US-20260127916-A1 - NOTIFICATION SYSTEM FOR ELECTRIC VEHICLES

US20260127916A1US 20260127916 A1US20260127916 A1US 20260127916A1US-20260127916-A1

Abstract

In a notification system for an electric vehicle that travels based on power acquired from a secondary battery, a charging facility determination unit determines, during traveling of the electric vehicle, whether a charging facility comes within a predetermined determination range defined with reference to a current position of the electric vehicle. A notification control unit estimates an insufficient battery-charge possibility of the electric vehicle, the insufficient battery-charge possibility denoting a possibility that an insufficient charge of the secondary battery of the electric vehicle occurs. The notification control unit performs a notification based on the insufficient battery-charge possibility of the electric vehicle in response to determination that the charging facility comes within the predetermined determination range.

Inventors

Kazuma Kawai
Mitsuharu HIGASHITANI
Noriaki Ikemoto

Assignees

DENSO CORPORATION

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20251031
Priority Date: 20241106

Claims (16)

1 . A notification system for an electric vehicle that travels based on power acquired from a secondary battery, the system comprising: control circuitry configured to cause the system to: determine, during traveling of the electric vehicle, whether a charging facility comes within a predetermined determination range defined with reference to a current position of the electric vehicle; and estimate an insufficient battery-charge possibility of the electric vehicle, the insufficient battery-charge possibility denoting a possibility that an insufficient charge of the secondary battery of the electric vehicle occurs; and perform a notification based on the insufficient battery-charge possibility of the electric vehicle in response to determination that the charging facility comes within the predetermined determination range.
2 . The notification system according to claim 1 , wherein: the control circuitry is configured to cause the system to estimate the insufficient battery-charge possibility based on: start-point position information indicating a position of a start point of a predetermined travel route of the electric vehicle; vehicle information indicating a condition of the electric vehicle; and position information on the charging facility.
3 . The notification system according to claim 1 , wherein: the charging facility is previously selected as a scheduled charging facility; and the control circuitry is configured to cause the system to: determine whether the scheduled charging facility has been ignored so that the electric vehicle has passed the scheduled charging facility; and reselect, from one or more charging-facility candidates, a charging-facility candidate as a new scheduled charging facility in response to determination that the scheduled charging facility has been ignored so that the electric vehicle has passed the scheduled charging facility.
4 . The notification system according to claim 3 , wherein: the control circuitry is configured to cause the system to reselect, from the one or more charging-facility candidates, the charging-facility candidate as the new scheduled charging facility based on at least one of: a travel energy efficiency of the electric vehicle required for the electric vehicle to reach each of the charging-facility candidates from the current position of the electric vehicle; a travel time required for the electric vehicle to reach each of the charging-facility candidates from the current position of the electric vehicle; charging-facility information indicating a situation of each of the charging-facility candidates; vehicle information indicating a condition of the electric vehicle; or preference information on an occupant of the electric vehicle.
5 . The notification system according to claim 3 , wherein: the control circuitry is included in any one of: a cloud server communicable with the electric vehicle; and an external terminal communicable with the electric vehicle.
6 . The notification system according to claim 1 , wherein: the control circuitry is configured to cause the system to: perform the notification based on the insufficient battery-charge possibility of the electric vehicle using a first notification method or a second notification method that is different from the first notification method; and select, based on a level of the insufficient battery-charge possibility of the electric vehicle, one of the first notification method and the second notification method to perform the notification.
7 . The notification system according to claim 6 , wherein: the control circuitry is configured to cause the system to: determine whether a state of charge of the secondary battery is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold; perform the notification based on the insufficient battery-charge possibility of the electric vehicle using the first notification method in response to determination that the state of charge of the secondary battery is greater than or equal to the predetermined threshold; and perform the notification based on the insufficient battery-charge possibility of the electric vehicle using the second notification method in response to determination that the state of charge of the secondary battery is less than the predetermined threshold.
