EV Charging Station Networked Access Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
The high initial deployment cost and ongoing management and maintenance costs of public electric vehicle charging stations create a barrier to their widespread adoption, making it economically challenging for site owners to justify installation based on economic return alone.
Innovation Solution
A networked system of electric vehicle charging stations that uses short-range and wide-area wireless communications protocols to manage access, billing, and queuing, with a network operations server facilitating communication between charging stations, drivers' personal devices, and the internet, enabling controlled access and payment processing while reducing the need for continuous network connectivity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If public EVCS are deployed with access control and payment processing, then economic return and cost recovery are improved, but device complexity and operational overhead increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a network operations server as an intermediary that handles complex billing, authentication, and queue management functions remotely. This allows the EVCS hardware itself to remain relatively simple while still providing sophisticated access control and payment processing through the intermediary server system.
Solution Approach 2:
The network operations server provides multiple functions including billing processing, user authentication, queue management, and system monitoring in a single unified platform. This multi-functional approach consolidates complexity into one system rather than requiring separate specialized systems for each function.
2Ease of operation
If continuous network connectivity is required for billing and access management, then operational control is improved, but reliability in remote locations deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-authorizing charging sessions and pre-configuring access parameters before the vehicle arrives at the charging station. This allows the EVCS to operate with minimal real-time network connectivity, as most control decisions have already been made in advance through preliminary system actions.
Solution Approach 2:
The EVCS is designed to autonomously execute charging sessions based on pre-configured parameters and stored authentication data, without requiring continuous network oversight. The system serves itself by automatically managing the charging process, billing calculations, and session termination based on predetermined conditions.
Data Source
AI summary
There is disclosed an electric vehicle charging station, an electric vehicle charging system, and methods of provisioning and operating an electric vehicle charging station. The electric vehicle charging station may include a power control to control the flow of power from a power grid, a controller coupled to the power controller, and a wireless communications interface operable to communicate using a short range wireless communications protocol. The controller may be configured to communicate with a remote server opportunistically via the wireless communications interface and an available personal computing/communications device external to the electric vehicle charging station.