear need for accessing data descriptive of energy consumption that is trustful, unbiased and comparable. Therefore, there is room for introducing solutions to evaluate the energy consumption of the electric vehicles and to generate data representing the same which improve the current situation. SUMMARY

[0009] The following presents a simplified summary in order to provide basic understanding of some aspects of various invention embodiments. The summary is not an extensive overview of the invention. It is neither intended to identify key or critical elements of the invention nor to delineate the scope of the invention. The following summary merely presents some concepts of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to a more detailed description of exemplifying embodiments of the invention.

[0010] An object of the invention is to present a computer-implemented method, a computing system and a computer program for generating data indicative of energy consumption of an electric vehicle.

[0011] The objects of the invention are reached by a computer-implemented method, a computing system and a computer program as defined by the respective independent claims.

[0012] According to a first aspect, a computer-implemented method is provided, the computer-implemented method is for generating data indicative of an energy consumption of an electric vehicle in an environment wherein data descriptive of charging sessions of a plurality of electric vehicles is received from a plurality of charging stations, the method, performed by a computing system, comprises: detecting, based on the data descriptive of the charging sessions , a first charging session of the electric vehicle performed at a first charging station and a second charging session of the electric vehicle performed at a second charging station, the second charging session has occurred after the first charging session, obtaining data descriptive of a state of charge of the electric vehicle at a completion of the first charging session and data descriptive of the state of charge of the electric vehicle at a beginning of the second charging session, determining an estimation of an energy consumption of the electric vehicle over a distance of a trip between the first charging station and the second charging station, and generating an electric vehicle specific data record comprising the estimation of the energy consumption as determined.

[0013] For example, detecting the first charging session and the second charging session of the electric vehicle may be performed based on an identification of at least one common identifier in both charging sessions. The common identifier may e.g. be at least one of the following: an identifier identifying the electric vehicle; an identifier identifying a user of the electric vehicle. The identifier identifying the electric vehicle may correspond to at least one of the following: a MAC address of the electric vehicle; a wireless identifier of a wireless communication module of the electric vehicle; a vehicle identification number. Alternatively or in addition, the identifier identifying the user may correspond to at least one of the following: user data received from a user tag used in an activation of the charging session in the charging station; user data received from a payment transaction of the charging session. Also, a model of the electric vehicle may be determined based on at least one of the following: the identifier being common to the charging sessions, data received during the charging session by the respective charging station, and wherein the model of the electric vehicle is included in the electric vehicle specific data record.

[0014] Still further, the determination of the estimation of the energy consumption may comprise: obtaining data indicative of the distance of the trip, determining the estimation of the energy consumption as a value of an energy consumption with respect to the distance, the determination is performed by using the data indicative of the state of the charge of the electric vehicle at the completion of the first charging session and the data indicative of the state of charge of the electric vehicle at the beginning of the second charging session with the distance of the trip. The data relating to the charging session may further comprise at least a time stamp defining an instant of time of the completion of the first charging session and a time stamp defining an instant of time of the beginning of the second charging session.

[0015] Thus, the method may further comprise: validating that the first charging session and the second charging session relate to the trip by: requesting navigational data for a route between a position of the first charging station and a position of the second charging station from an external service, the navigational data defining a duration of a travel of the route, comparing the navigational data defining the duration of the travel of the route with a duration of a travel of the trip defined on the basis of the time stamp defining the instant of time of the completion of the first charging session and the time stamp defining the instant of time of the beginning of the second charging session, generating a detection result, based on the comparison, to express one of the following: i) the first charging session and the second charging session relate to the trip; ii) the first charging session and the second charging session do not relate to the trip.

[0016] Moreover, the method may further comprise: obtaining trip related data descriptive of at least one of the following: a weather conditions during the trip; an elevation profile of the trip, including the trip related data to electric vehicle specific data record.

[0017] Still further, the method may comprise: generating a control signal to the second charging station, the control signal causing an output of at least part of the data of the electric vehicle specific data record through a user interface of the second charging station.

[0018] According to a second aspect, a computing system is provided, the computing system is for generating data indicative of an energy consumption of an electric vehicle in an environment wherein data descriptive of charging sessions of a plurality of electric vehicles is received from a plurality of charging stations, the computing system is configured to: detect, based on the data descriptive of the charging sessions , a first charging session of the electric vehicle performed at a first charging station and a second charging session of the electric vehicle performed at a second charging station, the second charging session has occurred after the first charging session, obtain data descriptive of a state of charge of the electric vehicle at a completion of the first charging session and data descriptive of the state of charge of the electric vehicle at a beginning of the second charging session, determine an estimation of an energy consumption of the electric vehicle over a distance of a trip between the first charging station and the second charging station, and generate an electric vehicle specific data record comprising the estimation of the energy consumption as determined.

[0019] For example, the computing system may be configured to perform detecting the first charging session and the second charging session of the electric vehicle based on an identification of at least one common identifier in both charging sessions. The computing system may be configured to apply as the common identifier at least one of the following: an identifier identifying the electric vehicle; an identifier identifying a user of the electric vehicle. The computing system may be configured to apply as the identifier identifying the electric vehicle at least one of the following: a MAC address of the electric vehicle; a wireless identifier of a wireless communication module of the electric vehicle; a vehicle identification number. Alternatively or in addition, the computing system may be configured to apply as the identifier identifying the user at least one of the following: user data received from a user tag used in an activation of the charging session in the charging station; user data received from a payment transaction of the charging session. Also, the computing system may be configured to determine a model of the electric vehicle based on the identifier being common to the charging sessions, the model of the electric vehicle is included in the electric vehicle specific data record.

