GR1010201B - Electric vehicle charging dynamic scheduling - Google Patents

Abstract

Electric vehicle charging scheduling includes receiving repeated sensor readings of a battery of an electric vehicle, the readings monitoring a charge of the battery while the electric vehicle proceeds along a contemporaneously scheduled route. Then, a geolocation of the electric vehicle is determined and a database queried with the geolocation. A charging station is then identified within geographic proximity of the geolocation of the electric vehicle. As well, a route scheduled for the electric vehicle after the contemporaneously scheduled route is determined. Thereafter, a threshold charge is computed that is requisite to complete both the contemporaneously scheduled route and also at least a portion of the route scheduled after the contemporaneously scheduled route. Finally, in response to a determination that the monitored charge on the battery is below the threshold level, an alert is displayed indicating to charge the battery at the identified charging station.

Description

DYNAMIC ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING SCHEDULING

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the invention

The present invention relates to the technical field of electric vehicle charging and more specifically, to the calculation of the range of a vehicle based on the measured charging of an electric vehicle.

Description of the related technique

An electric vehicle generally refers to a self-propelled vehicle that uses one or more electric motors to propel a vehicle along a path. In most cases, an electric vehicle can be powered by a standalone battery or battery pack. For this purpose, batteries are necessary for the operation of an electric vehicle. Electric vehicle batteries are generally charged by connecting the battery pack of an electric vehicle to an electrical power source. After a period of time, the batteries of the battery pack are fully charged and ready to be discharged by powering a motor capable of propelling the vehicle along a path.

[0005] As in the case of vehicles powered by fossil fuels and electric vehicles can be characterized according to their range. Range, in relation to electric vehicles, refers to the distance an electric vehicle powered by an on-board battery or battery pack can travel from a fully charged state of the battery or batteries to a discharged state of the battery or batteries . Of course, an operator would rarely consider the case of a battery being completely discharged during the course of an electric vehicle. Therefore, for some range can refer to the distance an electric vehicle can travel with a fully charged battery or set of batteries until a threshold percentage of charge remains, which indicates the necessity of recharging.

[0006] The management of the charging of a battery or set of batteries on the vehicle remains of utmost importance to the operator of an electric vehicle. Since there are substantially fewer electric charging stations on a typical road than there are traditional service stations, upon encountering an electric charging station the operator of an electric vehicle must always assess whether or not recharging of the vehicle's battery pack is required. For the casual driver, this requirement is not much more important than for a fossil fuel vehicle. But for a commercial vehicle that is pre-scheduled for a series of back-to-back trips with the logic of last-minute refueling, decision-making can be more complex — especially when the operator of the commercial electric vehicle does not know the extent of subsequent scheduled trips and the availability of electric charging stations along subsequent planned routes.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0007] Embodiments of the present invention address the technical shortcomings of the art with respect to charging electric vehicles. To this end, embodiments of the present invention provide an innovative and non-obvious method for scheduling the charging of an electric vehicle taking into account a future route of the electric vehicle and the possibility that a measured charging of the electric vehicle allows the electric vehicle to complete a current route and at least a portion of a subsequent planned route. Embodiments of the present invention also provide a novel and non-obvious computing device adapted to implement the aforementioned method. Finally, embodiments of the present invention provide an innovative and non-obvious data processing system that incorporates the aforementioned arrangement to implement the aforementioned method.

[0008] In an embodiment of the invention, a method of scheduling the charging of an electric vehicle comprises receiving through a communication channel in the memory of a computing device, repeated measurements of a sensor of a battery of an electric vehicle, with the sensor measurements monitoring the charging of the battery while the electric vehicle is moving along a currently programmed route. The method also includes initiating a locating circuit in the computing device during the surveillance and receiving from the circuit in response to the initiation, the geographic location of the electric vehicle. The method further includes querying a database with the geographic location of the electric vehicle and receiving in response to the query in the memory of the computing device, a charging station identified near the geographic location of the electric vehicle.

Still further, the method includes retrieving from a database of planned routes for the electric vehicle, a route planned for the electric vehicle after the currently planned route. Still further, the method includes calculating a threshold load necessary to complete both the currently scheduled route and at least a portion of the route scheduled after the currently scheduled route. Finally, the method includes responding to the determination that the monitored battery charge is below the threshold level by displaying a warning on a display of the computing device to charge the battery at the determined charging station.

