WO2023132781A1

WO2023132781A1 - An electrical vehicle charging system

Info

Publication number: WO2023132781A1
Application number: PCT/SE2023/050022
Authority: WO
Inventors: Fredrik BILLING; Tore STENBOCK
Original assignee: Eljun AB
Current assignee: Eljun AB
Priority date: 2022-01-10
Filing date: 2023-01-10
Publication date: 2023-07-13
Anticipated expiration: 2024-07-10
Also published as: SE2450777A1

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to an electrical vehicle charging system (100) comprising a transaction unit (101) connected to a plurality of geographically dispersed charging-stations (102), the transaction unit (101) being configured to provide a plurality of virtual payment tokens (104) for facilitating energy transactions in-between the charging-stations (102) and electrical vehicles (103) being a part of a transaction network (110). Further, to provide virtual payment wallets (105) for partakers (150) of said transaction network (110), the partakers (150) comprising electrical vehicles (120), EV users and charging stations (102), each wallet (105) being configured to store said virtual payment tokens (104). Moreover, enable transactions of tokens (104) between the virtual payment wallets (105) of the transaction network (110) to enable an EV to obtain electrical power (121) from said charging-station (102). Further, the system (100) comprises control circuitry (130) configured to determine a price / token for each charging-station (102).

Description

AN ELECTRICAL VEHICLE CHARGING SYSTEM

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to an electrical vehicle charging system and a method for operating an electrical vehicle charging system.

BACKGROUND ART

Charging stations are used to supply electrical power for charging electrical vehicles, such as electrical cars, buses and trucks. There is conventionally two common types of charging stations, public (commercial) charging stations and home (private) charging stations.

The commercial charging stations are accessible for most of the EV users; however, since commercial charging stations are owned by different companies it is common for EV users to only use the charging station where they already have a membership at. Moreover, private charging stations are mostly only used by the owner of the private charging station.

Accordingly, the utilization of charging stations could be much higher than they currently are.

A higher utilization of already existing charging stations could allow for reducing the need for implementing new charging stations, a benefit of this is less environmental impact from implementing new charging stations. A standard charger from a commercial manufacturer weighs around 200 kg and is made from steel and composite plastics, which produces a lot of carbon emission in its manufacturing.

Based on the above, there is room for charging systems in the present art to explore the domain of providing a charging system that is able to utilize existing charging stations to a higher degree.

Even though some currently known solutions work well in some situations it would be desirable to provide an electrical vehicle charging system that fulfils requirements related to improving the utilization of the charging systems available and allow for EV users to use charging systems that are both privately operated and commercially operated. SUMMARY

It is therefore an object of the present disclosure to provide an electrical vehicle (EV) charging system to mitigate, alleviate or eliminate one or more of the above-identified deficiencies and disadvantages.

This object is achieved by means of an EV charging system and a method for operating an EV charging system in accordance with the appended claims.

In accordance with the disclosure, there is provided an electrical vehicle (EV) charging system comprising a transaction unit (directly or indirectly) connected to (over a communication network) a plurality of geographically dispersed charging-stations, wherein each chargingstation is configured to charge electrical vehicles. Further, the transaction unit is configured to provide a plurality of virtual payment tokens for facilitating energy transactions in-between the charging-stations and electrical vehicles being a part of a transaction network of said system. Further, the transaction unit provides virtual payment wallets for partakers of said transaction network, the partakers comprising electrical vehicles, EV users and charging stations, each wallet being configured to store virtual payment tokens. Moreover, the transaction unit enables transactions of tokens between the virtual wallets of the transaction network. Upon each fulfilled token transaction from a virtual wallet of a vehicle or EV user to a virtual wallet of a charging station, the transaction unit is configured to enable an EV to obtain electrical power from said charging-station wherein the EV charging system further comprises control circuitry configured to apply at least one price-calculation factor for each chargingstation and determine, based on said at least one price-calculation factor, tokens/kWh (or a (electrical energy price (kwh) per token) for each charging-station. It should be noted that the electrical energy price per token for each individual charging station may be expressed as tokens/kWh. Thus, the electrical energy price per token for each individual charging station is dependent on at least one price-calculation factor. Thus, the unit for calculation may be tokens/kWh, referring to, at a specific charging station, x amount of tokens may give y amount of kWh. Thus, the phrase "electrical energy price/token" may be interchanged with "tokens/kWh" or amount of electrical energy per token.

