Overcurrent and ground fault protection in a networked charging station for electric vehicles

A networked charging station for electric vehicles, comprising:

• a charging point connection to couple electric vehicles to a power line coupled with a power grid;
• an electricity control device coupled with the charging point connection to control the flow of electricity to the charging point connection;
• a current measuring device coupled with the charging point connection to measure electric current flowing on the power line through the charging point connection;
• a charging station controller coupled with the electricity control device and the current measuring device, the charging station controller to receive current data from the current measuring device and to perform the following:
• detect overcurrent conditions based on the current data received from the current measuring device, and responsive to detecting an overcurrent condition, cause the electricity control device to de-energize the charging point connection,
• receive requests to clear the overcurrent conditions,
• cause an authorization to be performed on the received requests, and
• responsive to receipt of an authorized request to clear an overcurrent condition, cause the electricity control device to energize the charging point connection without a manual reset of a circuit breaker coupled with the networked charging station for electric vehicles.

A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium that provides instructions that, if executed by a processor on a networked charging station for electric vehicles, will cause said processor to perform operations for protecting against overcurrent conditions, said operations comprising:

• receiving a request from an operator of an electric vehicle to establish a charging session for the electric vehicle;
• establishing the charging session for the operator including energizing a charging point connection of the networked charging station to allow current to flow through a charging cord towards the electric vehicle;
• responsive to detecting an overcurrent condition, performing the following:
• preventing current from flowing through the charging cord by de-energizing the charging point connection, and
• suspending the charging session;
• receiving a remote request to clear the detected overcurrent condition;
• and
• responsive to receiving the remote request to clear the detected overcurrent condition, performing the following:
• clearing the overcurrent condition without a manual reset of a circuit breaker coupled with the networked charging station for electric vehicles,
• energizing the charging point connection, and
• resuming the charging session.