8 . The notification system according to claim 6 , wherein: the control circuitry is configured to cause the system to: estimate whether the electric vehicle is capable of reaching the charging facility without insufficient battery charge of the electric vehicle; and perform the notification based on the insufficient battery-charge possibility of the electric vehicle using a third notification method different from the first and second notification methods.
9 . The notification system according to claim 8 , wherein: the first notification method, the second notification method, and the third notification method being mutually different from each other is defined as at least one of: (i) types of stimulus used by the respective first, second, and third notification methods are different from one another; (ii) repetition frequences of the stimuli used by the respective first, second, and third notification methods are different from one another; (iii) volumes of sound used by the respective first, second, and third notification methods are different from one another if each of first to third notification methods uses the sound as its stimulus; (iv) amounts of vibration used by the respective first, second, and third notification methods are different from one another if each of first to third notification methods uses the vibration as its stimulus; (v) amplitude of the vibration used by the respective first, second, and third notification methods are different from one another if each of first to third notification methods uses the vibration as its stimulus; and (vi) displayed sizes of information used by the respective first, second, and third notification methods are different from one another if each of first to third notification methods uses visual indication as its stimulus.
10 . The notification system according to claim 1 , wherein: the control circuitry is configured to cause the system to provide, to an occupant of the electric vehicle, the notification based on the insufficient battery-charge possibility of the electric vehicle using at least one of sound, vibration, visual indication, or scent as its stimulus.
11 . The notification system according to claim 1 , wherein: information indicative of the notification based on the insufficient battery-charge possibility of the electric vehicle performed by the notification unit is configured to be transmitted to at least one of: a cloud server communicable with the electric vehicle; or an external terminal communicable with the electric vehicle.
12 . The notification system according to claim 1 , wherein: the control circuitry is configured to cause the system to store, in a predetermined storage region, first information indicating a content of the notification performed by the notification unit and second information indicating a fact that the notification has been performed.
13 . The notification system according to claim 1 , wherein: the control circuitry is configured to cause the system to: determine the predetermined determination range in accordance with at least one of: (i) current position information on the current position of the electric vehicle; (ii) facility position information on a position of the charging facility; (iii) vehicle information indicating a condition of the electric vehicle; (iv) surrounding information around the electric vehicle or the charging facility; or (v) time information indicating time related to travel of the electric vehicle; and determine, during traveling of the electric vehicle, whether the charging facility comes within the determined determination range.
14 . The notification system according to claim 13 , wherein: the control circuitry is configured to cause the system to receive: the current position information from at least one of (i) a global positioning system, (ii) a navigation device of the electric vehicle, or (iii) one or more sensors of the electric vehicle; and the facility position information from the navigation device of the electric vehicle; the vehicle information includes at least one of (i) speed information indicative of a speed of the electric vehicle or (ii) battery information indicative of a state of the secondary battery; the surrounding information includes at least one of (i) traffic-congestion information around the electric vehicle or the charging facility or (ii) signal information related to at least one traffic signal around the electric vehicle or the charging facility; and the time information includes at least one of (i) a current time, (ii) a first predicted arrival time at which the electric vehicle will arrive at the charging facility predicted at a time when a predetermined scheduled travel route was set, or (iii) a second predicted arrival time at which the electric vehicle will arrive at the charging facility predicted at the current time.
15 . A program product for an electric vehicle that travels based on power acquired from a secondary battery, the program product comprising: a non-transitory storage medium; and computer-program instructions stored in the non-transitory storage medium, the computer-program instructions causing a processor to: determine, during traveling of the electric vehicle, whether a charging facility comes within a predetermined determination range defined with reference to a current position of the electric vehicle; estimate an insufficient battery-charge possibility of the electric vehicle, the insufficient battery-charge possibility denoting a possibility that an insufficient charge of the secondary battery of the electric vehicle occurs; and perform a notification based on the insufficient battery-charge possibility of the electric vehicle in response to determination that the charging facility comes within the predetermined determination range.