A benefit of the system is that it advantageously allows for energy sharing among charging stations being part of said charging system. Moreover, by applying price-calculation factors, the prices can be adjusted so that the energy sharing is more utilized along the whole charging system. Also, the prices may be adjusted so that e.g. stations using renewable energy sources are cheaper so to promote environmental friendly charging.

The charging stations may be private charging stations and commercial charging stations. The price calculation factors may be at least one of demand, geographic location and source of the electrical power. Preferably, the calculation factors comprises demand and geographic location. More preferably it also comprises source of electrical power. A benefit of having demand as a price calculation factor is that it allows for charging stations with low demand to be adjusted in price - thus giving them a higher utilization. Moreover, a benefit of having source of electrical power as a factor is that it allows for promotion of e.g. environmental friendly sources, so that such sources have e.g. a lower price. Accordingly, resulting in a charging system that facilitates environmental friendly charging. Accordingly, the system may be configured to, adjust the electrical energy price per token of said plurality of charging stations to provide charging stations with low utilization rate (over a time period of e.g. 1-30 days) with a lower price compared to charging stations with a high utilization rate (e.g. over a time period), thereby increasing utilization. Moreover, the system may be configured to obtain utilization rates (e.g. amount of currently supplied kwh, or supplied kwh last 2-6 hours, last 24 hours, last 3 days or last month or any combination thereof) of said plurality of charging stations and adjust the electrical energy price per token of said plurality of charging stations based on the utilization rates thereof for evening (smoothening) the utilization rate for the plurality of charging stations relative each other. The adjusting may be performed dynamically, in real time.

The partakers may further comprise owners of at least one charging station of the plurality of charging stations. Thus, an owner can share energy from the owned charging station and obtain tokens from sharing which are then usable on other charging stations; thereby an EV user also owning a charging station can reduce/eliminate charging costs at other charging stations by energy sharing from an owned charging station.

Moreover, if an owner of a charging station is an EV user of said transaction network, said transaction unit is configured to provide a common virtual payment wallet for the charging station of the owner and the EV user. Thus, the owner can then use said common virtual payment wallet for charging an EV for tokens that are obtained from energy sharing from his charging station.

Upon each fulfilled transaction of tokens from a virtual wallet of a charging station to a virtual wallet of another charging station, the charging station may be enabled to obtain electrical power from the another charging station. Accordingly, the system may allow for energy sharing also between charging stations.

The control circuitry may be further configured to determine available charging stations of said charging system and the geographical location of each charging station. Moreover, the system may be further configured to transmit the available charging stations, the geographical location of the charging systems and the price/token of each charging station to at least one remote entity (e.g. a user equipment of a user). The remote entity may be a cloud computing network, a user equipment (mobile phone, tablet etc.) of a user searching for charging stations, the control unit of a vehicle or any other remote entity. The available charging stations may be transmitted for providing a graphical representation to a user.

A benefit of this is that the remote entity can then provide a graphical representation (on e.g. an app.) so to show available charging stations and their prices so that a user can choose the most suitable charging station based on their preference.

There is also provided a method for operating a charging system according to any one of the preceding claims, the method comprising the steps of providing a plurality of virtual payment tokens for facilitating energy transactions in-between the charging-stations and electrical vehicles being a part of a transaction network of said system. Moreover, the method comprises providing virtual payment wallets for partakers of said transaction unit, the partakers comprising electrical vehicles, EV users and charging stations, each wallet being configured to store virtual payment tokens. Thus, each partaker may have an individual virtual payment wallet. Further, the method enables transactions of tokens between the virtual wallets of the transaction network; and upon each fulfilled token transaction from a virtual wallet of a vehicle or EV user to a virtual wallet of a charging station. Furthermore, the method enables an EV to obtain electrical power from said charging-station. Further, the method comprises the steps of applying at least one price-calculation factor for each charging-station and determining, based on said at least one price-calculation factor, a price / token for each charging-station.

