EV Driver App Bluetooth Profile Selection for Accurate Charging Billing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing driver applications require manual selection of charging profiles, which can lead to billing errors due to incorrect profile choices, especially when drivers have multiple vehicles or reimbursement varies between work and personal trips.
Innovation Solution
An Electric Vehicle (EV) driver application uses Bluetooth® to identify the connected vehicle through its MAC address and combines this with time and location data to automatically select the appropriate charging profile, ensuring accurate billing based on user profiles and access rights.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If manual profile selection is implemented, then drivers can choose charging profiles, but billing errors occur due to incorrect profile choices
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs automatic profile selection based on Bluetooth device identification, time, and location data without requiring manual driver input. The driver app autonomously determines the appropriate charging profile by matching the detected Bluetooth MAC address, current time, and location against pre-configured profile criteria, thereby eliminating human error in profile selection while maintaining ease of operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system provides feedback to the driver by displaying the automatically selected profile before charging begins, allowing the driver to verify the selection. This feedback mechanism ensures billing accuracy by enabling driver confirmation while maintaining the benefits of automated selection, resolving the contradiction between ease of operation and reliability.
2Reliability
If automated profile selection is implemented, then billing accuracy improves, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Charging profiles are pre-configured with specific criteria including Bluetooth device identifiers, time ranges, and location parameters. This preliminary setup eliminates the need for complex real-time decision-making algorithms during charging sessions, as the system simply matches current conditions against pre-defined profile criteria, thereby improving billing accuracy without significantly increasing operational complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses a single Bluetooth MAC address identifier to universally identify vehicles and associate them with appropriate profiles. This universal identification method simplifies the system architecture by avoiding the need for multiple identification mechanisms, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining high billing accuracy through automated profile selection.
3Measurement precision
If Bluetooth-based automatic identification is used, then profile selection accuracy improves, but time for charging session setup increases
Solution Approach 1:
The Bluetooth connection between the driver's mobile device and the vehicle infotainment system is maintained continuously throughout the charging session. The system continuously monitors the Bluetooth connection status and automatically retrieves profile information without requiring repeated pairing or connection establishment, thereby achieving accurate profile selection through continuous Bluetooth-based identification while minimizing setup time.
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces manual mechanical actions (physical profile selection, button pressing, and navigation through menus) with automated electronic processes. The Bluetooth-based automatic identification system electronically retrieves and applies the correct profile without requiring physical driver interaction, thereby improving profile selection accuracy while reducing the time required for charging session setup by eliminating manual operations.
Data Source
AI summary
A system comprises an EV with an infotainment unit, a driver App, an electric mobility service provider (eMSP) cloud and a user charging profile database to identify a Bluetooth® and time/location-based driver charging profile for its automatic selection in a charging session. The driver App is configured to communicate with the infotainment unit via a Bluetooth® interface such that a Bluetooth® MAC address being assigned to each device connected to a network is used to identify a vehicle ID and a mobile device location is used as a proxy for a vehicle location. The eMSP cloud is configured to receive the vehicle ID and the vehicle location. The user charging profile database including user charging profiles. The driver App includes a Bluetooth® plus time-based profile automatic selector for a charging session to automatically select a proper user charging profile based on the MAC address plus a day/time/location-based pre-configuration.