# US 9,434,271 B2 · Conditioning an electric grid using electric vehicles

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- Number: US 9,434,271 B2
- Document ID: US9434271B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 14/018,048
- Filed: 2013-09-04
- Published: 2014-08-14
- Granted: 2016-09-06
- Earliest claimed: 2012-09-04
- Assignees: Recargo, Inc.
- Applicants: Recargo, Inc.
- Inventors: Forrest North; Armen Petrosian; Lucas Mansfield
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US9434271B2

## CPC

- B60L 53/64: Optimising energy costs, e.g. responding to electricity rates
- B60L 53/36: by positioning the vehicle
- B60L 53/665: {Methods related to measuring, billing or payment}
- B60L 55/00: Arrangements for supplying energy stored within a vehicle to a power network, i.e. vehicle-to-grid [V2G] arrangements
- G05D 1/0027: {involving a plurality of vehicles, e.g. fleet or convoy travelling (fleet control of land vehicles from a control room G05D1/0297; traffic control systems for road vehicles G08G1/00; for marine craft G08G3/00; for aircraft G08G5/00)}
- G05D 1/0291: {Fleet control (monitoring fleets in traffic control systems for road vehicles G08G1/127, G08G1/127)}
- G05D 1/69: Coordinated control of the position or course of two or more vehicles
- G05D 1/692: involving a plurality of disparate vehicles
- G07C 5/008: {communicating information to a remotely located station (transmission systems for measured values G08C)}
- H02J 7/50: acting upon multiple batteries simultaneously or sequentially
- H02J 7/42: with electronic devices having internal batteries, e.g. mobile phones
- Y02E 60/00: Enabling technologies; Technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to GHG emissions mitigation
- Y02T 10/70: Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries
- Y02T 10/7072: Electromobility specific charging systems or methods for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors
- Y02T 90/12: Electric charging stations
- Y02T 90/14: Plug-in electric vehicles
- Y02T 90/16: Information or communication technologies improving the operation of electric vehicles
- Y02T 90/167: Systems integrating technologies related to power network operation and communication or information technologies for supporting the interoperability of electric or hybrid vehicles, i.e. smartgrids as interface for battery charging of electric vehicles [EV] or hybrid vehicles [HEV]
- Y04S 10/126: the energy generation units being or involving electric vehicles [EV] or hybrid vehicles [HEV], i.e. power aggregation of EV or HEV, vehicle to grid arrangements [V2G]
- Y04S 30/14: Details associated with the interoperability, e.g. vehicle recognition, authentication, identification or billing
- B60L: PROPULSION OF ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLED VEHICLES (arrangements or mounting of electrical propulsion units or of plural diverse prime-movers for mutual or common propulsion in vehicles B60K1/00, B60K6/20; arrangements or mounting of electrical gearing in vehicles B60K17/12, B60K17/14; preventing wheel slip by reducing power in rail vehicles B61C15/08; dynamo-electric machines H02K; control or regulation of electric motors H02P); SUPPLYING ELECTRIC POWER FOR AUXILIARY EQUIPMENT OF ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLED VEHICLES (electric coupling devices combined with mechanical couplings of vehicles B60D1/64; electric heating for vehicles B60H1/00); ELECTRODYNAMIC BRAKE SYSTEMS FOR VEHICLES IN GENERAL (control or regulation of electric motors H02P); MAGNETIC SUSPENSION OR LEVITATION FOR VEHICLES; MONITORING OPERATING VARIABLES OF ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLED VEHICLES; ELECTRIC SAFETY DEVICES FOR ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLED VEHICLES
- G05D: SYSTEMS FOR CONTROLLING OR REGULATING NON-ELECTRIC VARIABLES
- G07C: TIME OR ATTENDANCE REGISTERS; REGISTERING OR INDICATING THE WORKING OF MACHINES; GENERATING RANDOM NUMBERS; VOTING OR LOTTERY APPARATUS; ARRANGEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS FOR CHECKING NOT PROVIDED FOR ELSEWHERE
- H02J: ELECTRIC POWER NETWORKS; CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS OR SYSTEMS FOR SUPPLYING OR DISTRIBUTING ELECTRIC POWER; SYSTEMS FOR STORING ELECTRIC ENERGY
- Y02E: REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION
- Y02T: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO TRANSPORTATION
- Y04S: SYSTEMS INTEGRATING TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO POWER NETWORK OPERATION, COMMUNICATION OR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES FOR IMPROVING THE ELECTRICAL POWER GENERATION, TRANSMISSION, DISTRIBUTION, MANAGEMENT OR USAGE, i.e. SMART GRIDS