There is also provided a computer-readable storage medium storing one or more programs configured to be executed by one or more control circuitry of a charging system, the one or more programs including instructions for performing the method according to any aspect of the present disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the following, the disclosure will be described in a non-limiting way and in more detail with reference to exemplary aspects illustrated in the enclosed drawings, in which:

Figure 1 schematically illustrates an electrical vehicle, EV charging system

100;

Figure 2 schematically illustrates a transaction of tokens 104 between wallet 105 of a vehicle 120 and wallet 105 of a charging station 102;

Figure 3 schematically illustrates a geographical area 180 with dispersed charging stations 102; and

Figure 4 illustrates a method 300 for operating a charging system 100 in the form of a flow-chart. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following detailed description, some aspects of the present disclosure will be described. However, it is to be understood that features of the different aspects are exchangeable between the aspects and may be combined in different ways, unless anything else is specifically indicated. Even though in the following description, numerous specific details are set forth to provide a more thorough understanding of the provided system and method, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the system and method may be realized without these details. In other instances, well known constructions or functions are not described in detail, so as not to obscure the present disclosure.

In the following description of example aspects, the same reference numerals denote the same or similar components.

Figure 1 schematically illustrates an electrical vehicle, EV charging system 100 comprising a transaction unit 101 connected to a plurality of geographically dispersed charging-stations 102, wherein each charging-station 102 is configured to charge electrical vehicles 103. The transaction unit 101 being configured to provide a plurality of virtual payment tokens 104 (tokens shown in figure 2) for facilitating energy transactions in-between the charging-stations 102 and electrical vehicles 103 being a part of a transaction network 110. Also configured to provide virtual payment wallets 105 (wallet shown in figure 2) for partakers 150 of said transaction network 110, the partakers 150 comprising electrical vehicles 120, EV users and charging stations 102, each wallet 105 being configured to store said virtual payment tokens 104. Moreover, configured to enable transactions of tokens 104 between the virtual wallets 105 of the transaction network 110 and upon each fulfilled token transaction from a virtual wallet 105 of a vehicle or EV user to a virtual wallet 105 of a charging station 102, the system 1 enables an EV to obtain electrical power 121 from said charging-station 102. Furthermore, the EV charging system 100 further comprises control circuitry 130 configured to apply at least one price-calculation factor for each charging-station 102 and determine, based on said at least one price-calculation factor, a price / token for each charging-station 102. In some embodiments it may determine a number of kWh / token. Accordingly, the control circuitry may calculate price based on price calculation factors which are then communicated/transmitted to transaction unit 101 so that any transaction performed between wallets are in accordance with said price/token.

It should be noted that the users may also be e.g. commercial companies. Further, virtual wallets may be pre-filled with a predetermined amount of tokens. Moreover, a partaker 150 may exchange tokens for money.

The transaction unit 101 and the control circuitry 130 shown in Figure 1 may comprise one or more memory devices (not shown). The memory devices may comprise any form of volatile or non-volatile computer readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and/or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device readable and/or computer-executable memory devices that store information, data, and/or instructions that may be used by the transaction unit 101 and the control circuitry 130. Each memory device may store any suitable instructions, data or information, including a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, etc. and/or other instructions capable of being executed by the transaction unit 101, any of the modules lOla-b in the transaction unit 101 and the control circuitry 130. Memory device may be used to store any calculations/transactions/operations made by control circuitry 130 and transaction unit 101 and/or any data received via e.g. an input interfaces (not shown). In some embodiments, the control circuitry 130 and the transaction unit 101 are integrated. The transaction unit 101 may be a block chain unit configured to communicate over the transaction network via wireless or wired communication to realize peer-to-peer trading among partakers 150 in the transaction network 110. Thus, the block chain unit may provide trading and recording, so that token information and peer-to-peer energy transaction information are stored in the transaction network and block chain unit in a distributed and constant manner. The block chain unit may be part of an existing conventional block chain unit for example Ethereum.

