Fleet Battery Load Balancing to Equalize Wear

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing technologies lack an efficient method to manage and minimize battery degradation in fleets of electric vehicles by optimizing route assignments based on battery health.

Innovation Solution

A system and method that determine the objects to be delivered by a group of vehicles and choose the vehicle with the most degraded battery to transport the heaviest object, thereby extending the life of other vehicles' batteries by reducing their workload.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Productivity

If vehicles with healthier batteries are assigned heavier loads, then the workload distribution is optimized, but battery degradation accelerates for vehicles with already degraded batteries

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveworkload distributionVSAvoidbattery life

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The system inverts the conventional assignment logic by deliberately assigning heavier loads to vehicles with more degraded batteries rather than protecting them. This inversion strategy equalizes the cumulative wear across the fleet by making degraded batteries work harder, thereby extending the overall battery lifespan and optimizing fleet productivity.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #13The other way round (Inversion)

2Duration of action of stationary object

If vehicles with more degraded batteries are assigned heavier loads, then overall battery life is extended, but the risk of failure increases for those vehicles

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvebattery lifeVSAvoidfailure risk

Core Design Contradiction:

Duration of action of stationary objectVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The system converts the harmful effect of battery degradation into a beneficial fleet management strategy. By assigning heavier loads to vehicles with degraded batteries, the system equalizes wear across the fleet and extends overall battery lifespan. The potential harm of increased failure risk is mitigated through continuous monitoring and strategic load assignment that balances productivity with battery health preservation.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #22Blessing in disguise (Convert harm into benefit)

Data Source

PatentUS12314888B2EV battery degradation in a fleet

Publication Date: 2025.05.27 TOYOTA MOTOR NORTH AMERICA INC

AI summary

An example operation includes one or more of determining objects to be delivered by a group of vehicles, and choosing a vehicle of the group of vehicles with a most degraded battery to transport a heaviest object of the objects.