Electric vehicle recharging station
View Patent ↗A parking meter includes an access control device to uniquely identify a vehicle based on wireless communication with the vehicle; and a plurality of power connections to distribute electricity to charge in parallel a plurality of battery sets in the vehicle. The battery sets may form an exterior body of the vehicle.
1. A vehicle comprising:
a plurality of sets of rechargeable batteries, wherein each set has a dedicated charger for distributed recharging of the batteries, and wherein the batteries form a shape of an exterior of the vehicle through composite body panels; and
a power cable linking the composite body panels, wherein the power cable is configured to transmit data to and from the composite body panels.
2. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the power cable comprises a coaxial cable.
3. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the power cable comprises a power cable and a data cable.
4. The vehicle of claim 3 , wherein the data cable comprises a fiber optic cable.
5. The vehicle of claim 3 , wherein the data cable comprises an Ethernet cable.
6. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein each composite body panel comprises a battery recharger.
7. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the composite body panels comprise a plurality of lithium ion batteries.
8. The vehicle of claim 1 , further comprising a beam configured to transfer a crash load into the vehicle body and away from a passenger cabin.
9. The vehicle of claim 1 , further comprising a wireless transceiver coupled to the power cable.
10. The vehicle of claim 9 , wherein the wireless transceiver is configured to transmit status of components in the vehicle to a remote computer.
11. The vehicle of claim 9 , wherein the wireless transceiver is configured to communicate maintenance information to a remote computer.
12. The vehicle of claim 11 , wherein the remote computer is configured to order a repair part based on the maintenance information and schedule a visit to a repair facility to install the repair part.
13. The vehicle of claim 1 , further comprising a power line network device coupled to the power cable, the power line network device configured to communicate vehicular information over a power line network to a remote computer.
14. The vehicle of claim 13 , wherein the power line network is configured to communicate with USB protocol or Firewire protocol.
15. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein each set of rechargeable batteries is electrically isolated during charging and electrically connected thereafter.
16. A vehicle comprising:
a plurality of sets of rechargeable conformal batteries, wherein each set has a dedicated charger for distributed recharging of the conformal batteries, and wherein the conformal batteries form a shape of an exterior of the vehicle through composite body panels; and
a power cable linking the composite body panels.
17. The vehicle of claim 16 , wherein the rechargeable conformal batteries comprise lithium polymer batteries.