[0010] In one aspect of the embodiment, the threshold charge is a battery charge level that is sufficient to provide sufficient range for the electric vehicle to travel from the designated charging station to the completion of the planned route after the currently planned route . In another embodiment, the threshold charge is determined by calculating the range of the electric vehicle when the battery is fully charged by determining a location on the planned route after the currently planned route, with the location corresponding to the estimated range measured by the station charging station identified, locating an additional charging station along the route planned after the currently planned route closer to the location identified and after the location identified and the charging station identified, calculating a charge level of the battery sufficient to reach the additional charging station and the limit charging equation according to the charging level.

[0011] In another aspect of the embodiment, the method further comprises responding to receiving via the display a confirmation of intent to charge the battery at the designated charging station, noting a particular connection point at the designated charging station as reserved for the electric vehicle and prohibiting other electric vehicles from using the specific connection point within a calculated period of time. Optionally, the method also includes calculating an estimated time of arrival (ETA) of the electric vehicle at the charging station determined by taking into account both environmental and traffic conditions and road constraints such as speed limits, obtaining a of a request to use the specific connection point from another vehicle and additionally the calculation of an estimated charging time of the other vehicle's battery at the specific connection point. Provided that the estimated charging time of the battery falls short of the ETA of the electric vehicle, the ban can be circumvented.

In another embodiment of the invention, a data processing system is adapted for charging scheduling of an electric vehicle. The system includes a central computing platform that includes one or more computers, each with memory and with one or more processing units that include one or more processing cores. The system also includes a charge scheduling unit. The unit includes computer program instructions capable when executed in the memory of at least one of the processing units of the central computing platform to receive through a communication channel in the memory, repeated readings of a sensor of the battery of an electric vehicle, the readings of the sensor being they monitor the battery charge while the electric vehicle moves along a currently programmed route. The program commands also have the ability to initiate a locating circuit in the central computing platform during surveillance and receive from the circuit in response to the initiation, the geographic location of the electric vehicle.

[0013] The program instructions are further capable during their execution in memory of querying a database for the geographic location of the electric vehicle and receiving in response to the query, a charging station identified near the geographic location of the electric vehicle . The program commands are further capable of retrieving from a data store in the memory of a computing device, from a database of programmed routes for the electric vehicle, a route programmed for the electric vehicle after the currently programmed route. Finally, the program commands are capable of calculating a threshold charge necessary to complete the currently planned trip and to complete at least a portion of the trip planned after the currently planned trip and respond to a determination that the monitored battery charge is lower than the threshold level, displaying a warning on a screen of the central computing platform to charge the battery at the designated charging station.

[0014] In yet another embodiment of the invention, a computing device is provided which includes a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having program instructions stored therein, the instructions being executable by at least one processing core of a processing unit so as to cause the processing unit to implement a method of scheduling the charging of an electric vehicle. The method includes receiving, via a communication channel in the memory of the computing device, repeated sensor readings of the battery of an electric vehicle, the sensor readings monitoring the charge of the battery while the electric vehicle moves along a currently programmed route. The method also includes initiating a tracking circuit in the computing device during surveillance and receiving from the circuit in response to the initiation, the geographic location of the electric vehicle.

[0015] The method further includes querying a database with the geographic location of the electric vehicle and receiving in response to the query in the memory of the computing device, a charging station identified, having one or more electric power distribution points capable of binding at which an electric vehicle can be charged, near the geographic location of the electric vehicle and retrieving from a data store in the memory of the computing device, from a database of planned routes for the electric vehicle, a route planned for the electric vehicle vehicle after the currently scheduled route. Finally, the method includes calculating a threshold charge necessary to complete the currently scheduled trip and completing at least a portion of the trip scheduled after the currently scheduled trip and being responsive to determining that the monitored battery charge is lower than the threshold level, displaying a warning on a screen of the computing device to charge the battery at the designated charging station.