The contract module 101a may be configured to provide means for allowing transactions within the network 110, i.e. provide script code for operating the system 100 and the transactions. Moreover, the contract module may comprise further modules, such as communication modules (not shown) for allowing data interaction to be established. Moreover, the contract module may generate/provide tokens 104 requested by the transaction module 101b, and virtual wallets 105 and assigning virtual wallets to partakers.

The transaction module 101b may be configured to identify transaction parties (partakers 150), and realize transactions, by handling any transaction data. Moreover, the transaction module 101b may be configured to enable transactions of tokens 104 between the virtual wallets 105 of the transaction network 110; and upon each fulfilled token transaction from a virtual wallet 105 of a vehicle or EV user to a virtual wallet 105 of a charging station 102 enable an EV to obtain electrical power 121 from said charging-station 102. Thus the transaction module 101b may communicate with charging stations 102

Each memory device may also store data that can be retrieved, manipulated, created, or stored by the control circuitry 130, transaction unit 101 and the modules therein 101a, 101b. The data may include, for instance, local updates, parameters, learning models, user data. The memory device 12 of the server device 10 may include data such as bank account data relating to both a legitimate bank account of a user and the distress account of the user, asset transaction data associated to a respective user and other data. The data can be stored in one or more databases connected to unit 101 and the circuitry 130. The one or more databases can be connected to the server by a high bandwidth field area network (FAN) or wide area network (WAN), or can also be connected to the server through a wireless communication network.

The control circuitry and the transaction unit may include, for example, one or more central processing units (CPUs), graphics processing units (GPUs) dedicated to performing calculations/ transactions and/or other processing devices. The memory devices can include one or more computer-readable media and can store information accessible by the control circuitry 130 and transaction unit 101, including instructions/programs that can be executed by the control circuitry/transaction unit 130, 101 so to operate the system 100.

The instructions, which may be executed by the control circuitry 130 and the transaction unit 101 may comprise instructions for operating the system 100 according to any aspects of the present disclosure. For example, the instructions may include instructions to allow for virtual waHets 105 to be provided, tokens 104 to be generated and transactions of tokens 104 in between waHets.

The term "virtual payment wallet" may refer to an appiication allowing for tokens to be stored, transacted and retrieved.

The term "charging station" may refer to an EV charger which supplies electrical power for charging plug-in EV, including hybrids, trucks, buses, scooters, bicycles etc. It should be noted that the term EV also includes autonomous EVs.

The term "virtual token" may refer to an asset or specific use which in the present disclosure can be used to obtain electrical power from charging stations 102 by being transacted between a virtual wallet of a partaker 150 to a virtual wallet associated to a charging station 102. it should be noted that the tokens according to the disclosure may be a fungible token or a non-fungible token. Tokens of the disclosure may be a digital representation of value that functions as a medium of value.

The term "transaction network" may refer to a network/! nf restructure of interconnected partakers and charging stations coupled to virtual payment wallets and able to make transactions of tokens/electrical power. The transaction network may allow for connecting charging stations (both private and commercial) with EV users and based on a common virtual token facilitate energy transactions.

The transaction unit 101 and the control circuitry 130 may be configured to exchange data with one or more of said partakers 150 over a wireless communication network. Any number of partakers 150 can communicate with said transaction unit 101 and control circuitry 130 over the network. The network may be any type of communication network, such as a local area network (e.g. intranet), wide area network (e.g. Internet), cellular network, or some combination thereof.

Communication between components of the system 100 and i.e. belonging to the transaction network 100 can be carried via network interface (not shown) using any type of wired and/or wireless connection, using a variety of communication protocols (e.g. TCP/IP, HTTP, SMTP, FTP), encodings or formats (e.g. HTMF, XMF), and/or protection schemes (e.g. VPN, secure HTTP, SSF).

