Energy management for connected charging stations with bidirectionality

A method for managing energy transfers between a plurality of vehicle charging systems each configured to charge vehicles at a charging site, comprising:

• charging, via respective alternating current (AC) power ports and rectifiers, respective batteries of a vehicle charging system and an additional vehicle charging system at the charging site using an input electric power from an AC power source via a power source circuit connected to the respective AC power port of each of the vehicle charging system and the additional vehicle charging system, wherein each respective rectifier of the vehicle charging system or the additional vehicle charging system is configured to convert AC power from the respective AC power port into direct current (DC) power to charge the respective battery;
• determining, by a system controller of the vehicle charging system, occurrence of a triggering condition for charge transfer between the battery of the vehicle charging system and the additional battery of the additional vehicle charging system via a local AC circuit connecting a secondary AC power port of the vehicle charging system to an additional secondary AC power port of an additional vehicle charging system at the charging site, wherein the local AC circuit is separate from the power source circuit;
• and
• in response to determining occurrence of the triggering condition, controlling, by the system controller, an inverter of the vehicle charging system to effect the charge transfer based upon the triggering condition by converting a DC output power from the battery into an AC output power to the secondary AC power port to provide the AC output power to the local AC circuit.

A site charging system for charging vehicles at a charging site, comprising:

• a plurality of vehicle charging systems at the charging site connected via a local alternating current (AC) circuit, each vehicle charging system comprising:
• a plurality of AC power ports including a first AC power port configured to receive input electric power from an AC power source via a power source circuit and a second AC power port configured to provide output electric power from the vehicle charging system to a local AC circuit at a charging site, wherein the local AC circuit is separate from the power source circuit;
• a battery configured to receive and store direct current (DC) electric power derived from the input electric power;
• a rectifier disposed between the first AC power port and the battery to convert AC power into DC power to charge the battery;
• an inverter disposed between the battery and at least the second AC power port to convert DC power from the battery into AC power to be supplied from the vehicle charging system to the second AC power port;
• a vehicle coupling configured to receive a charging current from the battery and to provide an electrical interconnect between the vehicle charging system and a vehicle in order to provide the charging current to the vehicle;
• and
• a system controller comprising one or more processors configured to control charge transfer between the battery of the vehicle charging system and one or more additional batteries of one or more additional vehicle charging systems of the plurality of vehicle charging systems via the local AC circuit;
• and
• a centralized management system communicatively connected to the plurality of vehicle charging systems via an electronic communication connection, comprising one or more processors configured to:
• determine occurrence of a triggering condition for charge transfer between the respective batteries of a first vehicle charging system and a second vehicle charging system of the plurality of vehicle charging systems via the local AC circuit;
• and
• in response to determining occurrence of the triggering condition, control (i) the inverter of the first vehicle charging system to convert a DC output power from the battery of the first vehicle charging system into an AC output power to the second AC power port of the first vehicle charging system to provide the AC output power to the local AC circuit and (ii) the rectifier of the second vehicle charging system to convert an AC input power received from the local AC circuit via the second AC power port of the second vehicle charging system into a DC input power to charge the battery of the second vehicle charging system.