Field

[0001 ] The present invention relates to electric vehicle charging stations.

Background

[0002] Any discussion of the prior art throughout the specification should in no way be considered as an admission that such prior art is widely known or forms part of the common general knowledge in the field.

[0003] Electric vehicles typically rely on the use of a rechargeable energy pack to drive or contribute to the drive a vehicle's power train. Electric vehicles include hybrid electric vehicles, battery electric vehicles, and extended range electric vehicles. Often electric vehicles are configured to be recharged using an electric vehicle charging station when the charge becomes depleted. Standards like the SAE J1772, IEC 61851 -1 , and IEC 62196 define common electric vehicle conductive charging methods including operational, functional and dimensional requirements of the electric charging station.

[0004] Existing charging stations are often controlled using management software applications allowing a user to book a specific charging station and pay for use of the station via the application. One example of such a management software application is the Chargefox app, allowing the user to book a specific charging station and to process transactions, including payment by using facilities linked to the app.

[0005] Existing electric vehicle charging systems suffer from several drawbacks, as booking and using a charging station requires a user to perform pre-emptive set-up, which may discourage certain users which may exclude potential customers.

[0006] In this context, there is a need for alternative electric vehicle charging systems, which facilitates more flexible management options that do not, for instance, require pre emptive set-up of third party software applications.

Summary

[0007] According to the present invention, there is provided an electric vehicle charging system, comprising: an electric vehicle charge station for suppling electrical power to an electric vehicle; a charge control management system in communication with the electric vehicle charging station, for managing the amount of electrical power supplied to the electric vehicle via the electric vehicle charging station; and a payment facility arranged on or near the electric vehicle charging station, in communication with the charge control management system; wherein the payment facility is configured to initialize the charge control management system and process payment based on the amount of electrical power supplied by the electric vehicle charging station.

[0008] The charge control management system may comprise a remote server configured to execute management protocols. The server may be in communication with the electric vehicle charge station over a smart grid protocol selected from one of SEP 1.X, SEP 2.0, OpenADR, ISO 151 18, OCPP, ICCP, or DNP3. The smart grid protocol may preferably be OCPP.

[0009] The payment facility may be a payment terminal. The payment terminal may be selected from one or more of a point of sale terminal, a credit card terminal, an EFTPOS terminal, contactless payment or other application running on a mobile device. The payment terminal may be a PayWave terminal.

[0010] The present invention also relates to a method of controlling charge to an electric vehicle comprising: providing an electric vehicle charge station; connecting the electric vehicle charge station to a charge control management system by means of a smart grid protocol; connecting the charge control management system to a payment facility; and initialising charging of an electric vehicle through transmitting an initialization signal generated by the payment facility, to the charge control management system.

[001 1 ] The charge control management system may comprise a remote server configured to execute management protocols. The server may be in communication with the electric vehicle charge station over a smart grid protocol selected from one of SEP 1.X, SEP 2.0, OpenADR, ISO 151 18, OCPP, ICCP, or DNP3. The smart grid protocol may preferably be OCPP.

[0012] The payment facility may be a payment terminal. The payment terminal may be selected from one or more of a point of sale terminal, a credit card terminal, an EFTPOS terminal, contactless payment or other application running on a mobile device. [0013] A detailed description of one or more embodiments of the invention is provided below along with accompanying figures that illustrate by way of example the principles of the invention. While the invention is described in connection with such embodiments, it should be understood that the invention is not limited to any embodiment. On the contrary, the scope of the invention is limited only by the appended claims and the invention encompasses numerous alternatives, modifications and equivalents. For the purpose of example, numerous specific details are set forth in the following description in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention.

[0014] The present invention may be practiced according to the claims without some or all of these specific details. For the purpose of clarity, technical material that is known in the technical fields related to the invention has not been described in detail so that the present invention is not unnecessarily obscured.

Brief Description of Drawings

[0015] Embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is schematic block diagram of an electric vehicle charging system in accordance with some embodiments;

Figures 2 to 8 are photographic representations of a user interface of an electric vehicle charging station and payment facility, in accordance with some embodiments;

Figure 9 is a sequence and communication diagram for an example embodiment of the electric vehicle charging system of Figure 1 ; and

Figure 10 is a software decision flow diagram of the embodiment of Figure 1 .

Description of Embodiments

[0016] Embodiments described herein relate generally to electrical vehicle charging systems and in particular to the use of contact and non-contact electronic payment facilities in combination with electric vehicle charging stations. Embodiments of the electric vehicle charging system described herein provide several benefits including, for example: (1 ) flexibility in using and accessing electric vehicle charging stations (2) provision of a payment facility that can accept physical credit and bank cards issued from a number of providers as well as the ability to use alterative payment methods such as payWave, electronic wallets and other smart payment devices (3) importantly this allows for payment without prior registration or setup of banking and payment.