The price calculation factors may be at least one of demand, geographic location, source of the electrical power. The partakers 150 may further comprises owners of at least one charging station 102 of the plurality of charging stations 102. Moreover if an owner of a charging station 102 is an EV user of said transaction network 110, said transaction unit 101 is configured to provide a common virtual payment wallet 105 for the charging station 102 of the owner and the EV user. The charging stations 102 may be private charging stations 102a and commercial charging stations 102b.

The control circuitry 130 may further be configured to determine available charging stations 102 of said charging system 100 and the geographical location of each charging station 102. Moreover the control circuitry may further transmit the available charging stations 102, the geographical location of the charging stations 102 and the price/token of each charging station 102 to at least one remote entity 122. Figure 1 illustrates a remote entity 122 in communication with said control circuitry 130. The remote entity 122 in Figure 1 is a mobile phone, however it may be any remote entity such as a PC, tablet, cloud computing device, control unit of a vehicle etc. Thus, a remote entity 122 may receive the information and provide a graphical representation for a user so that the user can select a charging station 102 based on preference.

Figure 2 schematically illustrates a transaction of tokens 104 between wallets 105 of a vehicle 120 and a charging station 102. The transaction enables the vehicle 120 to obtain electrical power 121 from said charging station 102.

In a transaction, e.g. in accordance with Figure 2 when an EV obtains electrical power from a charging station 102, the wallet 105 performing the transaction for obtaining power, may have the transacted token burned/nullified, and accordingly, the transaction unit 101 may generate a new corresponding token for said charging station 102. Thus, transactions may occur in different ways, either by direct transaction where a virtual token 104 is transacted to another partaker or where a virtual token 104 is nullified and the other partaker intended to receive the token 104 obtains a newly generated token from said transaction unit 101. It should be noted that tokens 104 may be transacted between wallets 105 of charging stations 102 as well. In such a case, upon each fulfilled transaction of tokens 104 from a virtual payment wallet 105 of a charging station 102 to a virtual wallet 105 of another charging station 102, the system 100 may enable the charging station 102 to obtain electrical power 121 from the another charging station 102.

Figure 3 schematically illustrates a geographical area 180 with dispersed charging stations 102. Figure 3 illustrates in an exemplifying manner how the system 100 can provide charging stations 102 for EVs 120 being part of the transaction network of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 3, electrical vehicles 120 in the form of cars, scooters and bicycles are on said geographical area 180. Ref. number 160 specifically shows a vehicle being charged by a charging station of said transaction network 101, where a transaction of tokens 104 from the vehicle 120 to the charging station 120 are fulfilled by means of said wallets 105. Accordingly, the vehicle 120 is enabled to obtain electrical power 121 from the charging station. The charging station in 160 is a private charging station 102a.

Accordingly a vehicle 120 driving in said geographical area 180 can get a visual representation of charging stations 120 in a remote entity 122 and based on that, choose the preferred charging station 120 to charge on based in individual preference.

Figure 4 illustrates a method 300 for operating a charging system 100 according to any aspect of the disclosure, the method 300 comprising the steps of: providing 301 a plurality of virtual payment tokens for facilitating energy transactions in-between the charging-stations and electrical vehicles being a part of a transaction network. Further, step of providing 302 virtual payment wallets for partakers of said transaction unit, the partakers comprising electrical vehicles, EV users and charging stations, each wallet being configured to store virtual payment tokens. Moreover, the method comprises step of enabling 303 transactions of tokens between the virtual wallets of the transaction network; and upon each fulfilled token transaction from a virtual wallet of a vehicle or EV user to a virtual wallet of a charging station. Further, the method 300 comprises enabling 304 an EV to obtain electrical power from said chargingstation, applying 305 at least one price-calculation factor for each charging-station and determining 306, based on said at least one price-calculation factor, a price / token for each charging-station 102. There is also provided a computer-readable storage medium storing one or more programs configured to be executed by one or more control circuitry 130, 101 of a system 100, the one or more programs including instructions for performing the method 300 as disclosed herein.