[0016] In this way, the technical shortcomings of determining whether the battery of an electric vehicle is charged or not are addressed thanks to the dual measurement of the current charge of a battery and the resulting range of the vehicle and determining whether the resulting range is sufficient or not for fueling the vehicle to a specified location on a subsequent planned route for the vehicle without the need to recharge. Additional aspects of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and in part will be apparent from the description or may be taught by practice of the invention. The aspects of the invention will be realized and achieved by means of the elements and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims. It should be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are examples and illustrations only and are not restrictive of the invention as claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE VARIOUS VIEWS OF THE DIAGRAMS

[0017] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated and form part of the present specification, illustrate implementations of the invention and, in combination with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. The embodiments illustrated herein are presently preferred, it being understood, however, that the invention is not limited to the precise arrangements and means shown, wherein:

Figure 1 is a pictorial illustration reflecting various views of a charging scheduling process of an electric vehicle,

Figure 2 is a flow diagram illustrating a data processing system adapted to implement one of the aspects of the process of Figure 1, and,

Figure 3 is a flow diagram illustrating one aspect of the process of Figure 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0021] Embodiments of the invention provide scheduling of the charging of an electric vehicle. According to one embodiment of the invention, it is possible to determine the location of an electric vehicle as the vehicle moves along a current route in response to locating a charging station near the vehicle along the current route. A subsequent planned route is then determined and a point along the planned route is selected, for example a destination of the planned route, a known stop along the planned route or a known charging station along the planned route. The vehicle's current battery charge level can then be ascertained to calculate the vehicle's range and determine if the range is sufficient to reach the waypoint without discharging the battery below a threshold value.

[0022] Otherwise, the vehicle driver may be prompted by a vehicle display to fully charge the battery at the detected charging station, while a charging slot at the detected charging station may be reserved for use by the vehicle within a time period related to the distance between the location of the detected vehicle and the location of the charging station. In this way, the determination of charging or not at the nearest charging station along a route can be automatically and dynamically determined by taking into account various parameters such as the percentage of the battery being charged, the planned distance of the vehicle, the geographic location of the charging stations in power grid, the commitments and priority queue of a charging station and the time required to charge the battery, as a few examples.

[0023] As an illustration of one aspect of the embodiment, Figure 1 graphically shows a charging scheduling process of an electric vehicle. As shown in Figure 1, an electric vehicle 100 traverses a current path 130A along which a charging station 140 is detected near the electric vehicle 100. In response to detecting the charging station 140, a battery monitor 160 reports the charge level 170 of the battery. 150 of the electric vehicle 100. The range is then calculated for the electric vehicle 100. At the same time, a vehicle route repository 115 receives a query 135 from the electric vehicle 100 including an identifier of the electric vehicle 100. The vehicle route repository 115 returns the next scheduled route 130B for electric vehicle ID 100;

[0024] A query 145 comprising the next planned route 130B and the current location 110 of the electric vehicle 100 is then provided to a charging station data store 125 to retrieve the location of the electric charging station 155 along the next planned route 130B near at waypoint 190. Based on the calculated range, it is determined whether the charge level 170 of the battery 150 of the electric vehicle 100 is sufficient to either complete the current path 130A to the destination 120 of the current path 130A and to reach the waypoint 190 without discharging the battery 150 below a predetermined level or whether the electric vehicle 100 can at least reach the location of the electric charging station 155 along the next planned route 130B. Otherwise, a warning is presented to the electric vehicle 100 recommending navigation to the detected charging station 140.

[0025] In response to an acknowledgment of the alert, a message is transmitted to the detected electric charging station 140 that includes a calculated estimated time of arrival (ETA) 180 based on the current location 110 so that the electric charging station 140 is advised an electric charging point availability database 155 and identify an available charging location in which the electric vehicle 100 can charge the battery 150 in the ETA 180 while the electric charging station 140 reserves the charging location identified in the detected charging station 140 for use by the electric vehicle 100 in a time corresponding to the ETA 180. Optionally, to the extent that the ETA 180 allows temporary use of the reserved charging slot, the reserved charging slot may be released for charging another electric vehicle during the time between the time the message was received and the time e th corresponds to the ETA 180 when the electric vehicle 100 is expected to arrive at the detected charging station 140.

Aspects of the process described with respect to Figure 1 may be implemented within a data processing system. As a further illustration, Figure 2 schematically shows a data processing system adapted to perform charging scheduling of an electric vehicle. In the data processing system illustrated in Figure 1, a central computing platform 200 is provided in an electric vehicle (not shown). The central computing platform 200 includes one or more embedded computing systems 210, each with memory 220 and one or more processing units 230. The central computing platform embedded computing systems 210 (only one arrangement is shown for simplicity of illustration) may be placed within each other and in communication with each other over a local area network or over a data communication bus 270 or embedded computing systems 210 can be remotely located and in communication with each other through a network interface 260 of a data communication network 240.

