Method, system, and apparatus for distributing electricity to electric vehicles, monitoring the distribution thereof, and/or providing automated billing

A method, comprising:

• storing, in a database, a plurality of different electricity prices corresponding to a plurality of different locations of a plurality of plug outlet devices;
• providing an embedded radio frequency identification (RFID) tag in a plug adapter apparatus that is coupled to a vehicle and separate from the plurality of plug outlet devices;
• detecting, by a radio frequency identification (RFID) sensor associated with a particular plug outlet device from among the plurality of plug outlet devices, information about the vehicle including a user identification (ID), from the RFID tag embedded in the plug adapter apparatus that is coupled to the vehicle;
• receiving the plug adapter apparatus at the particular plug outlet device;
• receiving energy, at the particular plug outlet device, from an energy source;
• transmitting, by a microcontroller associated with the particular plug outlet device, the user ID, a station ID associated with a station, and a location of the particular plug outlet device, to a remote computer server via an intermediary wireless communication device;
• storing a log of a plurality of communications, by the intermediary wireless communication device, between the particular plug outlet device and the remote computer server;
• verifying, by the microcontroller associated with the particular plug outlet device, the user ID and the station ID with the remote computer server;
• wherein verifying includes receiving, by the microcontroller associated with the particular plug outlet device, a verification signal from the remote computer server;
• when the user ID and the station ID are verified based at least on the verification signal, causing, by the particular plug outlet device, energy to be delivered to the vehicle;
• monitoring, by the microcontroller associated with the particular plug outlet device, energy usage by taking measurements using at least one of a voltage sensor or a current sensor;
• detecting, by the at least one of the voltage sensor or the current sensor when the vehicle finishes receiving the energy;
• communicating, by the microcontroller associated with the particular plug outlet device, an amount of energy provided to the vehicle to the remote computer server;
• the remote computer server accessing the database and determining a particular price of electricity from among the plurality of different prices stored in the database;
• wherein determining the particular price of electricity further includes accessing the plurality of different locations of the plug outlet devices stored in the database and determining, by the remote computer server, the particular price of electricity for a particular location of the particular plug outlet device from among the plurality of different locations of the plug outlet devices;
• wherein determining the particular price of electricity further includes accessing the database and determining, by the remote computer server, the particular price of electricity based on whether a source of the energy is a renewable source of energy;
• automatically adjusting an account associated with the vehicle and the user ID by an amount associated with the determined particular price of electricity and the amount of energy provided;
• storing, in the database, an account associated with the station having the station ID that is configured to provide the energy to the particular plug outlet device to charge the vehicle;
• the remote computer server accessing the database and determining a surcharge from the database;
• wherein the surcharge is based on the station having the station ID that is configured to provide the energy to the particular plug outlet device to charge the vehicle;
• crediting the account associated with the station having the station ID;
• wherein crediting the account associated with the station having the station ID further comprises automatically crediting, by the remote computer server, the account associated with the station having the station ID by an amount corresponding to at least a cost of the energy provided to charge the vehicle;
• and
• wherein crediting the account associated with the station having the station ID further comprises automatically crediting, by the remote computer server, the account associated with the station having the station ID by the surcharge in addition to the amount corresponding to the cost of the energy provided.