Claims

1. An electrical vehicle, EV charging system (100) comprising a transaction unit (101) connected to a plurality of geographically dispersed charging-stations (102), wherein each charging-station (102) is configured to charge electrical vehicles (103), the transaction unit (101) being configured to: o provide a plurality of virtual payment tokens (104) for facilitating energy transactions in-between the charging-stations (102) and electrical vehicles (103) being a part of a transaction network (110); o provide virtual payment wallets (105) for partakers (150) of said transaction network (110), the partakers (150) comprising electrical vehicles (120), EV users and charging stations (102), each wallet (105) being configured to store said virtual payment tokens (104); o enable transactions of tokens (104) between the virtual payment wallets (105) of the transaction network (110); and upon each fulfilled token transaction from a virtual wallet (105) of a vehicle or EV user to a virtual wallet (105) of a charging station (102); o enable an EV to obtain electrical power (121) from said charging-station (102); wherein the EV charging system (100) further comprises control circuitry (130) configured to: o apply at least one price-calculation factor for each charging-station (102) o determine, based on said at least one price-calculation factor, an electrical energy price per token for each charging-station (102).

2. The electrical vehicle, EV charging system (100) according to claim 1, wherein the charging stations (102) are private charging stations (102a) and commercial charging stations (102b).

3. The electrical vehicle, EV charging system (100) according to any one of the claims 1 or

2, wherein the price calculation factors are at least one of: demand geographic location source of the electrical power. The electrical vehicle, EV charging system (100) according to any one of the claims 1-3, wherein the partakers (150) further comprises owners of at least one charging station (102) of the plurality of charging stations (102). The electrical vehicle, EV charging system (100) according to any one of the claim 4, wherein if an owner of a charging station (102) is an EV user of said transaction network (110), said transaction unit (101) is configured to provide a common virtual payment wallet (105) for the charging station (102) of the owner and the EV user. The EV charging system (100) according to any one of the claims 1-5, wherein upon each fulfilled transaction of tokens (104) from a virtual payment wallet (105) of a charging station (102) to a virtual wallet (105) of another charging station (102), enable the charging station (102) to obtain electrical power (121) from the another charging station (102). The EV charging system (100) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said control circuitry (130) is further configured to: determine available charging stations (102) of said charging system (100) and the geographical location of each charging station (102). The EV charging system (100) according to claim 7, wherein the EV charging system (100) is further configured to: transmit the available charging stations (102), the geographical location of the charging stations (102) and the electrical energy price per token of each charging station (102) to at least one remote entity (122). The EV charging system (100) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the system (100) is configured to: obtain utilization rates of said plurality of charging stations; adjust the electrical energy price per token of said plurality of charging stations based on the utilization rates thereof for evening the utilization rate for the plurality of charging stations relative each other.

10. A method (300) for operating a charging system (100) according to any one of the preceding claims, the method (300) comprising the steps of:

- providing (301) a plurality of virtual payment tokens for facilitating energy transactions in-between the charging-stations and electrical vehicles being a part of a transaction network;

- providing (302) a virtual payment wallets for partakers of said transaction unit, the partakers comprising electrical vehicles, EV users and charging stations, each wallet being configured to store virtual payment tokens;

- enabling (303) transactions of tokens between the virtual wallets of the transaction network; and upon each fulfilled token transaction from a virtual wallet of a vehicle or EV user to a virtual wallet of a charging station,

- enabling (304) an EV to obtain electrical power from said charging-station

- applying (305) at least one price-calculation factor for each charging-station (120')

- determining (306), based on said at least one price-calculation factor, a price / token for each charging-station (102).

11. A computer-readable storage medium storing one or more programs configured to be executed by one or more control circuitry (130, 101) of a system (100), the one or more programs including instructions for performing the method (300) of claim 10.