System and method for managing electric vehicles
View Patent ↗A system and method for managing a plurality of electric vehicles with a fleet management portal is described herein. In one embodiment, a machine implemented method for managing one or more fleets of electric vehicles includes monitoring one or more fleets of electric vehicles using a fleet management portal associated with a server. Next, the method includes monitoring a plurality of charge transfer devices using the fleet management portal. Next, the method includes receiving charging information from the charge transfer devices. Next, the method includes determining a charging status for each electric vehicle based on the charging information. Next, the method includes generating one or more reports having the charging status for each electric vehicle.
1. A machine implemented method for managing one or more fleets of electric vehicles, comprising:
monitoring the one or more fleets of electric vehicles using a fleet management portal associated with a server;
monitoring a plurality of charge transfer devices using the fleet management portal;
receiving charging information from the charge transfer devices;
determining a charging status for each electric vehicle based on the charging information received from the charge transfer devices, wherein the charging status for each respective electric vehicle is one of a currently charging state, a fully charged state, and an unknown state;
generating an electric vehicle status report having the charging status for each electric vehicle; and
generating a session report that identifies a plurality of charging sessions, wherein the session report indicates for each one of the identified charging sessions a driver and electric vehicle associated with that charging session.
2. The method as in claim 1 , wherein determining the charging status further comprises determining a total plug-in time.
3. The method as in claim 1 , wherein determining the charging status further comprises determining a total energy delivered to a vehicle electricity storage device since a start of the plug-in time.
4. The method as in claim 1 , wherein determining the charging status further comprises determining an instantaneous power being currently delivered to a vehicle electricity storage device.
5. The method as in claim 1 , wherein generating the electric vehicle status report further comprises:
generating status information that includes at least one of the following:
summary information for the charging status of the plurality of electric vehicles; and
vehicle status information for each electric vehicle that includes at least one of a license plate identifier, a charging status, a charging station, a power delivered to each electricity storage device, energy delivered to each electricity storage device, a charging session time, and a time period until a electricity storage device is fully charged.
6. The method as in claim 1 , further comprising:
generating fuel savings information; and
generating green house gas reduction information.
7. The method as in claim 1 , further comprising:
sending a notification message to a user of an electric vehicle of the plurality of electric vehicles for at least one of the following conditions:
the electric vehicle is fully charged;
a time period for plugging in the electric vehicle has expired; and
a time period for checking in the electric vehicle has expired.
8. A non-transitory machine-accessible medium storing executable program instructions which when executed cause a machine to perform a method comprising:
monitoring one or more fleets of electric vehicles using a fleet management portal associated with a server;
monitoring a plurality of charge transfer devices using the fleet management portal;
receiving charging information from the charge transfer devices;
determining a charging status for each electric vehicle based on the charging information received from the charge transfer devices, wherein the charging status for each respective electric vehicle is one of a currently charging state, a fully charged state, and an unknown state;
generating an electric vehicle status report having the charging status for each electric vehicle; and
generating a session report that identifies a plurality of charging sessions, wherein the session report indicates for each one of the identified charging sessions a driver and electric vehicle associated with that charging session.
9. The medium as in claim 8 , wherein determining the charging status further comprises determining a total plug-in time.
10. The medium as in claim 8 , wherein determining the charging status further comprises determining a total energy delivered to a vehicle electricity storage device since a start of the plug-in time.
11. The medium as in claim 8 , wherein determining the charging status further comprises determining an instantaneous power being currently delivered to a vehicle electricity storage device.
12. The medium as in claim 8 , wherein generating the electric vehicle status report further comprises:
generating status information that includes at least one of the following:
summary information for the charging status of the plurality of electric vehicles; and
vehicle status information for each electric vehicle that includes at least one of a license plate identifier, a charging status, a charging station, a power delivered to each electricity storage device, energy delivered to each electricity storage device, a charging session time, and a time period until a electricity storage device is fully charged.
13. The medium as in claim 8 , the method further comprising:
generating fuel savings information; and
generating green house gas reduction information.
14. The medium as in claim 8 , the method further comprising:
sending a notification message to a user of an electric vehicle of the plurality of electric vehicles for at least one of the following conditions:
the electric vehicle is fully charged;
a time period for plugging in the electric vehicle has expired; and
a time period for checking in the electric vehicle has expired.
15. A server for managing a plurality of electric vehicles, comprising:
a processing unit coupled to an input/output (I/O) device;
a memory coupled to the processing unit; and
one or more programs, wherein the one or more programs are stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the processing unit, the programs including:
instructions for,
monitoring one or more fleets of electric vehicles using a fleet management portal associated with the server;
monitoring a plurality of charge transfer devices using the fleet management portal;
receiving charging information from the charge transfer devices;
determining a charging status for each electric vehicle based on the charging information received from the charge transfer devices, wherein the charging status for each respective electric vehicle is one of a currently charging state, a fully charged state, and an unknown state;
generating an electric vehicle status report having the charging status for each electric vehicle; and
generating a session report that identifies a plurality of charging sessions, wherein the session report indicates for each one of the identified charging sessions a driver and electric vehicle associated with that charging session.
16. The server as in claim 15 , wherein determining the charging status further comprises instructions for at least one of determining a total plug-in time, determining a total energy delivered to a vehicle electricity storage device since a start of the plug-in time, and determining an instantaneous power being currently delivered to a vehicle electricity storage device.
17. The server as in claim 15 , wherein generating the electric vehicle status report further comprise instructions for generating status information in the report that includes at least one of the following:
summary information for the charging status of the plurality of electric vehicles; and
vehicle status information for each electric vehicle that includes at least one of a license plate identifier, a charging status, a charging station, a power delivered to each electricity storage device, energy delivered to each electricity storage device, a charging session time, and a time period until a electricity storage device is fully charged.
18. The server as in claim 15 , wherein the programs further comprise instructions for
sending a notification message to a user of an electric vehicle of the plurality of electric vehicles for at least one of the following conditions:
the electric vehicle is fully charged;
a time period for plugging in the electric vehicle has expired; and
a time period for plugging in the electric vehicle has expired.