Charge point notification system and in-vehicle device

A charge point notification system comprising:

• a center device including:
• a communication unit communicating with an electric vehicle,
• a memory unit storing road map information representing a road by using a link and a node, the road map information including, as node information of the node having a nearby charge point, a required energy of the electric vehicle for reaching the nearby charge point from the node when the node has at least one nearby charge point, and
• an information transmission unit transmitting the node information to the electric vehicle via the communication unit;
• and
• an in-vehicle device disposed in the electric vehicle and determining whether a charge point is reachable by the electric vehicle, the in-vehicle device including:
• a communication unit communicating with the communication unit of the center device,
• an in-vehicle obtainment determination unit obtaining vehicle information regarding the electric vehicle,
• an energy determination unit determining the required energy based on the node information of the road map information and the vehicle information of the electric vehicle when the electric vehicle is positioned in proximity to the node that has the node information,
• a determination unit determining whether the nearby charge point is reachable by the electric vehicle based on a comparison between (i) the required energy determined by the energy determination unit and (ii) a remaining energy of the electric vehicle, the remaining energy being an amount of energy available for driving the electric vehicle,
• a notification determination unit determining whether to generate a notification regarding a determination result of the determination unit, wherein the notification determination unit determines not to generate the notification of the determination result when the remaining energy is greater than the required energy by an energy difference that is equal to or greater than a first threshold, and determines to generate the notification of the determination results when the remaining energy is greater than the required energy by the energy difference that is less than the first threshold and is equal to or greater than a second threshold and when a reachable nearby charge point exists within a first distance range from the electric vehicle, the second threshold is less than the first threshold, and
• a determination result notification unit providing the notification of the determination result to a user of the electric vehicle when the notification determination unit generates the notification.

A charge point notification system comprising:

• a center device including:
• a communication unit communicating with an electric vehicle device,
• a memory unit storing road map information representing a road by using a link and a node, the road map information including, as node information of the node having a nearby charge point, a required energy of the electric vehicle for reaching the nearby charge point from the node when the node has at least one nearby charge point,
• an energy determination unit determining the required energy, and
• a determination unit determining whether the nearby charge point is reachable by the electric vehicle;
• and
• an in-vehicle device disposed in the electric vehicle and providing information of a charge point to a user of the electric vehicle, the in-vehicle device including:
• a communication unit communicating with the communication unit of the center device,
• an in-vehicle obtainment determination unit obtaining vehicle information regarding the electric vehicle,
• an information transmission unit transmitting the vehicle information to the center device via the communication unit, and
• a determination result notification unit providing a notification regarding a determination result by the determination unit provided by the center device, wherein
• the energy determination unit determines the required energy based on the node information of the road map information and the vehicle information of the electric vehicle when the electric vehicle is positioned in proximity to the node that has the node information,
• the determination unit determines whether the nearby charge point is reachable by the electric vehicle based on a comparison between (i) the required energy determined by the energy determination unit and (ii) a remaining energy of the electric vehicle, which is an amount of energy that is available for driving the electric vehicle, and
• when the determination result by the determination unit provides multiple reachable nearby charge points, the determination result notification unit of the in-vehicle device prioritizes a notification for the reachable nearby charge point that is along a travel direction of the electric vehicle from among the multiple reachable nearby charge points.

A charge point notification system comprising:

• a center device including:
• a communication unit communicating with an electric vehicle,
• a memory unit storing road map information representing a road by using a link and a node, the road map information including, as node information of the node having a nearby charge point, a required energy of the electric vehicle for reaching the nearby charge point from the node when the node has at least one nearby charge point, and
• an information transmission unit transmitting the node information to the electric vehicle via the communication unit;
• and
• an in-vehicle device disposed in the electric vehicle and determining whether a charge point is reachable by the electric vehicle, the in-vehicle device including:
• a communication unit communicating with the communication unit of the center device,
• an in-vehicle obtainment determination unit obtaining vehicle information regarding the electric vehicle,
• an energy determination unit determining the required energy based on the node information of the road map information and the vehicle information of the electric vehicle when the electric vehicle is positioned in proximity to the node that has the node information,
• a determination unit determining whether the nearby charge point is reachable by the electric vehicle based on a comparison between (i) the required energy determined by the energy determination unit and (ii) a remaining energy of the electric vehicle, the remaining energy being an amount of energy available for driving the electric vehicle, and
• a determination result notification unit providing a notification regarding a determination result by the determination unit to a user of the electric vehicle, wherein
• when the determination result by the determination unit provides multiple reachable nearby charge points, the determination result notification unit of the in-vehicle device prioritizes a notification for the reachable nearby charge point that is along a travel direction of the electric vehicle from among the multiple reachable nearby charge points.

An in-vehicle device disposed in an electric vehicle and communicably coupled to a center device, the center device having a memory unit storing road map information representing a road by using a link and a node, the road map information including, as node information of the node having a nearby charge point, a required energy of the electric vehicle for reaching the nearby charge point from the node when the node has at least one nearby charge point, the in-vehicle device comprising:

• a communication unit communicably coupled to the center device and receiving information such as the node information from the center device;
• an in-vehicle obtainment determination unit obtaining vehicle information regarding the electric vehicle;
• an energy determination unit determining the required energy based on the node information and the vehicle information when the electric vehicle is positioned in proximity to the node that has the node information;
• a determination unit determining whether the nearby charge point is reachable by the electric vehicle based on a comparison between (i) the required energy determined by the energy determination unit and (ii) a remaining energy of the electric vehicle, the remaining energy being an amount of energy available for driving the electric vehicle;
• a notification determination unit determining whether to generate a notification regarding a determination result of the determination unit, wherein the notification determination unit determines not to generate the notification of the determination result when the remaining energy is greater than the required energy by an energy difference that is equal to or greater than a first threshold, and determines to generate the notification of the determination results when the remaining energy is greater than the required energy by the energy difference that is less than the first threshold and is equal to or greater than a second threshold and when a reachable nearby charge point exists within a first distance range from the electric vehicle, the second threshold is less than the first threshold;
• and
• a determination result notification unit providing the notification of the determination result to a user of the electric vehicle when the notification determination unit generates the notification.