[0020] Still further, the computing system may be configured to perform the determination of the estimation of the energy consumption by: obtaining data indicative of the distance of the trip, determining the estimation of the energy consumption as a value of an energy consumption with respect to the distance, the determination is performed by using the data indicative of the state of the charge of the electric vehicle at the completion of the first charging session and the data indicative of the state of charge of the electric vehicle at the beginning of the second charging session with the distance of the trip.

[0021] The data relating to the charging session may further comprise at least a time stamp defining an instant of time of the completion of the first charging session and a time stamp defining an instant of time of the beginning of the second charging session.

[0022] Thus, the computing system may further be configured to validate that the first charging session and the second charging session relate to the trip by: requesting navigational data for a route between a position of the first charging station and a position of the second charging station from an external service, the navigational data defining a duration of a travel of the route, comparing the navigational data defining the duration of the travel of the route with a duration of a travel of the trip defined on the basis of the time stamp defining the instant of time of the completion of the first charging session and the time stamp defining the instant of time of the beginning of the second charging session, generating a detection result, based on the comparison, to express one of the following: i) the first charging session and the second charging session relate to the trip; ii) the first charging session and the second charging session do not relate to the trip.

[0023] Moreover, the computing system may further be configured to: obtain trip related data descriptive of at least one of the following: a weather conditions during the trip; an elevation profile of the trip, include the trip related data to electric vehicle specific data record.

[0024] Still further, the computing system may further be configured to: generate a control signal to the second charging station, the control signal causing an output of at least part of the data of the electric vehicle specific data record through a user interface of the second charging station.

[0025] For example, the computing system may be an offboard system.

[0026] According to a third aspect, a computer program comprising instructions to cause the computing system according to the second aspect as defined above to execute the steps of the method according to the first aspect as defined above.

[0027] The expression "a number of” refers herein to any positive integer starting from one, e.g. to one, two, or three.

[0028] The expression "a plurality of” refers herein to any positive integer starting from two, e.g. to two, three, or four. Various exemplifying and non-limiting embodiments of the invention both as to constructions and to methods of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific exemplifying and non-limiting embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.

[0029] The verbs “to comprise” and “to include” are used in this document as open limitations that neither exclude nor require the existence of unrecited features. The features recited in dependent claims are mutually freely combinable unless otherwise explicitly stated. Furthermore, it is to be understood that the use of “a” or “an”, i.e. a singular form, throughout this document does not exclude a plurality.

[0030] BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES

[0031] The embodiments of the invention are illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings.

[0032] Figure 1 illustrates schematically an environment of the invention according to an example.

[0033] Figure 2 illustrates schematically an implementation of charging according to an example.

[0034] Figure 3 illustrates schematically a method according to an example.

[0035] Figure 4 illustrates schematically aspects relating to a battery according to an example.

[0036] Figure 5 illustrates schematically a computing system according to an example.

[0037] DESCRIPTION OF THE EXEMPLIFYING EMBODIMENTS

[0038] The specific examples provided in the description given below should not be construed as limiting the scope and / or the applicability of the appended claims. Lists and groups of examples provided in the description given below are not exhaustive unless otherwise explicitly stated.

[0039] Figure 1 illustrates schematically an environment into which the present invention is implementable to. Figure 1 illustrates schematically a road network in an area wherein a plurality of charging stations CS are arranged in a spatially distributed manner for charging electric vehicles 110. In the context of the present invention sites where the electric vehicles 110 are chargeable may comprise one or more charging stations CS that are identifiable from each other. For example, each charging station CS may be provided with a dedicated identifier and a location of each charging station may be defined e.g. as a geographical coordinates. Such data may be stored in the charging station CS and at least part of it is provided when the charging station CS in question communicates with any other entity. It may also be arranged that at least part of the data is stored in another entity than the charging station CS. For example, the information on the location of a charging station CS may be inquirable from a data storage arranged to store such data e.g. by using the identifier of the charging station CS as a parameter in the inquiry. For avoidance of doubt also other pieces of data may be provided by the charging station CS as is described in the forthcoming description.

[0040] In accordance with the present invention an external entity communicatively connected to the plurality of charging stations CS is a computing system 120, such as a computer or a server, that is configured to perform the method according to the present invention as is described in the forthcoming description. The communicative connection may be arranged with a wired connection or with a wireless connection or with any combination of these by applying known communication technologies thereto. The computing system 120 may be in communicatively connection at least with one or more data storages 130 and / or with one or more application servers 140 e.g. residing in a data network, such as in Internet, by arranging necessary communication channels and access rights between the entities. As is clear from the above the computing system 120 is an implementation that is arranged offboard, i.e. residing external to the electric vehicle 110.

[0041] In order to describe aspects in relation to the present invention at least some possible routes (denoted with A, B, C) are illustrated between a first charging station CS and a second charging station CS in the geographical area of Figure 1 . Hence, the electric vehicle 110 may travel along at least these routes A, B, C from the first charging station CS to the second charging station CS. The routes A, B, C are for illustrative purposes drawn on the side of roads in the geographical area, but as is clear, the electric vehicle 110 primarily uses the roads when traveling in the geographical area. For avoidance of doubt, it is worthwhile to mention that even if the routes and the implementation of the invention is disclosed in a context of road network, it is also applicable with respect to charging stations CS positioned along waterways (cf. electric watercrafts), along railways (cf. electric rail vehicles) or along airways (cf. electric aircrafts).

