METHODS FOR CONTROLLING POWER DISTRIBUTION TO VEHICLES
The present disclosure relates to systems, methods, and devices for controlling charging of vehicles, to avoid charging during charge-adverse time periods or during charge restriction events. This can advantageously reduce cost to vehicles owners, and or provide access to reward incentives. Further, power distribution entities (utility providers) advantageously have increased control over power distribution to avoid over-burdening of power distribution infrastructure. Further, systems and methods for determining or inferring whether a vehicle is connected to a charge station are described, which can be used to inform automatic restriction of vehicle charging.
1 . A method of controlling power distribution to a plurality of vehicles, the method comprising:
transmitting, by a communication interface to a plurality of control units, an indication of a charge-restriction event, each control unit of the plurality of control units operable to control charging of a respective battery of a respective vehicle;
receiving, by the communication interface from each control unit of a set of control units of the plurality of control units, a respective indication of participation in the charge-restriction event by a respective vehicle, where indication of participation in the charge-restriction event is indicative of a charge rate of a battery of the respective vehicle being restricted from a first charge rate outside of the charge-restriction event to a second charge rate less than the first charge rate during the charge-restriction event; and
allocating, by at least one processor communicatively coupled to the communication interface, a respective reward for a respective recipient for each vehicle for which an indication of participation in the charge-restriction event was received, each reward based on a quantity of energy which is saved during the charge-restriction event by the respective vehicle restricting charge rate to the second charge rate instead of enabling charging of the battery at the first charge rate.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein allocating, by the at least one processor, the respective reward for the respective recipient for each vehicle for which an indication of participation in the charge-restriction event was received comprises: allocating funds to be provided to respective recipients for each vehicle for which an indication of participation in the charge-restriction event was received.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein allocating, by the at least one processor, the respective reward for the respective recipient for each vehicle for which an indication of participation in the charge-restriction event was received comprises: allocating credit to respective recipients for each vehicle for which an indication of participation in the charge-restriction event was received.
4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising transmitting, by the communication interface to the plurality of control units, a schedule of upcoming charge-restriction events.
5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising transmitting, by the communication interface to a control unit of the plurality of control units, an indication of participation in past charge events by a vehicle corresponding to the control unit.
6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving by the communication interface, from a control unit of the plurality of control units, an indication of partial participation in the charge-restriction event by a respective vehicle.
7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein indication of partial participation in the charge-restriction event is indicative of a charge rate of a battery of the respective vehicle being restricted from the first charge rate to the second charge rate after a beginning of the charge-restriction event.
8 . The method of claim 6 , wherein indication of partial participation in the charge-restriction event is indicative of a charge rate of a battery of the respective vehicle being enabled at the first charge rate after a beginning of the charge-restriction event where the charge rate of the battery of the respective vehicle is restricted to second charge rate at the beginning of the charge-restriction event.
9 . The method of claim 6 , further comprising allocating, by the at least one processor, a partial reward for a recipient associated with the vehicle for which an indication of partial participation in the charge-restriction event was received.
10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the partial reward is based on a proportion of the charge-restriction event for which the charge rate of the vehicle was restricted to the second charge rate.
11 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the partial reward is based on a quantity of energy which is saved during the charge-restriction event by the charge rate of the vehicle being restricted to the second charge rate instead of enabling charging of the battery at the first charge rate for an entire duration of the charge-restriction event.