Fleet Parking Allocation for Cold-Weather BEV Battery Readiness
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Solution Overview
Problem
Commercial Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) face performance issues in cold weather due to reduced battery charge and discharge capabilities, and fleet operators struggle to precondition batteries due to resource limitations and power consumption concerns, necessitating an optimized parking resource allocation system.
Innovation Solution
A fleet management system that allocates parking resources based on individual vehicle operational status and future usage, prioritizing heated parking spots for vehicles expected to perform heavy-duty activities and reserving chargers for vehicles with low battery state of charge, thereby maintaining battery temperature and reducing the need for preconditioning.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If battery preconditioning is performed to increase battery temperature prior to vehicle usage, then battery charge and discharge capability is improved, but vehicle range is reduced and power resources are significantly consumed
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary battery preconditioning by allocating heated parking spots to vehicles before they are needed for heavy-duty activities. This advance preparation allows batteries to reach optimal temperature without consuming significant power resources during operation, resolving the contradiction between improving battery capability and reducing power consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
The fleet management system acts as an intermediary that coordinates between parking resources and vehicle needs. It identifies vehicles requiring battery warming and allocates heated parking spots accordingly, enabling indirect battery preconditioning through environmental heating rather than direct power consumption from the battery.
2Reliability
If battery preconditioning is performed for each BEV in the fleet, then battery performance is improved, but resource availability at worksite or parking site becomes insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of uniformly preconditioning all batteries, the system applies localized quality by identifying specific vehicles that need battery warming based on their upcoming heavy-duty activity requirements. Only these identified vehicles are allocated heated parking spots, optimizing resource distribution to where it is most needed rather than applying it fleet-wide.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the parameter of battery temperature management by using environmental heating through heated parking spots rather than direct battery heating. This parameter change allows multiple vehicles to benefit from the same heated parking infrastructure simultaneously, increasing effective resource availability.
3Reliability
If heated parking spots are allocated to vehicles for heavy-duty activities, then battery temperature is maintained and preconditioning need is reduced, but parking resource allocation complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The fleet management system uses feedback from vehicle usage patterns and activity schedules to dynamically allocate heated parking spots. By monitoring which vehicles will perform heavy-duty activities and automatically assigning appropriate parking resources, the system manages complexity through automated decision-making rather than manual coordination.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary allocation of heated parking spots based on predicted heavy-duty activity requirements. By proactively identifying vehicles that will need battery warming and assigning parking resources in advance, the system simplifies the overall process compared to reactive management or complex real-time coordination.
Data Source
AI summary
A fleet management system is disclosed. The system may include a transceiver configured to receive parking facility attributes associated with a parking facility and vehicle information associated with each vehicle in a vehicle fleet. The parking facility attributes may include parking resource locations in the parking facility and a parking resource availability information. The vehicle information may include a vehicle operational status and a future expected vehicle usage information. The system may further include a processor configured to determine a parking resource for each vehicle based on the parking facility attributes and the vehicle information. The transceiver may transmit a notification to each vehicle including a location of the determined parking resource and associated time period for parking resource usage.