[0042] Figure 2 illustrates schematically aspects in relation to charging of the electric vehicle. Namely, when the electric vehicle 110 arrives at a site for charging energy storing means, cf. a battery B of the electric vehicle 110, it is coupled to the charging station CS with a charging connector 210. The charging connector 210 may e.g. be implemented as a charging cable implemented in accordance with an applicable standard. Basically, the charging connector 210 comprises a channel to transfer the electric power from the charging station CS to the electric vehicle 110 and a data channel for exchanging information between the charging station CS and the electric vehicle 110. In some implementations at least part of the charging connector 210 may be implemented with wireless solutions, such as with wireless communication technology and / or wireless charging technology in order to establish the data channel between the entities. The data transferred over the data channel may comprise control signals in relation to the charging as well as data indicative of a state of charge of the battery B. Also other type of data may be transferred. Next at least some aspects of the invention are described through describing a computer-implemented method to generate data indicative of an energy consumption of an electric vehicle 110 in an environment wherein data descriptive of charging sessions of a plurality of electric vehicles 110 is received from a plurality of charging stations CS. An entity performing the method is a computing system 120 as described in more detail in the forthcoming description.

[0043] In a first step it is detected 310 that a first charging session of the electric vehicle is performed at a first charging station CS and a second charging session of the electric vehicle is performed at a second charging station CS wherein the second charging session has occurred after the first charging session. The detection 310 of the mentioned events is performed based on the data descriptive of the charging sessions accessible by the computing system 120. For example, the data descriptive of the charging sessions of the plurality of electric vehicles 110 may be stored in a data storage 130 wherein data is received in one or more messages from the charging stations CS. For example, a charging station CS may be arranged to gather data relating to the charging session so that it generates a data record comprising pieces of information e.g. on a state of charge of a battery B in a beginning of the charging session as well as at an end of the charging session with other data, such as identification data of the electric vehicle 110 under charging or a user of the electric vehicle 110 and the generated data record is transmitted to the data storage. Naturally, the pieces of information are transmittable in separate messages so that the separate messages comprise a piece of data, such as at least one of the mentioned identifiers, linking the messages separate together.

[0044] In accordance with an embodiment various events occurring during the charging session may be provided with respective time stamps. For example, the information indicative of state of charge of the battery B at the beginning of the charging session may be assigned with a time stamp, or any other indicator dedicated to the situation at the beginning of the charging and a corresponding label, i.e. a time stamp, or any other indicator, may be provided to the state of charge at the end of the charging session. Based on these pieces of information it is possible to distinguish the charging sessions performed at different charging stations CS from each other. Naturally, any messages may be provided with timing information, such as a time of transmission and / or receipt, by entities being responsible for the operation and these may be used to some extend e.g. to determine an order of the charging sessions of the electric vehicle 110.

[0045] As mentioned, in order to evaluate the energy consumption of the electric vehicle with data received from two charging stations CS a piece of data connecting the charging sessions in the charging stations CS is required. Thus, in order to connect the first charging session and the second charging session to the same electric vehicle 110 a common identifier from the data generated from the charging sessions shall be identified, i.e. a piece of data identifying the same charging party in both charging sessions. The common identifier derivable from the data of the charging session may e.g. be one of the following: an identifier identifying the electric vehicle 110; an identifier identifying a user of the electric vehicle 110. In case the applied common identifier is selected to be the identifier identifying the electric vehicle 110 it may correspond to at least one of the following: a MAC address of the electric vehicle 110; a wireless identifier of a wireless communication module of the electric vehicle 110; a vehicle identification number. The MAC address of the electric vehicle 110 refers to a unique identifier assigned to a network interface controller used as a network address of the respective entity arranged in the electric vehicle 110. The MAC address is exchanged with the charging station CS when the charging connector 210 is coupled with the electric vehicle 110 and as a result, the charging station CS may include the MAC address as the identifier into the data record generated from the charging session. Another identifier applicable as the common identifier may be a wireless identifier of the communication module of the electric vehicle which may refer to a so- called service set identifier (SSID) of the wireless module, or any other similar identifier unique to the communication module / device. Still further, a vehicle identification number (VIN) may be used as the identifier if such piece of data is delivered from the electric vehicle 110 to the charging station CS e.g. via the charging connector 210. Alternatively or in addition to the identifier identifying the electric vehicle 110 an applied identifier may be an identifier identifying the user of the electric vehicle 110 as mentioned above. The identifier identifying the user may correspond to at least one of the following: user data received from a user tag used in an activation of the charging session in the charging station; user data received from a payment transaction of the charging session. The first of these refers to an implementation in which the user is provided with a tag configured to interact, and thus to share data, with a reader device wherein the reader device may be implemented in the charging station. The interaction may be required to use the charging station CS for charging the electric vehicle 110. Through the interaction data suitable for identifying the user may be transferred from the tag to the reader device, and thus to the charging station CS, for further analysis and use as is described herein. The interaction between the tag and the reader device may be based on any short- range communication technology, such as RFID, Bluetooth, ZigBee, or any similar. Alternatively or in addition, an identifier of the user may be determined from user data received from a payment transaction of the charging session. Namely, the charging session typically requires a transaction to pay for the service and in the transactions data indicative of the user, i.e. identifying the user, is transferred. Such piece of data may refer to a credit card number or any similar data identifying the user. For example, in some payment solutions the user is requested to provide user credentials through a payment application executed in a terminal device of the user and, thus, any applicable data belonging to the user credentials may also be applied in identifying the user in the context of the present invention. Thus, the data transferred in the transaction may be used for identifying the user and that data may be used for the purposes of the present invention.