[0027] Notably, a computing device 250 that includes a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium may be included in the data processing system 200 to be accessed by the processing units 230 of one or more of the embedded computing systems 210. computing device 250 stores or maintains therein a program unit 300 which includes computer program instructions which when executed by one or more of the processing units 230, implements a programmatically executable process for scheduling the charging of an electric vehicle. In particular, the program commands during execution receive from the battery monitoring system 280 via the bus 270, the battery charge level data. In response to determining that the charge level falls below a threshold level, it is possible to locate the position of the electric vehicle by directly estimating the position from a global positioning system. The program commands then query a navigation query interface 265 to a remote server 235 to locate a next nearby charging station along the current route followed by the electric vehicle.

[0028] Once the next nearby charging station is located, the program commands query a route query interface 255 on the server 225 to retrieve the next planned route for the electric vehicle. The program instructions then select a waypoint along the next planned route and compare the range of the electric vehicle determined from the level of charge reported by the battery monitoring system 280 with a distance from the current location of the electric vehicle to the waypoint route. To the extent that the range is determined to be sufficient to complete the current route and reach the waypoint, no further action is required. However, to the extent that it is determined that the range is insufficient to complete the current route and reach the waypoint, the program commands present a prompt to the electric vehicle to reserve a charging slot at the next nearest charging station. The program commands access a reservation interface 245 to a server 215 associated with the next closest charging station to reserve a charging slot for the electric vehicle before the electric vehicle arrives at the next closest charging station.

[0029] As a further illustration of an example operation of unit 300 in Figure 2, Figure 3 is a flowchart illustrating one aspect of the process of Figure 1. Beginning at step 305, the location of an electric vehicle is determined, for example by submitting query in the tracking circuit. At step 310, a next charging station is located along a current path followed by the electric vehicle. Also, in step 315, the current charge level of the electric vehicle battery is determined. Then, in decision step 320, it is determined whether or not the current charge level is greater than a threshold level. If it is, the process returns to step 305. Otherwise, the process continues to step 325.

In step 325, the next route plan for the electric vehicle is retrieved and in step 330 a waypoint on the next route is selected. Next, in step 335, a charging station near the waypoint is located by querying a navigation system. In step 340, a range for the electric vehicle is calculated based on the battery charge level, and in step 345, the total distance from the location of the electric vehicle to the charging station near the waypoint is determined. Then, at step 350 the range is compared to the distance. To the extent in decision step 355 that the comparison produces a difference greater than a threshold, it is assumed that there is sufficient charge in the battery and the process returns to step 305. But otherwise, the process continues to step 360.

[0031] In step 360, it is assumed that the battery charge level of the electric vehicle is not sufficient to reach the charging station that is close to the waypoint. In this case a prompt is provided to the electric vehicle which prompts the operator of the electric vehicle to recharge the battery at the next charging station along the current route. After receiving an acknowledgment from the operator of the electric vehicle, in step 365 an availability data store is queried at the next charging station to locate an available charging slot at which the electric vehicle can be charged, and after locating the available charging slot, in step 370 a message is transmitted to the next charging station that reserves the available charging slot at the next charging station. Finally, at step 375, the navigation system provides turn-by-turn directions to the next charging station.

[0032] It is important that the aforementioned flow diagram and the ladder diagram referred to herein illustrate the architecture, functionality and operation of possible implementations of systems, methods and computing devices in accordance with various embodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each rung in the flowchart or rung diagrams may represent a unit, section, or part of the instructions, which may include one or more executable instructions to implement the specified logical operation or operations. In some alternative embodiments, the functions noted in the tier may be presented in a different order than that shown in the figures. For example, two steps shown in sequence may in practice be performed substantially simultaneously, or the steps may sometimes be performed in reverse order, depending on the operation involved. It will also be noted that each tier of the tier diagrams and/or flowchart, and combinations of tiers in the tier diagrams and/or flowchart, may be implemented through special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specified functions or actions or perform combinations of special purpose hardware and computer commands.

More specifically, the present invention may be implemented as a programmatically executable process. Also, the present invention can be embodied in a computing device in which programming instructions are stored and from which the programming instructions can be loaded into the memory of a data processing system and executed by it to perform the aforementioned programmatically executable process. Still further, the present invention may be implemented in the context of a data processing system adapted to load programming instructions from a computing device and then execute the programming instructions to perform the aforementioned programmatically executable process.

