Systems and methods for charging electric vehicles and for quantitative and qualitative load balancing of electrical demand are provided.

The present invention discloses a system for managing rechargeable batteries to provide power to electrical vehicles. The system comprises a plurality of charging stations each if the intelligent charger includes at least an intelligent battery charger for charging the rechargeable batteries. The intelligent battery chargers further comprises a battery diagnostic detector for detecting and storing data of designated battery health management parameters. The intelligent battery chargers further comprises a transmitter for transmitting the data of the designated battery health management parameters as wireless signals to a networked server in a battery management center.

When an acceleration degree of a vehicle in a state of an electric motor generating torque as motive power is small compared to the acceleration degree of the vehicle in a state of being propelled using that torque, a user is notified by displaying a warning on a display which is a notification device of the vehicle.

A charging system and method for charging a battery of a vehicle is disclosed. The charging system includes a movable member, such as a wind-driven element. The charging system also includes means for exposing the wind-driven element during vehicle deceleration and for covering the wind-driven element during vehicle acceleration and coasting. The charging system further includes electrical power generating means operably associated with the wind-driven element and the battery such that the electrical power generating means provides electrical power for recharging the battery when the electrical power generating means receives mechanical power from the wind-driven element. Alternative embodiments can include a drop-wheel as a movable member.

An access control system for electric vehicle charging is provided that includes an access device, a secure reservation interface, a reservation server and a smartphone application installed on the smartphone. The access device includes a short-range wireless communication module connected to a processor having control of an electric vehicle charger. The secure reservation interface receives a reservation request for a reservation at a given destination. The reservation server receives the reservation request for the destination, issues a reservation certificate, and transmits the reservation certificate from the reservation server to a smartphone. The smartphone application has access to a short range wireless communication setting corresponding to the access device. The access device receives the reservation certificate from the smartphone application based on use by the smartphone application of the short-range wireless communication setting. The processor activates the electric vehicle charger based on at least the receipt of the reservation certificate.

Systems and methods for storing energy for use by an electric vehicle are disclosed. Systems can include an electric vehicle battery pack including a rack configured to couple a plurality of independently removable battery strings to the vehicle, the battery strings configured to be selectively coupled in parallel to a vehicle power bus. The battery strings may include a housing, a plurality of electrochemical cells disposed within the housing, a circuit for electrically connecting the electrochemical cells, a positive high-voltage connector, a negative high-voltage connector, a switch within the housing, and a string control unit configured to control the switch. Each battery string can include a coolant inlet and a coolant outlet configured to couple with and sealingly uncouple from an external coolant supply conduit and an external coolant return conduit, and an auxiliary connector configured to couple with an external communications system and/or an external low-voltage power supply.

A computer implemented method for managing charge availability of a charge unit (CU) to obtain charge for a battery of an electric vehicle (EV) is provided. The CU includes a computer for processing at least part of the method and for communicating with a server over a network. The method includes receiving, by the server, status information from the computer of the CU. The method includes sending to the computer of the CU instructions to make a reservation for the CU. The reservation is for a user account that has requested a desire to charge the battery of the electric vehicle of the user at the CU or another CU. The method includes sending, by the server, a confirmation for the reservation to the user account. The confirmation is viewable via a device having access to the server via the user account. The method includes sending, by the server, a data regarding a time of availability of the CU to the user account for the reservation. The computer of the CU is configured to display a visual indicator regarding the reservation of the CU.

A charging system for an autonomous rover includes a charging interface with contacts that interface with the autonomous rover, a rover power source for the autonomous rover, and circuitry operated by the autonomous rover for controlling charging of the rover power source.

To prevent incorrect information from being given to a driver regarding the estimation of a degradation state of a secondary battery. A diagnostic device (100) for diagnosing a battery (40) provided in an electric vehicle (10), includes an estimation unit (301) that estimates a degradation state of the battery (40); a derivation unit (302) that derives an index value indicating validity of data used for the estimation of the degradation state; and a notification unit (303) that notifies, when accuracy of an estimated value is determined to be low based on the index value, a cause of a decrease in the accuracy of the estimated value.

A battery pack enclosure, a battery module, and a method are provided to detect damage to in a crash event. The battery pack enclosure may include a plurality of battery modules, wherein each battery modules includes a plurality of adjacent battery cells. The battery pack enclosure may also include a sensor and an electronic control unit electronically connected to the sensor, the electronic control unit configured to monitor the sensor to detect damage to the battery pack enclosure. The sensor may comprise a mesh of resistive wires, and the electronic control unit monitors the overall resistance of the mesh resistive wires. The overall resistance of the mesh resistive wires can be used to determine whether there is damage to the battery pack enclosure. If damage is detected, the damage can further be located, and an alert sent.