[0046] In accordance with at least some embodiments the identifier suitable to be applied as the common identifier may be used, at least in part, for determining a model of the electric vehicle charged in the charging sessions. According to an embodiment, this may be achieved by using the identifier in an inquiry performed towards a data storage arranged to store data linking the applied identifier and the model of the electric vehicle 110 together. According to some other embodiments, the determination of the model of the electric vehicle may be based on data received during a charging session from a charging station wherein such data may refer to battery related aspects and / or communication related aspects, such as timing and latency in a communication between the electric vehicle 110 and the charging station CS. The determination of the model based on the data received during the charging session may require computing resources which are trained to identify the model with such pieces of data (cf. trained ML models). The data defining the model of the electric vehicle may be used in a generation of data descriptive of energy consumption of a certain electric vehicle model as is further described in the forthcoming description. Moreover, an association of the model of the electric vehicle 110 with any other data, such as the common identifier being an identifier of the user enables the generation of trustfully data records even if the user has access to use a plurality of electric vehicles which means that an identification only on a basis of the user identifier is not enough.

[0047] Reverting back to Figure 3 the method continues, in response to the detection 310 of the first and the second charging sessions, so that the computing system 120 is arranged to obtain 320 data descriptive of a state of charge of the electric vehicle 110 at a completion of the first charging session and data descriptive of the state of charge of the electric vehicle 110 at a beginning of the second charging session. The state of charge may be expressed as a value descriptive of an energy stored in the battery B (e.g. kWh). In some instances, the state of charge may be expressed as a value descriptive of a charging of the battery B compared to the full capacity of the battery B and, thus, expressed as a percentage. As regards to various situations within a framework of the present invention Figure 4 is hereby referred to. Figure 4 illustrates schematically states of charges of the battery B at the first charging session and at the second charging session in order to pave the way to describe aspects relating to the present invention herein. Namely, when an electric vehicle 110 arrives at the first charging station CS the state of charge of the battery is at a certain value denoted as SOC1 B. The value refers to the state of charge at the beginning of the charging in the first charging session. The charging is initiated and it ends at another point of time and the battery B may have reached the state of charge denoted with SOC1 E which refers to a value at the end of the charging in the first charging session. In response to the visit in the first charging station CS the electric vehicle travels a trip to the second charging station CS and a respective charging is performed therein. The state of charge of the battery B at the beginning of the second charging session is denoted with SOC2B and the state of charge of the battery B at the end of the second charging session is denoted with SOC2E. Thus, the obtainment of data descriptive of the state of charge at a completion of the first charging session refers to the value denoted with SOC1 E and the data descriptive of the state of charge of the electric vehicle 110 at a beginning of the second charging session refers to the value denoted with SOC2B as shown in Figure 4. The mentioned pieces of data may be obtained in the charging session through the communication between the electric vehicle 110 and the charging station CS in question e.g. with the control signaling between the entities as mentioned. For avoidance of doubt, the communication with the electric vehicle 110 may refer to that the pieces of data are received directly from the battery B, i.e. from the battery module e.g. through a battery management system, of the electric vehicle 110 in question or from a control system, such as an information system, of the electric vehicle being provided with access of the state of charge data of the battery B of the electric vehicle 110. In addition to the above mentioned pieces of battery B related information also other data may be obtained or determined, such as data descriptive of a maximum capacity of the battery B of the electric vehicle 110 and so on. Each of the mentioned pieces of data may be provided with a timing information, i.e. a time stamp may be given to each of the reading, or value, which time stamp indicates an instant of time the value is obtained. The time stamp may be provided by the charging station CS at the beginning of the charging session and at the end of the charging session when the pieces of data as described are obtained, or read, from the electric vehicle 110. In accordance with the method the computing system 120 is next configured to determine 330 an estimation of an energy consumption of the electric vehicle 110 over a distance of a trip between the first charging station CS and the second charging station CS. The determination 330 at least comprises a calculation of a difference between the value indicative of the state of charge at the end of the first charging session and the value indicative of the state of charge at the beginning of the second charging session that can mathematically be expressed as follows:

[0048] Consumption = SOC1E - SOC2B

[0049] In other words, the determination generates an estimation of the energy consumption of the electric vehicle 110 over the distance of the trip. In some embodiments the determination 330 may be taken further by performing the determination 330 that it represents energy consumption per a unit of length, such as kWh / km or % / km. Such a value may be considered to represent an efficiency of the electric vehicle 110 in the trip. In order to perform the described approach a distance of the trip needs to be known and the information descriptive of the distance shall be obtained. In accordance with some embodiments, the distance traveled by the electric vehicle 110 may be obtained from the infotainment system of the electric vehicle 110 through the control signaling e.g. in a context of each charging session. Here the infotainment system shall also be understood to cover a navigation system or any similar system suitable for generating information based on which a distance the electric vehicle has traveled to may be determined (cf. e.g. mileage of the electric car at every charging session). At least some of the above described approaches may require that the distance information may be determined by the electric vehicle 110, or by the charging station CS, between the charging stations CS. As a further option according to some embodiments may be that the distance information is provided to the computing system 120 from a terminal device of the user, e.g. the driver, of the electric vehicle 110 wherein an application may be configured to track a position of the terminal device, and the terminal is communicatively connected to the computing system 120 to exchange such data. Such an application may e.g. be a dedicated application to the task or even a payment application configured in such a manner. The application may e.g. provide a part of the route information or the full route information to the computing system 120 e.g. as a geographical coordinates.

