A system comprises an EVSE and an electric vehicle having a precharge mode. To charge a battery, the vehicle is connected to the EVSE. In some cases, the battery is unable to energize power buses. For example, if the battery is too cold and has insufficient charge, then the battery will not energize the power buses. If the battery cannot energize the power buses, then a precharge mode is enabled. During the precharge mode, charge is pumped onto two power buses until a setpoint voltage is reached. For example, a precharge circuit pumps charge onto one power bus and a power converter pumps charge from that bus onto a second bus. Once the setpoint voltage is reached, a current source charger is enabled, and energy stored on both buses is used to facilitate the turn-on of the charger, the precharge mode is disabled, and the EVSE charges the battery.

Disclosed herein is a multilevel converter (50) for voltage conversion between a three-phase AC voltage and a DC voltage, comprising three converter arms (58), each having a first end (60) for connecting to a corresponding phase of a three-phase AC voltage source (52) and a second end (62), wherein each converter arm (58) comprises a plurality of sequentially interconnected modules (64), a main energy store (54) having a positive terminal (76) connected or connectable to a positive conduction line (78) and a negative terminal (80), a switching arrangement (84), a control system (92), configured to establish a positive state, in which the negative conduction line (82) is connected with a star point (56) of said three-phase AC voltage source (52) and the positive conduction line (78) is connected with the second end (62) of one or two converter arms (58) to which a positive phase voltage is currently applied, and a negative state, in which the positive conduction line (78) is connected with said star point (56) of said three-phase AC voltage source, and the negative conduction line (82) is connected with the second end (62) of one or two converter arms (58) to which a negative phase voltage is currently applied.

An energy conversion device is provided, including a motor coil (11), a bridge arm converter (12), and a bidirectional bridge arm (13). The bridge arm converter (12) is connected to the motor coil (11) and the bidirectional bridge arm (13). The motor coil (11), the bridge arm converter (12), and the bidirectional bridge arm (13) are all connected to an external charging port (10). Both the bridge arm converter (12) and the bidirectional bridge arm (13) are connected to an external battery 200. The motor coil (11), the bridge arm converter (12), and the external charging port (10) form a DC charging circuit for charging the external battery 200. The motor coil (11), the bridge arm converter (12), the bidirectional bridge arm (13), and the external charging port (10) form an AC charging circuit for charging the external battery (200). The motor coil (11), the bridge arm converter (12), and the external battery (200) form a motor drive circuit.

A vehicle control system determines an upper non-zero limit on deceleration of a vehicle to prevent rollback of the vehicle down a grade being traveled up on by the vehicle. The upper non-zero limit on deceleration is determined by the controller based on a payload carried by the vehicle, a speed of the vehicle, and a grade of a route being traveled upon by the vehicle. The controller is configured to monitor the deceleration of the vehicle, and to automatically prevent the deceleration of the vehicle from exceeding the upper non-zero limit by controlling one or more of a brake or a motor of the vehicle. The controller also is configured to one or more of actuate the brake or supply current to the motor of the vehicle to prevent rollback of the vehicle while the vehicle is moving up the grade at a non-zero speed.

Compact light-weight on-board three-port power electronic system built in various configurations of triple-active-bridge-derived topologies, including modular implementations, with control strategies capable of bi-directional power transfer among the three ports of the power electronic system, including simultaneous charging of a high voltage (HV) battery and a low voltage (LV) battery from a single phase power grid or a three-phase power grid with minimized reactive power and active circulating current, with ensured soft-switching for MOSFET devices, and with enhanced synchronous rectification and reduced power losses.

Example embodiments of systems, devices, and methods are provided for electric vehicles that are subject to intermittent charging, such as rail-based electric vehicles, having one or more modular cascaded energy systems. The one or more modular systems can be configured to supply multiphase, single phase, and/or DC power to numerous motor and auxiliary loads of the EV. If multiple systems or subsystems are present in the EV, they can be interconnected to exchange energy between them in numerous different ways, such as through lines designated for carrying power from the intermittently connected charge source or through the presence of modules interconnected between arrays of the subsystems. The subsystems can be configured as subsystems that supply power for motor loads alone, motor loads in combination with auxiliary loads, and auxiliary loads alone.

A charging and heating circuit is equipped with an AC voltage connection, a DC voltage connection and a rectifier. The rectifier is connected between the AC voltage connection and the DC voltage connection. The charging and heating circuit further includes a heating resistor which is connected to the rectifier and the rectifier is thereby set up to supply the heating resistor with current. Also described is a vehicle electrical system which includes the charging and heating circuit in addition to an accumulator.

A coupling system includes a vehicle cable having a plug configured to engage a vehicle charging port of a plug-in hybrid or battery electric vehicle, an electrical outlet configured to receive a plug of an AC powered appliance, a voltage converter, an energy store, and a controller configured to provide power from the vehicle charging port to the electrical outlet. The controller may provide a signal to the charging port of a connected electrified vehicle identifying the coupling system as a charging station to enable the electrified vehicle to provide power to the charging port. The controller may control the voltage converter to charge the energy store using power form a connected electrified vehicle. The controller may control the voltage converter and energy store to stabilize power from the vehicle provided to the electrical outlet.

Techniques for converting power received from a power grid at a first voltage and outputting a signal at a second voltage are discussed herein. A power converter with a transformer that has a 22.5 degrees phase shift between current output by corresponding pairs of secondary windings can be utilized to convert power of a first level to power of a second level. The transformer can output power from 30 secondary windings. The power converter can output power with a total harmonic distortion of 5% and an efficiency of 96% or higher. Further, power can be output by a transmission coil and received by a receive coil in a device, such as a vehicle, to wirelessly charge the vehicle.

An off grid electric system for charging electric vehicles. An electric storage system (BTS) is arranged to store electric power generated by a plurality of wind turbines. A plurality of electric vehicle charging stations are connected to the plurality of wind turbines, and the electric storage system by means of an off grid electric power network (CN), so as to allow each charging station to charge at least one electric vehicle (EV).