Electric vehicle charging station, system, and methods

摘要

There is disclosed an electric vehicle charging station, an electric vehicle charging system, and methods of provisioning and operating an electric vehicle charging station. The electric vehicle charging station may include a power control to control the flow of power from a power grid, a controller coupled to the power controller, and a wireless communications interface operable to communicate using a short range wireless communications protocol. The controller may be configured to communicate with a remote server opportunistically via the wireless communications interface and an available personal computing/communications device external to the electric vehicle charging station.

主权项

1. An electric vehicle charging station, comprising:
a power controller to control the flow of power from a power grid; a controller coupled to the power controller; and a wireless communications interface operable to communicate with a personal computing/communications device using a short range wireless communications protocol, the wireless communications interface incapable of communicating directly with a remote server; wherein the controller is configured to store session data for a series of charging sessions in memory until an appropriate personal computing/communications device enters within range of the wireless communications interface and to communicate the session data for the series of charging sessions by first transmitting the session data from the electric vehicle charging station opportunistically through the wireless communications interface to the personal computing/communications device external to the electric vehicle charging station and then by transmitting the session data through a long-range wireless communications interface of the personal computing/communications device capable of communicating directly with the remote server to thereby enable electric vehicle charging.