[0050] In response to that the estimation of an energy consumption of the electric vehicle 110 over the distance of the trip is determined 330 the computing system 120 is configured to generate 340 an electric vehicle specific data record comprising the estimation of the energy consumption as determined. The generation 340 of the data record shall be understood as an operation in which the estimation of the energy consumption is included to the data record in a predefined format with any further data. Specifically speaking, the further data may e.g. refer to data identifying a model of the electric vehicle 110 as may be determined in the previous steps of the method according to some embodiments as described. The generation 340 of the data record may comprise a step of outputting at least part of the data included in the vehicle specific data record. The outputting may refer to an operation that the computing system 120 arranged to perform the method generates a signal to the second charging station CS wherein the signal carries the data intended to be output and the signal causes the output of the data through a user interface, such as on a display, of the charging station CS. Alternatively or in addition, the outputting may be arranged by transmitting at least part of the data of the data record to an infotainment system of the electric vehicle 110 under charging, e.g. through the data channel of the charging connector 210 or wirelessly between the electric vehicle 110 and the charging station CS if such data connection is established, and at least part of the data is output in the infotainment system of the electric vehicle to the user. A still further option is to transm it at least part of the data to a term inal device of the user of the electric vehicle if contact information of the user terminal is accessible and available for the computing system 120. Such data may e.g. be arranged to be inquirable from a data storage with at least one identifier obtained during the execution of the method. It may also be arranged that the output of the data record may refer to an operation in which the computing system 120 transmits the data record to a predefined data storage. The data record may advantageously comprise a definition of the model of the electric vehicle 110 in order to enable storing of the data in the data storage on a model basis, i.e. the data is stored in accordance with the model of the electric vehicle 110 so as enabling a generation of data descriptive of energy consumption by the model of the electric vehicle 110 which data may be processed e.g. with statistical mathematical operations.

[0051] In order to improve an accuracy of the method an operation to validate that the first charging session and the second charging session relate to the trip in question. The validation may be arranged by requesting navigational data for a route between a position of the first charging station CS and a position of the second charging station CS from an external service wherein the external service may refer to a navigation system e.g. implemented in an application server 140 communicatively connected with the computing system 120. The generation of the request by the computing system 120 is possible due to that the computing system 120 is aware of the positions of the charging stations CS (cf. the foregoing description) and, thus, an inquiry to a navigation system capable of generating navigational data between the positions may be generated. The navigation system for the purpose is selected so that the navigation system shall at least be capable of providing navigational data defining at least a duration of a travel of at least one route between the positions of the charging stations CS. In response to a receipt of one or more pieces of navigational data e.g. representing a plurality of possible routes between the first charging station CS and the second charging station CS the computing system 120 may be arranged to compare one or more pieces of the navigational data with corresponding aspects descriptive of the trip the electric vehicle 110 traveled. Specifically speaking, the comparison may be conducted between duration information of the one or more routes received from the external service, cf. the navigation system, and a duration of the travel of the trip by the electric vehicle 110. The duration of the travel of the trip may be determined by the computing system 120 on the basis of a time stamp defining an instant of time of the completion of the first charging session and a time stamp defining an instant of time of the beginning of the second charging session which may be generated and provided to the computing system 120 as already described in the foregoing description. In addition to the evaluation of the duration of the trip the computing system 120 may be provided with a number of limit values also to be applied in the comparison. The limit values may e.g. define a number of values for confirming the validity of the trip wherein the limit values may e.g. define distance range (as the crow flies) between the charging stations CS, distance range over the roads, average speed range, average consumption range, etc. As a result, the comparison may generate a detection result to express one of the following: i) the first charging session and the second charging session relate to the trip; ii) the first charging session and the second charging session do not relate to the trip. In other words, the detection result may be generated in accordance with a detection that the duration of the trip corresponds to a duration of one route generated by the navigation system with a predefined accuracy. The predefined accuracy may be defined with a margin defined in applied time scheme. As a non-limiting example it may be given that if the travel of the trip by the electric vehicle 110 based on the mentioned time stamps indicate that the trip took e.g. 2 hours and a route received from the navigation system is defined to take 1 h 50 min, it may be confirmed that the trip and the route correspond to each other and it may be validated that the first charging session and the second charging session relate to the same trip. Naturally, the margin may be defined in accordance with a desired accuracy. It may e.g. be arranged that if the detection result indicates that the charging sessions relate to the trip, the data record is generated 340, otherwise not (i.e. the detection result indicates that the charging sessions do not relate to the trip).