16 . A notification method for an electric vehicle that travels based on power acquired from a secondary battery, the notification method comprising: determining, during traveling of the electric vehicle, whether a charging facility comes within a predetermined determination range defined with reference to a current position of the electric vehicle; estimating an insufficient battery-charge possibility of the electric vehicle, the insufficient battery-charge possibility denoting a possibility that an insufficient charge of the secondary battery of the electric vehicle occurs; and performing a notification based on the insufficient battery-charge possibility of the electric vehicle in response to determination that the charging facility comes within the predetermined determination range.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This present application is based on and claims the benefit of priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2024-194467 filed on Nov. 6, 2024, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure relates to notification systems for electric vehicles. BACKGROUND Japanese Patent Application Publication 2016-118403 discloses a battery-depletion warning system for an electric vehicle. The battery-depletion warning system obtains the amount of electric energy required for the electric vehicle to reach a destination from its current location. Then, the system compares a ratio of the required energy to a remaining battery capacity with a plurality of thresholds to evaluate the likelihood of battery depletion at multiple stepwise levels. The system performs an issuance of a warning in a mode corresponding to the evaluated level. The term “battery depletion or insufficient battery charge” of an electric vehicle used herein refers to a state in which electric power available from a secondary battery mounted to the electric vehicle is insufficient. SUMMARY For long-distance travel of electric vehicles, use of charging facilities is indispensable to avoid insufficient battery charge. However, the system disclosed in the patent publication does not consider the locations of charging facilities. This may result in electric vehicles traveling while overlooking a charging facility and therefore passing by the charging facility. After detailed consideration by the inventors, the inventors have identified the above issue. In view of the above issue, the present disclosure seems to provide a notification system capable of appropriately notifying, when an electric vehicle approaches a charging facility, information related to insufficient battery charge to accordingly prevent the electric vehicle from unintentionally passing a charging facility. An exemplary aspect of the present disclosure provides a notification system for an electric vehicle that travels based on power acquired from a secondary battery. The system includes a charging facility determination unit configured to determine, during traveling of the electric vehicle, whether a charging facility comes within a predetermined determination range defined with reference to a current position of the electric vehicle. The system includes a notification control unit configured to estimate an insufficient battery-charge possibility of the electric vehicle, the insufficient battery-charge possibility denoting a possibility that an insufficient charge of the secondary battery of the electric vehicle occurs, and perform a notification based on the insufficient battery-charge possibility of the electric vehicle in response to determination that the charging facility comes within the predetermined determination range. This configuration of the notification system according to the exemplary aspect enables, when the electric vehicle is approaching the charging facility, the occupant to recognize, through the notification performed based on the insufficient battery-charge possibility of the electric vehicle, not only the fact that the electric vehicle is approaching the charging facility but also the insufficient battery-charge possibility of the electric vehicle. Thus, the notification system according to the exemplary aspect makes it possible to, when the electric vehicle approaches the charging facility, appropriately provide a notification that aims to prevent insufficient battery charge, thus preventing the electric vehicle from passing, due to the driver's inattention, the charging facility. Where reference characters are used in parentheses for various elements throughout the present disclosure, such characters are provided merely as an example of the correspondence between the elements and the specific structures in the embodiments described later. The present disclosure is therefore not limited by the use of such reference characters. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Other aspects of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following description of embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: FIG. 1 is a side view schematically illustrating a vehicle to which a notification system according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure is to be applied; FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically illustrating typical components installed in the vehicle illustrated in FIG. 1 and typical components of a cloud that is communicably connected to the vehicle; FIG. 3 is a flowchart schematically illustrating a control routine for preparing a travel plan of the vehicle, which includes a scheduled travel route of the vehicle according to the first embodiment; FIG. 4 is a schematic view two-dimensionally illustrating the scheduled travel route, roads, charging facilities at which the vehicle can be charged, and a current position of the vehicle; FIG. 5 is a flowc