[0017] Figure 1 shows a schematic block diagram of an electrical vehicle charging system 100, according to some embodiments of the invention. The electric vehicle charging system 100 includes an electric vehicle charge station 102 configured to supply electrical power to an electric vehicle 104. The electrical vehicle charge station is connected to a charge control management system 106 that manages the electrical power supplied by the charge station 102 to the vehicle 104. The electric vehicle charging system 100 further comprises a payment facility 108 in communication with the charge control management system 106 wherein the payment facility is configured to initialize the charge control management system 106 and allow for payment to be processed based on the amount of electrical power supplied by the electric vehicle charging station 102 to the electric vehicle 104 as determined by the charge control management system 106.

[0018] The electric vehicle charge station 102 is configured to supply electrical power to the electric vehicle 104. For example, the electric vehicle charging station 102 can be coupled to a power source, for example, a power grid, or power generation unit configured to generate electrical power suitable for suppling to the electric vehicle 104, for example, a 240 VAC, 208 VAC, 120 VAC, or 480 VAC 50/60 Hz, single or three- phase power source. In addition to electric vehicle charging station 102 supplying AC power to the electric vehicle 104, the electric vehicle charging station may supply DC power, for example 500 VDC, 200 ADC to PEV 120. Furthermore, the electric vehicle charge station 102 may include any suitable electronic circuitry, for example, rectifiers, resistors, capacitors, transformers, voltage dividers, a processor or any other suitable electronics for controlling the power supplied to the electric vehicle 104. The electric vehicle charging system 100 may comprise a plurality of electric vehicle charging stations 102 each in communication with a central charge control management system 106.

[0019] The electric vehicle charge station 102 includes an electrical outlet configured to be coupled to the electrical inlet of the electric vehicle 104. For example, the electrical outlet can include a SAE J1772 male coupler configured to be coupled to a female SAE J1772 coupler of the electric vehicle 104. In other embodiments, the electric vehicle charge station 102 and electric vehicle 104. can include any other coupler such as, for example, the IEC 62196-2 Type 1 , IEC 62196-2 Type 2, IEC 62196-2 Type 3, GB/T Part 2, or any other suitable coupler for both AC or DC charging (IEC 62196-3 CCS, SAE J1772 CCS, GB/T Part 3, Tesla, etc.)·

[0020] The electric vehicle charge station 102 comprises electronic circuitry (not shown) and may include a processor. The electronic circuitry includes electronic components structured to supply electrical power to the electrical vehicle 104. The electronic circuitry is configured to measure and/or control charging of the electric vehicle 104 based on relevant charge parameters. These charge parameters may include, for example, a charging status, a charge rate, a physical connectivity status, or any other charging parameter of the electric vehicle 104. Moreover, the electronic circuitry can be further configured to perform at least one of a start, stop, increase or reduction of the charge rate.

[0021 ] The processor may take the form of any suitable microcontroller, for example, a programmable logic controller (PLC), an ASIC chip, or any other suitable processor. The processor can be in communication with one or more sensors and/or drivers included in the electronic circuitry. The processor can be configured to execute instructions, for example, instructions stored on a computer readable medium (e.g., a memory such as a RAM, ROM, or solid state memory) included in the electric vehicle charge station 102. In this manner, the processor can be configured to measure the charging parameter of the electric vehicle 104, as described herein. Furthermore, the processor can be configured to control the charging parameter or otherwise a charge session of the electric vehicle 104, based on instructions stored on the computer readable medium, or received from the charge control system 106, as described in more detail below. For example, the processor can be configured to start/stop and/or increase/reduce a charge rate of the electric vehicle 104.

[0022] In some embodiments, the electric vehicle charge station 102 may comprise an electric meter for measuring electrical power supplied to the electric vehicle 104. The electric meter may include electronic components (e.g., sensors and instrumentation) configured to measure the electrical power and electrical energy provided by the electric vehicle charge station 102 in real time, and/or track power and energy usage over a period of time (e.g., from initial charge of the electric vehicle 104). [0023] Although the electric vehicle charge station 102 supplies electrical power to the electric vehicle 102, the charging process is controlled by the charge control management system 106. The charge control management system 106 may comprise a remote server that includes software for executing management protocols configured to determine charging procedures, based, for instance on relevant charge parameters, such as the current cost of electricity, the type of vehicle, and measurement taken by the electric meter. The charge control management system 106 communicates to and/or from the electric vehicle charge station 102 via a smart grid protocol such as SEP 1.X, SEP 2.0, OpenADR, ISO 151 18, OCPP (open charge point protocol), ICCP, DNP3, or any other smart grid communication protocol suitable for allowing communication from the electric vehicle charge station 102 (e.g., communicating with the processor included in electric vehicle charge station 102).