[0034] For this purpose, the computing device is a non-transitory computer-readable medium or storage media that maintains or stores therein computer-readable program instructions. These instructions, when executed from memory by one or more processing units of a data processing system, cause the processing units to perform different programming processes exemplifying various aspects of the programmatically executable process. In this regard, processing units each include an instruction execution device such as a central processing unit or "CPU" of a computer. One or more computers may be included within the data processing system. It is noted that although the CPU may be a single core CPU, it will be understood that multiple CPU cores may be operating within the CPU and in each case instructions are loaded directly from memory to one or more of the cores of one or more of the CPU to run.

[0035] In addition to directly loading the instructions from memory for execution by one or more cores of a CPU or multiple CPUs, the computer-readable program instructions described herein may alternatively be retrieved over a computer communication network into the memory of a computer of the data processing system to run on it. Also, only a portion of the program instructions can be retrieved into memory over the computer communication network, while other portions can be loaded from a computer-retained storage. Still further, only a portion of the program instructions may be executed by one or more processing cores of one or more CPUs of one of the data processing system computers, while other portions may be cooperatively executed on another data processing system computer which either placed together with the computer or placed remotely from the computer through the computer communication network with the calculation results from both computers shared between them.

[0036] The respective constructions, materials, actions and equivalents of all means or elements of step operation plus in the following claims are intended to include any construction, material or action for performing the operation in combination with other claimed elements as claimed specifically. The description of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description but is not intended to be exhaustive or to be limited to the invention in the form disclosed. Many modifications and variations will occur to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the object and spirit of the invention. The embodiment has been selected and described to best illustrate the basic principles of the invention and practical application and to enable persons of ordinary skill to understand the invention for various embodiments with various modifications as suited to the particular use contemplated.

Having described the invention of the present application in detail and with references to its implementations, it will be clear that modifications and variations are possible without deviating from the object of the invention defined in the appended claims as follows:

Claims (15)

