A charging station includes a charging head and a plurality of electrical connectors. The charging head is slidable along a track and rotatable along an axis. The plurality of electrical connectors is secured to the charging head and is disposed radially about the axis. Each of the electrical connectors have a different profile and are configured to engage an electrical port of an electric vehicle having a matching profile to charge the battery of the electric vehicle. The charging head is configured to slide along the track and rotate along the axis to align each of the electrical connectors with a corresponding electrical port. Each of the electrical connectors is configured to advance from and retract to the charging head to engage and disengage the corresponding electrical port.

A charging station includes a charging head and a plurality of electrical connectors. The charging head is slidable along a track and rotatable along an axis. The plurality of electrical connectors is secured to the charging head and is disposed radially about the axis. Each of the electrical connectors have a different profile and are configured to engage an electrical port of an electric vehicle having a matching profile to charge the battery of the electric vehicle. The charging head is configured to slide along the track and rotate along the axis to align each of the electrical connectors with a corresponding electrical port. Each of the electrical connectors is configured to advance from and retract to the charging head to engage and disengage the corresponding electrical port.

An automated charging system for an electric vehicle is disclosed that includes a plug with a built-in camera assembly. The camera assembly captures images of a charging port of the electric vehicle, which are processed by one or more processors to estimate the location of the charging port relative to the plug. A multi-stage localization architecture is described that includes a gross localization procedure and a fine localization procedure. The gross localization procedure can implement a first convolutional neural network (CNN) to estimate a position of an object in the image. The fine localization procedure can implement a second CNN to estimate a position and orientation of the object. Actuators for moving the plug in a three-dimensional space can be controlled by the multi-stage localization architecture.

An automated charging system for an electric vehicle is disclosed that includes a plug with a built-in camera assembly. The camera assembly captures images of a charging port of the electric vehicle, which are processed by one or more processors to estimate the location of the charging port relative to the plug. A multi-stage localization architecture is described that includes a gross localization procedure and a fine localization procedure. The gross localization procedure can implement a first convolutional neural network (CNN) to estimate a position of an object in the image. The fine localization procedure can implement a second CNN to estimate a position and orientation of the object. Actuators for moving the plug in a three-dimensional space can be controlled by the multi-stage localization architecture.

An irradiation apparatus may include: an irradiation unit configured to emit a light beam toward a photoelectric conversion unit of a vehicle, the photoelectric conversion unit being configured to convert light energy into electric energy to charge the power storage unit; an adjustment mechanism configured to adjust at least one of a position or a posture of at least one of the irradiation unit or the vehicle; a detector including a light receiving unit configured to receive reflected light of the light beam, and configured to detect a positional relationship between the photoelectric conversion unit and the irradiation unit based on a light receiving result of the reflected light by the light receiving unit; and a controller configured to control the adjustment mechanism based on a detection result of the detector so that the positional relationship between the photoelectric conversion unit and the irradiation unit becomes a predetermined positional relationship.

An irradiation apparatus may include: an irradiation unit configured to emit a light beam toward a photoelectric conversion unit of a vehicle, the photoelectric conversion unit being configured to convert light energy into electric energy to charge the power storage unit; an adjustment mechanism configured to adjust at least one of a position or a posture of at least one of the irradiation unit or the vehicle; a detector including a light receiving unit configured to receive reflected light of the light beam, and configured to detect a positional relationship between the photoelectric conversion unit and the irradiation unit based on a light receiving result of the reflected light by the light receiving unit; and a controller configured to control the adjustment mechanism based on a detection result of the detector so that the positional relationship between the photoelectric conversion unit and the irradiation unit becomes a predetermined positional relationship.

An external electric vehicle battery thermal management system is described. An electric vehicle thermal system provides external coolant to an internal battery thermal system of an electric vehicle. The internal battery thermal system includes a liquid-to-liquid heat exchanger to cool or warm the set of batteries of the electric vehicle. The external coolant is pumped through a first side of the heat exchanger and serves as the source to cool or heat internal coolant pumped through a second side of the heat exchanger. The external coolant and the internal coolant do not mix.

In a method for automatically establishing a plug-in connection for charging electric vehicles, first the relative position between a free plug-in connector on a positioning head that can be moved in at least two spatial directions, and a permanently installed plug-in connector is determined by a position sensor. Then the free plug-in connector approaches the permanently installed plug-in connector until there is mechanical contact between interacting guide surfaces in an insertion position, and the free plug-in connector is moved into a plug-in position. The distance along a common plug-in axis between the guide surfaces decreases continuously during the plug-in process. The transverse forces occurring at the guide surfaces relative to the plug-in direction are detected by transverse-force sensors and the positioning head is moved transversely and/or about a transverse pivot axis, reducing these transverse forces.

A wireless power transfer system includes a first power transmission unit, a second power transmission unit, a power reception unit, a sensing unit, and an ECU. The first power transmission unit is provided in a parking space. The second power transmission unit is provided in a traveling lane for a vehicle. The sensing unit senses a sensing target in a sensing region set around the vehicle. When the sensing unit senses the sensing target, the ECU reduces electric power transmitted from the first power transmission unit or the second power transmission unit that is transmitting electric power to the vehicle. The ECU sets the sensing region to be larger when the power reception unit receives electric power from the first power transmission unit than when the power reception unit receives electric power from the second power transmission unit.

A wireless power transfer system includes a first power transmission unit, a second power transmission unit, a power reception unit, a sensing unit, and an ECU. The first power transmission unit is provided in a parking space. The second power transmission unit is provided in a traveling lane for a vehicle. The sensing unit senses a sensing target in a sensing region set around the vehicle. When the sensing unit senses the sensing target, the ECU reduces electric power transmitted from the first power transmission unit or the second power transmission unit that is transmitting electric power to the vehicle. The ECU sets the sensing region to be larger when the power reception unit receives electric power from the first power transmission unit than when the power reception unit receives electric power from the second power transmission unit.