# US 10,308,131 B1 · Courtesy hand-off visual indicators for public electrified vehicle charging > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 10,308,131 B1 - Document ID: US10308131B1 - Status: Granted - Kind: B1 - Application number: 15/873,949 - Filed: 2018-01-18 - Granted: 2019-06-04 - Earliest claimed: 2018-01-18 - Assignees: Ford Global Technologies, LLC - Applicants: Ford Global Technologies, LLC - Inventors: Alexander Bartlett; Dylan Erb; Jacob Wiles; Bikram Singh; Baocheng Sun - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10308131B1 ## CPC - B60L 53/14: Conductive energy transfer - B60L 3/04: Cutting off the power supply under fault conditions (protective devices and circuit arrangements in general H01H; H02H) - B60L 50/66: {Arrangements of batteries} - B60L 53/16: Connectors, e.g. plugs or sockets, specially adapted for charging electric vehicles - B60L 53/65: involving identification of vehicles or their battery types - B60L 58/12: responding to state of charge [SoC] - G01R 31/371: with remote indication, e.g. on external chargers - H02J 7/70: characterised by the mechanical construction - Y02T 10/70: Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries - Y02T 10/7072: Electromobility specific charging systems or methods for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors - Y02T 90/12: Electric charging stations - Y02T 90/14: Plug-in electric vehicles - B60L: PROPULSION OF ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLED VEHICLES (arrangements or mounting of electrical propulsion units or of plural diverse prime-movers for mutual or common propulsion in vehicles B60K1/00, B60K6/20; arrangements or mounting of electrical gearing in vehicles B60K17/12, B60K17/14; preventing wheel slip by reducing power in rail vehicles B61C15/08; dynamo-electric machines H02K; control or regulation of electric motors H02P); SUPPLYING ELECTRIC POWER FOR AUXILIARY EQUIPMENT OF ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLED VEHICLES (electric coupling devices combined with mechanical couplings of vehicles B60D1/64; electric heating for vehicles B60H1/00); ELECTRODYNAMIC BRAKE SYSTEMS FOR VEHICLES IN GENERAL (control or regulation of electric motors H02P); MAGNETIC SUSPENSION OR LEVITATION FOR VEHICLES; MONITORING OPERATING VARIABLES OF ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLED VEHICLES; ELECTRIC SAFETY DEVICES FOR ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLED VEHICLES - G01R: MEASURING ELECTRIC VARIABLES; MEASURING MAGNETIC VARIABLES (indicating correct tuning of resonant circuits H03J3/12) - H02J: ELECTRIC POWER NETWORKS; CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS OR SYSTEMS FOR SUPPLYING OR DISTRIBUTING ELECTRIC POWER; SYSTEMS FOR STORING ELECTRIC ENERGY - Y02T: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO TRANSPORTATION ## Abstract A charging system for an electrified vehicle includes a battery pack, a charging component in charging connection with the battery pack, a visual indicator on the charging component, and a control module configured to illuminate the visual indicator in response to reaching a predefined state of charge (SOC) threshold of the battery pack. The visual indicator can indicate that the SOC of the battery pack has reached a level that is acceptable for unplugging the electrified vehicle from a charging station. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A charging system for an electrified vehicle, comprising: a battery pack; a charging component located onboard the electrified vehicle and being in charging connection with the battery pack; a visual indicator on the charging component; and a control module configured to illuminate the visual indicator in response to reaching a predefined state of charge (SOC) threshold of the battery pack. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The charging system as recited in claim 1, wherein the charging component is a vehicle inlet assembly. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The charging system as recited in claim 2, wherein the visual indicator is mounted within a housing of the vehicle inlet assembly. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The charging system as recited in claim 1, wherein the visual indicator includes an insert and a light source. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The charging system as recited in claim 4, wherein the insert is mounted within a housing of the charging component and the light source is positioned behind the insert. ### Claim 6 (depends on 4) The charging system as recited in claim 4, wherein the light source includes a light emitting diode (LED). ### Claim 7 (depends on 4) The charging system as recited in claim 4, wherein the control module is configured to actuate the light source to illuminate the insert. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The charging system as recited in claim 1, wherein the visual indicator includes a pictogram, a word, or both. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The charging system as recited in claim 1, wherein the visual indicator indicates that the SOC of the battery pack has reached a level that is acceptable to a user of the electrified vehicle. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The charging system as recited in claim 9, wherein the visual indicator indicates that it is acceptable to unplug the electrified vehicle from a charging station. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The charging system as recited in claim 1, wherein the predefined SOC threshold of the battery pack is input by a user of the electrified vehicle. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The charging system as recited in claim 11, wherein the predefined SOC threshold is input on a human machine interface of the electrified vehicle. ### Claim 13 (depends on 1) The charging system as recited in claim 1, wherein the visual indicator is located near a charging port of the charging component. ### Claim 14 A method, comprising: automatically illuminating a visual indicator of a charging component located onboard an electrified vehicle in response to reaching a predefined minimum state of charge (SOC) threshold when charging a battery pack, wherein the visual indicator indicates that the SOC of the battery pack has reached a level that is acceptable for unplugging the electrified vehicle from a charging station. ### Claim 15 (depends on 14) The method as recited in claim 14, comprising determining whether a user has input the predefined minimum SOC threshold. ### Claim 16 (depends on 14) The method as recited in claim 14, wherein automatically illuminating the visual indicator includes illuminating a pictogram. ### Claim 17 (depends on 14) The method as recited in claim 14, wherein automatically illuminating the visual indicator includes illuminating a word. ### Claim 18 (depends on 14) The method as recited in claim 14, wherein automatically illuminating the visual indicator includes illuminating a pictogram and a word. ### Claim 19 (depends on 14) The method as recited in claim 14, wherein the predefined minimum SOC threshold is a user defined value that is less than 100% SOC. ### Claim 20 (depends on 14) The method as recited in claim 14, wherein the charging station includes a housing and an output display, and the charging component that includes the visual indicator is completely separate from either the housing or the output display. ### Claim 21 (depends on 1) The charging system as recited in claim 1, wherein the charging component is configured to receive a charge connector of a charge cord. ### Claim 22 (depends on 1) The charging system as recited in claim 1, comprising a high voltage cable connecting between the charging component and the battery pack. ### Claim 23 (depends on 1) The charging system as recited in claim 1, wherein a housing of the charging component is permanently mounted to a vehicle body of the electrified vehicle. ### Claim 24 (depends on 1) The charging system as recited in claim 1, wherein the charging component includes a door movable between a closed position and an open position, wherein the visual indicator is exposed for viewing when the door is in the open position. ### Claim 25 A method, comprising: automatically illuminating a visual indicator of a charging component of an electrified vehicle in response to reaching a predefined minimum state of charge (SOC) threshold when charging a battery pack, wherein the visual indicator indicates that the SOC of the battery pack has reached a level that is acceptable for unplugging the electrified vehicle from a charging station; determining whether a user has input the predefined minimum SOC threshold; and setting a default value of 100% SOC if the user has not input the predefined minimum SOC value.