Parking Meter EV Charging Integration
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Solution Overview
Problem
The lack of infrastructure for conveniently charging electric vehicles is hindered by high costs and the need for new physical locations with electric service, limiting the adoption of plug-in electric vehicles due to inadequate charging infrastructure.
Innovation Solution
Integrating electric vehicle charging and billing into existing parking meter systems, specifically using central kiosk technology to manage EV charging stations without additional hardware, allowing for flexible pricing and control through pay-by-space and pay-and-display methods, and enabling EV charging via printed receipts with machine-readable indicia.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If new physical locations with electric service are built to charge electric vehicles, then charging infrastructure availability is improved, but construction costs and implementation complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes existing parking meters serve dual functions: traditional parking fee collection and electric vehicle charging management. The parking meter hardware is upgraded to include EV charging capabilities, allowing a single infrastructure to handle both conventional parking and EV charging operations, thereby improving charging availability without requiring separate dedicated EV charging infrastructure
Solution Approach 2:
The system allows EV drivers to self-manage their charging process by interacting with the modified parking meter interface. Drivers can initiate charging, monitor status, and receive billing information through the existing parking meter display and interface, reducing the need for complex centralized control systems and specialized EV charging infrastructure
2Adaptability or versatility
If dedicated EV charging infrastructure is built, then charging capability is improved, but cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines EV charging functionality with existing parking meter infrastructure. By merging the charging station operations with the parking meter system, the patent eliminates the need for separate dedicated EV charging infrastructure, thereby reducing overall implementation costs while maintaining full EV charging capability
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses the existing parking meter hardware as a template for EV charging management. The same physical device (parking meter) is utilized for both traditional parking fee collection and EV charging management, copying the successful deployment model of parking meters to the EV charging domain and avoiding the need for entirely new infrastructure
3Productivity
If parking meters are upgraded to manage EV charging, then infrastructure utilization is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The parking meter is transformed into a multi-functional device that handles both traditional parking fee collection and EV charging management. The same hardware interface, display, and processing unit manage both conventional parking transactions and EV charging operations, maximizing infrastructure utilization without proportionally increasing complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces a communication interface that mediates between the EV charging station and the parking meter control system. This intermediary layer handles the complexity of EV charging protocols and translates them into standard parking meter operations, allowing the existing parking meter hardware to manage EV charging without requiring complete system redesign
Data Source
AI summary
Pay-by-Space and Pay-and-Display are two well-known systems for metered parking for multiple spaces. The present invention allows multi-space meters to separately manage and control electric vehicle charging located in conjunction with parking spaces. Control is implemented by the meters printing indicia on a parking pass or receipt for the parking patron to present to an electric vehicle charging system able to read the indicia. Each such ticket may initiate a predetermined interval of charging, or an interval of charging selected by the patron during a transaction with the meter. The indicia may be either human-readable (e.g., text) or machine-readable (e.g., a barcode), or both, and may be encrypted to resist fraud. Data representative of the indicia may also be made available from an online server and delivered to a parking patron's smartphone or other portable device, whereby the display of the smartphone may present the indicia for reading by the electric vehicle charging system.