Externally-Visible Electric Vehicle State of Charge and Charging Status Information Display Device and Method

A method for charging an electric vehicle comprising the steps of:

• recognizing a connection from an external charging system to a charge port of the electric vehicle;
• acquiring a current vehicle state of charge from the electric vehicle;
• activating a display in the electric vehicle;
• acquiring a target charge level from the electric vehicle;
• comparing the current vehicle state of charge with the target charge level, and if the current vehicle state of charge equals the target charge level, display completion of charging session;
• detecting a start of a charging session, and if a charging session is not started, put system into waiting status;
• checking the connection between the electric vehicle charge port and the external charging system, and evaluating if the connection is disconnected or terminated, whereafter displaying a stopped status;
• detecting if a charging session begins, and then repeating the following steps:
• acquiring a current vehicle state of charge;
• comparing the current vehicle state of charge with a target charge level;
• calculating time to reach target charge level based on a current rate of charge and the vehicle state of charge;
• displaying a “charging” state;
• displaying a state of the charging session, where the state of the charging session can be seen outside of the electric vehicle;
• detecting if a charging session stops, and if the stopping of the charging session is planned, display “complete” status, otherwise if the stopping of the charging session is unplanned or interrupted, display “stopped” status.

A method for charging an electric vehicle comprising the steps of:

• recognizing if a charging session has started;
• acquiring a current vehicle state of charge from the electric vehicle;
• activating a display;
• acquiring a current rate of charge for the charging session;
• acquiring a target charge level from one of the electric vehicle or an operator of the electric vehicle;
• comparing the current vehicle state of charge with the target charge level;
• calculating the time to reach the target charge level based on the current rate of charge and vehicle state of charge;
• and
• displaying a status of the charging session and at least one of time to target charge level and current vehicle state of charge;
• where if the calculated time to reach target charge level is zero, display completion of charging session.