## Abstract

A grid to vehicle system is described. In some examples, the system selectively controls one or more electric vehicles connected to an electric grid based on conditions associated with the electric grid. For example, the system may control charging operations of the electric vehicles based on load balancing conditions associated with the electric grid, based on cost conditions associated with electric power provided by the electric grid, and so on.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A system, comprising:
a grid communication component, wherein the grid communication component is configured to receive information from an electric grid associated with an expected load condition of the electric grid; and
a vehicle control component in communication with computing systems of multiple electric vehicles connected to the electric grid, wherein the vehicle control component is configured to selectively control charging operations of the multiple electric vehicles connected to the electric grid based on the information associated with the expected load condition of the electric grid, by:
transmitting control instructions to a computing system of at least one electric vehicle to start an active charging of the at least one electric vehicle when the expected load condition of the electric grid indicates electric production is greater than electric consumption, or
transmitting control instructions to the computing system of at least one electric vehicle to stop an active charging of the at least one electric vehicle when the expected load condition of the electric grid indicates electric consumption is greater than electric production.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle control component is configured to turn on an air conditioner of the one or more vehicles when the expected condition of the electric grid indicates electric production is greater than electric consumption.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle control component is configured to turn on a heater of the one or more vehicles when the expected condition of the electric grid indicates electric production is greater than electric consumption.

### Claim 4

A method, comprising:
receiving information from an electric grid associated with an expected load condition of the electric grid; and
selectively controlling charging operations of multiple electric vehicles connected to the electric grid based on the received information associated with the expected load condition of the electric grid, by:
transmitting control instructions to a computing system of at least one electric vehicle to start an active charging of the at least one electric vehicle when the expected load condition of the electric grid indicates electric production is greater than electric consumption, or
transmitting control instructions to the computing system of at least one electric vehicle to stop an active charging of the at least one electric vehicle when the expected load condition of the electric grid indicates electric consumption is greater than electric production.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The method of claim 4, wherein selectively controlling charging operations of the multiple electric vehicles connected to the electric grid based on the received information associated with the expected load condition of the electric grid includes turning on an air conditioner of the one or more vehicles when the expected condition of the electric grid indicates electric production is greater than electric consumption.

### Claim 6 (depends on 4)

The method of claim 4, wherein selectively controlling charging operations of the multiple electric vehicles connected to the electric grid based on the received information associated with the expected load condition of the electric grid includes turning on a heater of the one or more vehicles when the expected condition of the electric grid indicates electric production is greater than electric consumption.

### Claim 7

A non-transitory computer-readable medium whose contents, when executed by a computing system, cause the computing system to perform a method, comprising:
receiving information from an electric grid associated with an expected load condition of the electric grid; and
selectively controlling charging operations of multiple electric vehicles connected to the electric grid based on the received information associated with the expected load condition of the electric grid, by:
transmitting control instructions to a computing system of at least one electric vehicle to start an active charging of the at least one electric vehicle when the expected load condition of the electric grid indicates electric production is greater than electric consumption, or
transmitting control instructions to the computing system of at least one electric vehicle to stop an active charging of the at least one electric vehicle when the expected load condition of the electric grid indicates electric consumption is greater than electric production.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein selectively controlling charging operations of the multiple electric vehicles connected to the electric grid based on the received information associated with the expected load condition of the electric grid includes turning on an air conditioner of the one or more vehicles when the expected condition of the electric grid indicates electric production is greater than electric consumption.

### Claim 9 (depends on 7)

The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein selectively controlling charging operations of the multiple electric vehicles connected to the electric grid based on the received information associated with the expected load condition of the electric grid includes turning on a heater of the one or more vehicles when the expected condition of the electric grid indicates electric production is greater than electric consumption.