[0024] The charge control management system 106 communicates to and/or from the payment facility 108 mounted on or near the electric vehicle charge station 102. The payment facility 108 can be in two way communication with the charge control management system 106 via a communications controller 1 10 which may facilitate communication via any suitable communications protocol, herein referred to as the ChargePoint Payment Protocol (CPPP). The CPPP may be configured to allow communication via internet communication protocols to, for example enable communication between the charge control management system 106 and the payment facility 108 via WiFi 1 12 and/or ethernet 1 14 as shown in the exemplary embodiment of Figure 1. Other appropriate forms of wireless or wired communication between the charge control management system 106 and the payment facility 108 may include USB™, FireWire™, power line communication, RS-232, RS-486, BLUETOOTH™, low- powered BLUETOOTH™, cellular data service, ZigBee, etc. or a combination thereof.

[0025] The software on the remote server of the charge control management system 106 may be used to remotely manage (e.g. update or configure ) the software on the electric vehicle charge station 102 (and payment facility 108). The electric vehicle charge station may send identifying or status information to the charge control management system 106 on a regular basis, or upon request.

[0026] The payment facility 108 comprises a payment terminal 1 16 e.g., Point of Sale (POS) terminal, credit card terminal, EFTPOS terminal, contactless payment (e.g. MasterCard PayPass™, PayMate™ and/or Visa payWave™) or other using a terminal application running on a PC or mobile device, such as a smartphone or payment configured wearable device (e.g. Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Google Pay, PayPal). The payment facility 108 may include an external monitor e.g., an LCD Screen 1 18 that can display a selection of communications to the user 120. The user 120 interacts with the payment facility 108 via the payment terminal and the pushbuttons 122. The payment facility 108 may include other auditory and visual feedback to prompt the user 120. A single payment facility 108 may be configured to initialize charging and process payment for multiple charging stations 102, for example PayMate can control up to 65535 devices, and may therefore be used in combination with 65535 charging stations 102 with each charge station having one or more charge ports.

[0027] Referring to Figures 2 to 8, an example of the user interaction with the electrical vehicle charging system 100. Figure 2 shows an electrical vehicle charging station 102 which has two charging ports (Port A and Port B). Each port having two buttons 122, one for start and another for stop. The start and stop buttons 122 provided in the example embodiment allows the user 120 to control (start/stop) the supply of electrical power to the electric vehicle 104. The electrical vehicle charging system 100 contains a payment facility 108 where the user 102 can process a transaction through the payment terminal 1 16 using a chosen method of payment such as a credit card or smartphone or payment configured wearable device. The payment terminal 1 16 shown in the example is a contactless payment terminal. The user 102 also interacts with the external monitor 1 18 that may be configured to provide auditory and visual feedback to the user 120.

[0028] Referring to Figure 3, in an example implementation of the electric vehicle charging system, in order to make use of the electrical vehicle charging station 102, the user 120 presses the START button to initialise and send a message back to the user 120 to interact with the payment facility, for instance, the user 120 may be prompted to "TAP CARD" on either or both the external monitor 1 18 and the payment terminal 1 16. The electrical vehicle charging station 102 shown in the example is fitted with an auditory feedback where a“beep” will sound to denote the registration of the credit card or similar payment with the payment terminal 1 16. Referring to Figure 4, after successful registration and authorisation of the credit card the user 120 the external monitor 1 18 will prompt the user to plug in/connect the electric vehicle 104 to the electrical vehicle charging station 102 via the port. Thereafter, now referring to Figure 5, if the user 120 plugs the electric vehicle 104 into the electrical vehicle charging station 102 the external monitor 1 18 will notify the user that the electrical vehicle 104 is charging. As shown in Figure 6 when the user 120 wishes to cease electrical charging of the vehicle the STOP button for the respective charging port is pushed. Referring to Figure 7, after the STOP button has been pressed by the user 120, the external monitor 1 18 will prompt the user by displaying the amount due for payment. The user 120 will make payment at the payment terminal 1 16 and the auditory feedback will sound to denote the successful registration of the credit card with the payment terminal 1 16. With reference to Figure 8, the external monitor 1 18 will prompt the user to notify that the payment was successfully processed and to disconnect the electrical vehicle 104 from port of the electrical vehicle charging station 102. The above examples are described with reference to using push-buttons, but the skilled person will appreciate that similar functionality may be implemented using any appropriate Human Machine Interface, such as for instance, a touch screen.