CLAIMS We claim: 1. A method of scheduling charging of an electric vehicle comprising: receiving through a communication channel, in memory of a computing device, repeated sensor readings of the battery of an electric vehicle, the sensor readings monitoring the charge of the battery while the electric vehicle moves along a currently programmed route; initiating a tracking circuit in the computing device during surveillance and receiving from the tracking circuit in response to the triggering, the geographic location of the electric vehicle; querying a database with the geographic location of the electric vehicle and receiving in response to the query in the memory of the computing device a located charging station determined to be near the geographic location of the electric vehicle; retrieving from a data store in the memory of a computing device, from a database of planned routes for the electric vehicle, a route planned for the electric vehicle after the currently planned route; the calculation by a processing unit of a processor of the computational arrangement of a threshold load necessary to complete the currently planned path and to complete at least a portion of the path planned after the current planned path, and, in response to determining that the monitored charge on the battery is less than the threshold level by displaying a warning on a display of the computing device to charge the battery at the designated charging station. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the threshold charge is a charge level of the battery sufficient to provide a range for the electric vehicle to travel from the identified charging station to completion of the planned trip after the currently planned trip. 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the limiting load is determined by: calculating a range for the electric vehicle when the battery is fully charged, determining a location on the planned route after the currently planned route, with the location corresponding to the calculated range measured by the designated charging station; locating an additional charging station along the planned route after the currently planned route closer to the identified location and between the identified location and the identified charging station; calculating a battery charge level sufficient to reach the additional charging station, and, equating the limit load according to the load level. 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising, in response to receiving via the display a confirmation of intent to charge the battery at the identified charging station, communicating with a computing device at the identified charging station via a computer communication network for the order to mark a specific connection point at the charging station identified as reserved for the electric vehicle and the order to prohibit the use of the specific connection point by other electric vehicles. 5. The method of claim 4, further comprising calculating the estimated time of arrival (ETA) of the electric vehicle at the identified charging station, receiving a request to use the specified connection point from another vehicle, additionally calculating an estimated charging time of the battery of another vehicle at the given connection point and, provided that the estimated charging time of the battery falls short of the ETA of the electric vehicle, bypassing the ban. 6. A data processing system adapted to schedule charging of an electric vehicle, the system comprising: a central computing platform comprising one or more computers, each with memory and one or more processing units comprising one or more processing cores, and, a charging programming unit comprising computer program instructions capable, when executed in the memory of at least one of the processing units of the central computing platform, to: receiving, via an in-memory communication channel, repeated sensor readings of the battery of an electric vehicle, the sensor readings monitoring the charge of the battery while the electric vehicle continues along a currently programmed route; initiating a tracking circuit in the central computing platform during surveillance and receiving from the tracking circuit in response to the start, the geographic location of the electric vehicle; querying a database with the geographic location of the electric vehicle and receiving in response to the database query, in the memory of the computing device, a charging station located and determined to be close to the geographic location of the electric vehicle; retrieving from a data store in the memory of the central computing platform, from a database of planned routes for the electric vehicle, a route planned for the electric vehicle after the currently planned route; calculating a threshold load necessary to complete the currently scheduled route and to complete at least a portion of the route scheduled after the currently scheduled route, and, in response to determining that the monitored battery charge is less than the threshold level, displaying a warning on a display of the central computing platform to charge the battery at the designated charging station. 7. The system of claim 6, wherein the threshold charge is a battery charge level sufficient to provide sufficient range for the electric vehicle to travel from the identified charging station to completion of the planned trip after the currently planned trip. 8. The system of claim 6, wherein the limiting load is determined by: calculating the range of the electric vehicle when the battery is fully charged, determining a location on the planned route after the currently planned route, with the location corresponding to the calculated range measured by the designated charging station; locating an additional charging station along the planned route after the currently planned route closer to the identified location and between the identified location and the identified charging station; calculating a battery charge level sufficient to reach the additional charging station, and, the limit loading equation according to the loading level. 9. The system of claim 6, wherein the program instructions are enabled when executed in the memory of at least one of the processing units of the central computing platform to further perform, in response to receiving via the display a confirmation of the intention to charge the battery at the station charging station identified, communicating with a computing device at the charging station identified via a computer communication network for the command to mark a specific connection point at the charging station identified as reserved for the electric vehicle and the command to prohibit other electric vehicles from using the specific point connection. 10. The system of claim 9, wherein the program instructions have the possibility during their execution in the memory of at least one of the processing units of the central computing platform to further perform the calculation of the estimated time of arrival (ETA) of the electric vehicle at the designated charging station, receiving a request to use the specified docking point from another vehicle, additionally calculating the estimated charging time of the other vehicle's battery at the specified docking point and, provided that the estimated battery charging time falls short of the ETA of the electric vehicle, the circumvention of the ban. 11. A computing device including a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having program instructions stored therein, the instructions being executable by at least one processing core of a processing unit to cause the processing unit to implement a programming method charging an electric vehicle, the method comprising: receiving, via a communication channel in the memory of the computing device, repeated sensor readings of the battery of an electric vehicle, the sensor readings monitoring the charge of the battery while the electric vehicle moves along a currently programmed route; initiating a tracking circuit in the computing device during monitoring and receiving from the tracking circuit in response to the start, the geographic location of the electric vehicle; querying a database with the geographic location and receiving in response to the query a charging station determined to be close to the geographic location of the electric vehicle, retrieving from a data store in the memory of the computing device, from a database with planned routes for the electric vehicle, of a route planned for the electric vehicle after the currently planned route, computing by the at least one processing core a threshold load necessary to complete the currently scheduled route and to complete at least a portion of the route scheduled after the currently scheduled route, and, in response to determining that the monitored battery charge is below the threshold level, displaying a warning on a display of the computing device to charge the battery at the designated charging station. 12. The computing arrangement of claim 11, wherein the threshold charge is a battery charge level sufficient to provide sufficient range for the electric vehicle to travel from the identified charging station to completion of the planned route after the currently planned route. 13. The computing device of claim 11, wherein the limit load is determined by: calculating the range of the electric vehicle when the battery is fully charged, determining a location on the planned route after the currently planned route, with the location corresponding to the calculated range measured by the designated charging station; locating an additional charging station along the planned route after the currently planned route closer to the identified location and between the identified location and the identified charging station; calculating a battery charge level sufficient to reach the additional charging station, and, the limit loading equation according to the loading level. 14. The computing device of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises, in response to receiving via the display a confirmation of intent to charge the battery at the identified charging station, communicating with a computing device at the identified charging station via a computer network for the order to mark a specific connection point at the charging station identified as reserved for the electric vehicle and the order to prohibit other electric vehicles from using the specific connection point. 15. The computing arrangement of claim 14, wherein the method further comprises, calculating an estimated time of arrival (ETA) of the electric vehicle at the designated charging station, receiving a request to use the specified connection point from another vehicle, the additional calculation of the estimated charging time of the other vehicle's battery at that connection point and, provided that the estimated charging time of the battery falls short of the ETA of the electric vehicle, the circumvention of the ban.