An electrified vehicle according to a non-limiting aspect of the present disclosure includes, among other things, a charging port including a lock, an electrical harness electrically coupled to the charging port, a battery assembly electrically coupled to the charging port by the electrical harness, and a manual release cable connected to the lock and routed along the electrical harness. This disclosure also relates to a method.

With the present invention, actuators known from the prior art are supposed to be developed further. For this purpose, an actuator comprises, in particular, an electric motor and a locking bar that can be moved by means of the electric motor. Moreover, the actuator comprises a lever with which the locking bar can be moved back mechanically out of its locking position. The invention moreover relates to a charging socket for an electrically driven motor vehicle. As is already known from a motor vehicle driven by an electric motor and an outlet provided in a private household, the electrical contacts of the charging socket are located protected in one or more recess(es). Into these recess(es), contacts of a charging plug which correspond therewith and are, for example, pin or rod-shaped, can be pushed for contacting. An adjacent, in particular peripherally extending, housing is provided around the one or more recess(es). A gap-shaped space, which in particular extends peripherally around the recess(es) and into which a housing of a charging plug corresponding therewith can be pushed, thus remains between the recess(es) and the adjacent housing. An actuating element with a locking bar is attached on the outside of the adjacent housing. For locking a charging plug, the locking bar can be moved by the actuating element into the adjacent housing through a corresponding opening.

A motor vehicle electrically connectable to an external electric charging source includes a body defining a passenger compartment to accommodate a user, an electrical charging assembly comprising a base portion carried by the body in a fixed position and a charging port configured to receive in coupling an electrical connector of the external electric charging source, releasable coupling means configured to attach the charging port to the base portion in a releasable manner, release means operable to control the releasable coupling means so as to release the charging port with respect to the base portion, and a release controller operable by the user to operate the release means to release the charging port with respect to the base portion, characterised in that the release controller is usable by the user from inside the passenger compartment to operate the release means.

Systems and methods are described for a power aggregation system. In one implementation, a method includes charging an electric resource over a power connection to an electric network, obtaining a unique identifier of a device over the power connection, and determining an electric network location of the electric resource from the unique identifier.

A network of collection, charging and distribution machines collect, charge and distribute portable electrical energy storage devices (e.g., batteries, supercapacitors or ultracapacitors). Availability of charged portable electrical energy storage devices available at a collection, charging and distribution machine are communicated to or acquired by a mobile device of a user or a user's vehicle. Once the mobile device of a user or a user's vehicle comes within close proximity of the collection, charging and distribution machine or within a particular area surrounding the collection, charging and distribution machine, the collection, charging and distribution machine or a collection, charging and distribution machine management system communicates an alert (e.g., over a cellular network, short range wireless signal or wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) network) to the mobile device or vehicle indicating how many portable electrical energy storage devices are available at the distribution machine.

A network of collection, charging and distribution machines collect, charge and distribute portable electrical energy storage devices (e.g., batteries, supercapacitors or ultracapacitors). To avoid theft and tampering of the portable electrical energy storage devices, by default, each portable electrical energy storage device is locked in and operably connected to the vehicle to which it provides power unless the vehicle comes within the vicinity of a collection, charging and distribution machine or other authorized external device such as that in a service center. Once within the vicinity of a collection, charging and distribution machine or other authorized external device a locking mechanism in the vehicle or within the portable electrical energy storage device unlocks and allows the portable electrical energy storage device to be exchanged or serviced.

A power extraction device is an extraction device configured to extract electric power from a vehicle by being connected to a first connecting portion of the vehicle, the vehicle including a storage battery and the first connecting portion to which a plug is connected so that the first connecting portion is able to perform at least one of supplying of electric power to the storage battery and discharging of electric power accumulated in the storage battery to its outside. The extraction device includes: a second connecting portion to be connected to the first connecting portion provided on an outer peripheral surface of the vehicle; and a third connecting portion to which an external connection plug configured to connect an external device to the extraction device is connectable. The third connecting portion includes a connection surface to which the external connection plug is connected.

A charging-port control device for an electric vehicle includes a charging port engaged with a charging connector, a locking mechanism configured to limit release of an engagement state between the charging connector and the charging port, and a lock state control unit configured to control the locking mechanism to a lock state or an unlock state. The lock state control unit includes a first mode for controlling the locking mechanism to the lock state only when a charge request is being outputted from a vehicle side and a third mode for maintaining a full-time unlock state.

An electronic control unit (ECU) including non-transitory instructions executable to set a threshold as a shutdown threshold when, during a power supply operation, a duration of a power supply stoppage exceeds a first time; stop an operation of an engine or prohibit the engine from operating; and executing system shutdown processing when an SOC of a storage apparatus falls to or below the shutdown threshold or the duration of the power supply stoppage exceeds a second time.

A vehicle power supply device including a battery and mounted in a vehicle capable of traveling by using a motor as a drive source includes an external charging terminal used to charge the battery from an external power supply or an external charger; an external output terminal used to discharge the battery to supply electricity from the battery to an electric device; and a mark display unit configured to display a charging mark indicating that the battery is being charged and a discharging mark indicating that the battery is being discharged to supply electricity to the electric device. The charging mark and the discharging mark each have a shape resembling a plug and respectively include terminals pointing in opposite directions.