[0052] Furthermore, in sophisticated implementations of the invention further data may be included in the data record. The further data may be obtained from external services, such as from a service providing weather data. The service may be implemented in an application server 140 and the computing system 120 is communicatively connected thereto to obtain the weather data as the further data. Alternatively or in addition, the weather data may be received from the charging stations CS that are equipped with weather stations configured to generate weather data. The request of the weather data may e.g. be generated in response the estimation of the energy consumption is generated and the data record in established. The weather data is relevant in the context of evaluating the energy consumption since it is known that the energy consumption of the electric vehicle is heavily dependent on the weather conditions, such as from the temperature. Thus, by including data descriptive of the weather conditions in the area the trip is traveled, e.g. on the basis of the position(s) of the charging station(s) CS being involved in the charging session(s), into the data record, it is possible to make the data in the various data records comparable to each other with predefined mathematical methods and, as a result, more accurate data on a consumption of energy of the models of the electric vehicles 110 may be generated.

[0053] Correspondingly, further data to be included in the data record may represent an elevation profile of the trip. This may be received from the navigation system e.g. in response to a detection that one of the routes generated by the navigation system correspond to the traveled trip and vice versa with the predefined accuracy as described. Hence, the computing system 120 may receive the elevation profile from the navigation system and include it to the data record. Again, the purpose of including the elevation profile in the data record is to enable a more sophisticated determination of the energy consumption of the models of the electric vehicles 110 when the data representing the energy consumptions may be made comparable.

[0054] In some other embodiments the computing system 120 itself may be configured to adjust the estimation of the energy consumption determined for the electric vehicle in the described manner on the basis of the further data, such as the weather data. The adjustment refers here to a processing in which the computing system 120 is configured to scale the estimation of the energy consumption with a mathematical model so as to make the estimations of the energy consumption comparable to each other in an improved manner. The mathematical model applied in the adjustment may e.g. be established by collecting a high number of the estimations of the energy consumption in various weather conditions and e.g. statistically establish a correlation model for adjusting the estimations in accordance with the weather data, such as on a basis of a temperature. The mathematical model may also be configured to take into account other data than the weather data. An advantage of this is that the data in the data records is comparable to each other e.g. in view of the models of the electric vehicles 110 and, thus, the datasets generated on the basis of the data records comprise data with improved quality.

[0055] The embodiments described in the foregoing description in relation to the further data are mainly based on an approach in which the computing system 120 is communicatively connected to other systems to receive the defined data. It may also be arranged that the computing system 120 is configured to receive the respective data from the terminal device of the user wherein the terminal device itself may generate at least some pieces of data and / or obtain the data from other sources, such as from the application servers 140.

[0056] For avoidance of doubt it is worth mentioning that an entity arranged to generate electric vehicle model specific energy consumption data may be an external application server 140. Naturally, also the computing system 120 as described may be harnessed to the task if it is provided with access to data describing the model specific aspects of the energy consumption.

[0057] An example of a computing apparatus suitable to implement a functionality of the computing system 120 as an offboard system is schematically illustrated in Figure 5. The computing apparatus implanting the functionality of the computing system 120 may be a computer device, for example. For sake of clarity, it is worthwhile to mention that the block diagram of Figure 5 depicts some components of an entity that may be employed to implement a functionality of the apparatus.

[0058] The apparatus of Figure 5 comprises a processing unit 510 consisting of a number of processors and a memory 520. The memory 520 may store data, but also computer program code 525, causing an operation in a manner as is described in the foregoing description. The apparatus may further comprise a communication interface 530, such as a wireless communication interface or a communication interface for wired communication, or both to communicate with other entities at least belonging to the charging system as described. The communication interface 530 may thus comprise one or more modems, antennas, and any other hardware and software for enabling an execution of the communication e.g. under control of the processing unit 510. Furthermore, I / O (input / output) components may be arranged, together with the processing unit 510 and a portion of the computer program code 525, to provide a user interface for receiving input from an operator and / or providing output to the operator of the apparatus when necessary. In particular, the I / O components may include user input means, such as one or more keys or buttons, a keyboard, a touchscreen, or a touchpad, etc. The I / O components may also include output means, such as a loudspeaker, a display, or a touchscreen. The components of the apparatus may be communicatively connected to each other via data bus that enables transfer of data and control information between the components.

[0059] The memory 520 and at least a portion of the computer program code 525 stored therein may further be arranged, with the processing unit 510, to cause the apparatus to perform at least a portion of a method as is described in the forthcoming description. The processor 510 may be configured to read from and write to the memory 520. Although the processing unit 510 is depicted as a respective single component, it may be implemented as respective one or more separate processing components. Similarly, although the memory 520 is depicted as a respective single component, it may be implemented as respective one or more separate components, some, or all of which may be integrated I removable and I or may provide permanent I semi-permanent I dynamic / cached storage.

[0060] The computer program code 525 may comprise computer-executable instructions that implement functions that correspond to steps implemented in the method when loaded into the processing unit 510 of the respective controller 110. As an example, the computer program code 525 may include a computer program consisting of one or more sequences of one or more instructions which may relate to an execution of the data generation but also other operations, such as to control at least in part the charging itself. The processing unit 510 is able to load and execute the computer program by reading the one or more sequences of one or more instructions included therein from the memory 520. The one or more sequences of one or more instructions may be configured to, when executed by the processing unit 510, cause the apparatus to perform a method as described. Hence, the apparatus may comprise at least one processing unit 510 and at least one memory 520 including the computer program code 525 for one or more programs, the at least one memory 520 and the computer program code 525 configured to, with the at least one processor 510, cause the apparatus implementing the computing system 120 to perform at least the method.