[0029] Figure 9 illustrates an example sequence and communication flow between the payment facility 108, and the charge control management system 106, as well as communication between the electrical vehicle charge station 102 and the and the charge control management system 106. The payment facility 108 used in these exemplary embodiments is PayMate and the charge control management system 106 comprises a server which communicates via an OCPP smart grid protocol with the charge station 102 and communicates via a CPPP protocol with the payment facility 108. Importantly, for the example embodiment it is to be noted that while the payment facility 108 and the charging station 102 may be housed together, or in close proximity, there is no direct communication between the two modules with each module communicating only with the charge control management system 106 via the respective communications protocol.

[0030] With reference to Figure 9, at 901 -904, upon commencement of use and as described with reference to Figure 3, when the user 120 authorises payment, communication is established between the payment facility 108 and the charge control management system 106. Then at 905 and 906, and with reference to Figure 5, the payment facility 108 sends an initialisation signal to the charge control management system 106 to initiate electrical charging of the electric vehicle 104. At 907-909 the charge control management system 106 communicates with the electric vehicle charge station 102 to supply the electrical power to the electric vehicle 104. At 910 the charge control management system 106 communicates with payment facility 108 to confirm that the electrical charging of the electric vehicle 104 has been initiated. At 91 1 -912 the charging status is reported to the payment facility 108. At 913-916 when the user 120 finishes charging the vehicle, in Figure 6, the STOP signal is communicated from the payment facility 108 to the charge control management system 106. At 917-919, the charge control management system 106, communicates a stop charge signal to the electric vehicle charge station 102 to cease supply of electrical power to the electric vehicle 104. At 920, once charging has concluded, the charge control management system 106 communicates a confirmation signal to the payment facility 108.

[0031 ] Referring now to Figure 10 which shows a software decision flow diagram 1000 that corresponds to the sequence and communication diagram in Figure 9 during communication between the payment facility 108 and the charge control management system 106 using the CPPP protocol. When the electrical vehicle charging system 100 is switched on, at 1001 , all hardware is initialised and at 1002 and 1003 the payment facility 108 initiates communications with the charge control management system 106. At 1004, the electrical vehicle charging system 100 remains in an idle state until activated by a user 120. When the user 120, at 1005, starts an electrical vehicle charging cycle by authorising payment (at the payment facility 108) the communication in the software proceeds to 1006. Following on, at 1007 if the payment is not valid the system returns to idle 1004 without starting the charging sequence however provided that the payment is successful, at 1008, the electrical charge will be initiated within the charge control management system 106. Once the electrical charge is running, the software returns to idle 1004 until at 1005 a stop signal is received from the payment facility 108. When at 1009 a payment method is re-authorised. At 1010, if the payment method is the different to the payment method used at 1006, then the software will return to idle 1004. If the payment method is the same as used at 1006 then at 101 1 , the payment process will proceed. At 1012, the balance for the electrical charge duration is calculated. If the charge duration rate is 0 or less, at 1013 the charge sequence is terminated and returns to idle at 1004. If, at 1012, there is an outstanding balance for the electrical charge duration then at 1014 the payment is processed on the payment method. At 1015, if payment is not approved, the software returns to an idle state at 1004 with charging of the electric vehicle still active. Alternatively if at 1015 payment is approved, at 1013 the charging process is terminated.

[0032] As used herein, the singular forms“a”,“an” and“the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Thus, for example, the term“a member” is intended to mean a single member or a combination of members, “a material” is intended to mean one or more materials, or a combination thereof. [0033] It should be noted that the term“exemplary” as used herein to describe various embodiments is intended to indicate that such embodiments are possible examples, representations, and/or illustrations of possible embodiments (and such term is not intended to connote that such embodiments are necessarily extraordinary or superlative examples).

[0034] The terms“coupled,”“connected,” and the like as used herein mean the joining of two members directly or indirectly to one another. Such joining may be stationary (e.g., permanent) or movable (e.g., removable or releasable). Such joining may be achieved with the two members and any additional intermediate members being integrally formed as a single unitary body with one another or with the two members and any additional intermediate members being attached to one another.

[0035] It is important to note that the construction and arrangement of the various exemplary embodiments are illustrative only. Although only a few embodiments have been described in detail in this disclosure, those skilled in the art who review this disclosure will readily appreciate that many modifications are possible (e.g., variations in sizes, dimensions, structures, shapes and proportions of the various elements, values of parameters, mounting arrangements, use of materials, colours, orientations, etc.) without materially departing from the novel teachings and advantages of the subject matter described herein. Other substitutions, modifications, changes and omissions may also be made in the design, operating conditions and arrangement of the various exemplary embodiments without departing from the scope of the present invention.

[0036] For the purpose of this specification, the word "comprising" means "including but not limited to," and the word "comprises" has a corresponding meaning.

[0037] The above embodiments have been described by way of example only and modifications are possible within the scope of the claims that follow.