Electric vehicle charging using downsized buck boost converter

A charging system of an electrical automobile vehicle, the charging system comprising:

• a converter unit within a first automobile vehicle having a bi-directional DC/DC (BDD) converter with or without a bypass switch connected to a positive bus and a negative bus;
• a charge port connected to the positive bus and the negative bus;
• a first energy storage system of the first automobile vehicle including a dual battery package;
• a charging cable releasably connected from the first energy storage system via the charge port to a charging station or releasably connected to a second energy storage system of a second automobile vehicle;
• a vehicle charging controller connected to the converter unit and programmed to communicate with the charging station and the second energy storage system;
• and
• a plurality of low-loss switching devices of the converter unit selectively operated by signals from the vehicle charging controller to position the plurality of low-loss switching devices in an on-state (ON) or an off-state (OFF) to control charging the first energy storage system from the charging station or charging the second energy storage system from the first energy storage system.

A method for charging an electrical automobile vehicle, the method comprising:

• connecting a bi-directional DC/DC (BDD) converter to a converter unit within a first automobile vehicle;
• connecting the BDD converter and a charge port to a positive bus and a negative bus;
• providing a first energy storage system in the first automobile vehicle including a battery;
• releasably connecting a charging cable from the first energy storage system via the charge port to a charging station to charge the battery or releasably connecting the charging cable to a second energy storage system of a second automobile vehicle;
• programming a vehicle charging controller connected to the converter unit to communicate with the charging station and the second energy storage system;
• and
• selectively operating a plurality of low-loss switching devices of the converter unit using signals from the vehicle charging controller to position the plurality of low-loss switching devices in an on-state (ON) or an off-state (OFF) to control charging the first energy storage system from the charging station or charging the second energy storage system from the first energy storage system.