[0061] The computer program code 525 may be provided e.g. a computer program product comprising at least one computer-readable non-transitory medium having the computer program code 525 stored thereon, which computer program code 525, when executed by the at least one processor of the processing unit 510, causes the apparatus to perform the method. The computer-readable non-transitory medium may comprise a memory device or a record medium, such as a CD-ROM, a DVD, a Blu-ray disc, or another article of manufacture that tangibly embodies the computer program. As another example, the computer program may be provided as a signal configured to reliably transfer the computer program.

[0062] Still further, the computer program code 525 may comprise a proprietary application, such as computer program code for causing an execution of the method in the manner as described in the description herein.

[0063] Any of the programmed functions mentioned may also be performed in firmware or hardware adapted to or programmed to perform the necessary tasks. The operation of the apparatus implementing the computing system 120 may be implemented with a plurality of apparatuses, such as with the one schematically illustrated in Figure 5, as a distributed computing environment. The distributed computing environment may be implemented as a cloud computing system wherein a number of apparatuses are harnessed to execute operations to generate an implementation of a method as is described herein. In the distributed computing environment the plurality of apparatuses are each configured to perform a dedicated task or dedicated tasks and the cooperation of the apparatuses cause the operation of the computing system 120 to occur in the manner as is described herein. For example, the distributed computing environment may be established between a controller of the charging station CS and the computing system 120 even also harnessing an application server 140 for the computing.

[0064] The invention is advantageously implementable by a manufacturer of the charging stations CS even if the charging stations CS are operated by separate parties. This is because the manufacturer has access to the charging stations CS and, thus, to the data representing the charging sessions among other data. Thus, the access is to a wide datasets that enables the invention efficiently.

[0065] For avoidance of doubt it is worthwhile to mention that the electric vehicle in the context of the present invention refers to a vehicle that is powered at least partly by electric energy stored in an energy storing means, cf. a battery, that is rechargeable. Thus, it covers fully electric vehicles or so-called hybrid vehicles wherein at least one type of power is electrical power. In the latter case, the invention is applicable only if it may be guaranteed that the only power used between the first charging station and the second charging station is the electrical power from a battery of the electric vehicle. Generally speaking, the electric vehicle may be any type of vehicle, such as a passenger vehicle, a truck, a bus, a watercraft, an aircraft, a rail vehicle or any similar.

[0066] Data generated with the invention may be utilized in various contexts. For example, it is possible to use in a comparison of the different electric vehicles (cf. competitor follow-up) as the data is confident and not biased. Due to the nature of the data it also provides a springboard for R&D operations of electric vehicles. The users of the electric vehicles are better informed as they get the data from a neutral party which also helps in a selection of a new electric vehicle. Moreover, the data allows the service providers of the charging stations to optimize their network both with respect to locations of the charging stations and capacity in each charging field. The data may even be applied in routing, such as optimizing of the routes and / or selection of those. Thus, the invention brings many advantages over the existing solutions primarily due to the way the data is generated.

[0067] The specific examples provided in the description given above should not be construed as limiting the applicability and / or the interpretation of the appended claims. Lists and groups of examples provided in the description given above are not exhaustive unless otherwise explicitly stated.

Claims

26WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. A computer-implemented method for generating data indicative of an energy consumption of an electric vehicle (110) in an environment wherein data descriptive of charging sessions of a plurality of electric vehicles (110) is received from a plurality of charging stations (CS), the method, performed by a computing system (120), comprises: detecting (310), based on the data descriptive of the charging sessions, a first charging session of the electric vehicle (110) performed at a first charging station (CS) and a second charging session of the electric vehicle (110) performed at a second charging station (CS), the second charging session has occurred after the first charging session, obtaining (320) data descriptive of a state of charge of the electric vehicle (110) at a completion of the first charging session and data descriptive of the state of charge of the electric vehicle (110) at a beginning of the second charging session, determining (330) an estimation of an energy consumption of the electric vehicle (110) over a distance of a trip between the first charging station (CS) and the second charging station (CS), and generating (340) an electric vehicle (110) specific data record comprising the estimation of the energy consumption as determined.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein detecting the first charging session and the second charging session of the electric vehicle (110) is performed based on an identification of at least one common identifier in both charging sessions.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the common identifier is at least one of the following: an identifier identifying the electric vehicle (110); an identifier identifying a user of the electric vehicle (110).

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the identifier identifying the electric vehicle (110) corresponds to at least one of the following: a MAC address of the electric vehicle (110); a wireless identifier of a wireless communication module of the electric vehicle (110); a vehicle identification number.

5. The method according to claim 3, wherein the identifier identifying the user corresponds to at least one of the following: user data received from a user tag used in an activation of the charging session in the charging station (CS); user data received from a payment transaction of the charging session.

6. The method according to any of preceding claims 2 to 5, wherein a model of the electric vehicle (110) is determined based on at least one of the following: the identifier being common to the charging sessions, data received during the charging session by the respective charging station, and wherein the model of the electric vehicle (110) is included in the electric vehicle (110) specific data record.

7. The method according to any of preceding claims, wherein the determination (330) of the estimation of the energy consumption comprises: obtaining data indicative of the distance of the trip, determining the estimation of the energy consumption as a value of an energy consumption with respect to the distance, the determination is performed by using the data indicative of the state of the charge of the electric vehicle (110) at the completion of the first charging session and the data indicative of the state of charge of the electric vehicle (110) at the beginning of the second charging session with the distance of the trip.

8. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the data relating to the charging session further comprises at least a time stamp defining an instant of time of the completion of the first charging session and a time stamp defining an instant of time of the beginning of the second charging session.

9. The method according to claim 8, the method further comprises: validating that the first charging session and the second charging session relate to the trip by: requesting navigational data for a route between a position of the first charging station (CS) and a position of the second charging station (CS) from an external service, the navigational data defining a duration of a travel of the route, comparing the navigational data defining the duration of the travel of the route with a duration of a travel of the trip defined on the basis of the time stamp defining the instant of time of the completion of the first charging session and the time stamp defining the instant of time of the beginning of the second charging session, generating a detection result, based on the comparison, to express one of the following: i) the first charging session and the second charging session relate to the trip; ii) the first charging session and the second charging session do not relate to the trip.

10. The method according to any of preceding claims, the method further comprises: obtaining trip related data descriptive of at least one of the following: a weather conditions during the trip; an elevation profile of the trip, including the trip related data to electric vehicle (110) specific data record.11 . The method according to any of preceding claims, the method further comprises: generating a control signal to the second charging station (CS), the control signal causing an output of at least part of the data of the electric vehicle (110) specific data record through a user interface of the second charging station (CS).2912. A computing system (120) for generating data indicative of an energy consumption of an electric vehicle (110) in an environment wherein data descriptive of charging sessions of a plurality of electric vehicles (110) is received from a plurality of charging stations (CS), the computing system (120) is configured to: detect (310), based on the data descriptive of the charging sessions , a first charging session of the electric vehicle (110) performed at a first charging station (CS) and a second charging session of the electric vehicle (110) performed at a second charging station (CS), the second charging session has occurred after the first charging session, obtain (320) data descriptive of a state of charge of the electric vehicle (110) at a completion of the first charging session and data descriptive of the state of charge of the electric vehicle (110) at a beginning of the second charging session, determine (330) an estimation of an energy consumption of the electric vehicle (110) over a distance of a trip between the first charging station (CS) and the second charging station (CS), and generate (340) an electric vehicle (110) specific data record comprising the estimation of the energy consumption as determined.

13. The computing system (120) according to claim 12, wherein the computing system (120) is configured to perform detecting the first charging session and the second charging session of the electric vehicle (110) based on an identification of at least one common identifier in both charging sessions.

14. The computing system (120) according to claim 13, wherein the computing system (120) is configured to apply as the common identifier at least one of the following: an identifier identifying the electric vehicle (110); an identifier identifying a user of the electric vehicle (110).3015. The computing system (120) according to claim 14, wherein the computing system (120) is configured to apply as the identifier identifying the electric vehicle (110) at least one of the following: a MAC address of the electric vehicle (110); a wireless identifier of a wireless communication module of the electric vehicle (110); a vehicle identification number.

16. The computing system (120) according to claim 14, wherein the computing system (120) is configured to apply as the identifier identifying the user at least one of the following: user data received from a user tag used in an activation of the charging session in the charging station (CS); user data received from a payment transaction of the charging session.

17. The computing system (120) according to any of preceding claims 13 to 16, wherein the computing system (120) is configured to determine a model of the electric vehicle (110) based on the identifier being common to the charging sessions, the model of the electric vehicle (110) is included in the electric vehicle (110) specific data record.

18. The computing system (120) according to any of preceding claims, 12 to 17 wherein the computing system (120) is configured to perform the determination of the estimation of the energy consumption by: obtaining data indicative of the distance of the trip, determining the estimation of the energy consumption as a value of an energy consumption with respect to the distance, the determination is performed by using the data indicative of the state of the charge of the electric vehicle (110) at the completion of the first charging session and the data indicative of the state of charge of the electric vehicle (110) at the beginning of the second charging session with the distance of the trip.

19. The computing system (120) according to any of the preceding claims 12 to 18, wherein the data relating to the charging session further comprises at least a time stamp defining an instant of time of the completion of the first31 charging session and a time stamp defining an instant of time of the beginning of the second charging session.

20. The computing system (120) according to claim 9, the computing system (120) is further configured to validate that the first charging session and the second charging session relate to the trip by: requesting navigational data for a route between a position of the first charging station (CS) and a position of the second charging station (CS) from an external service, the navigational data defining a duration of a travel of the route, comparing the navigational data defining the duration of the travel of the route with a duration of a travel of the trip defined on the basis of the time stamp defining the instant of time of the completion of the first charging session and the time stamp defining the instant of time of the beginning of the second charging session, generating a detection result, based on the comparison, to express one of the following: i) the first charging session and the second charging session relate to the trip; ii) the first charging session and the second charging session do not relate to the trip.

21. The computing system (120) according to any of preceding claims 12 to20, the computing system (120) further configured to: obtain trip related data descriptive of at least one of the following: a weather conditions during the trip; an elevation profile of the trip, include the trip related data to electric vehicle (110) specific data record.

22. The computing system (120) according to any of preceding claims 12 to21 , the computing system (120) further configured to: generate a control signal to the second charging station (CS), the control signal causing an output of at least part of the data of the electric vehicle32(110) specific data record through a user interface of the second charging station (CS).

23. The computing system (120) according to any of the preceding claims 12 to 22, wherein the computing system (120) is an offboard system.

24. A computer program comprising instructions to cause the computing system (120) of claim 12 to execute the steps of the method of claim 1 .

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