Facilitating access to an electric vehicle charging network

Abstract

A system and method for facilitating access to an electric vehicle charging network includes pre-authorizing electric vehicles to charge at charging stations before providing payment information. In some embodiments, the system provides an interface via which an electric vehicle may access and/or be authorized to one of multiple, disparate charging networks that provide charging stations to electric vehicles.

I/We claim: 
     
         1 . A method performed by an interface system, the method comprising:
 accessing a request associated with an electric vehicle to charge the electric vehicle at a specific charging station;   identifying, via the interface system, a charging network associated with the specific charging station;   determining the electric vehicle is not registered with the charging network associated with the specific charging station;   identifying a registration protocol associated with the charging network;   capturing information for the electric vehicle that is identified by the registration protocol; and   registering the electric vehicle with the charging network by providing the captured information to the charging network; and   facilitating charging of the electric vehicle by the specific charging station.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 automatically providing payment information to the charging network via a payment protocol associated with the charging network.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein accessing a request to charge the electric vehicle at a specific charging station includes accessing a request provided by a driver of the electric vehicle via a mobile application associated with the interface system. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein identifying a charging network associated with the specific charging station includes determining a current location of the electric vehicle and identifying a charging network associated with one or more charging stations proximate to the current location of the electric vehicle. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising automatically providing payment information to the charging network via a payment protocol associated with the charging network by:
 calling an application programming interface provided by the charging network to retrieve information identifying the payment protocol;   retrieving payment information for the electric vehicle that satisfies the payment protocol; and   providing the retrieved payment information that satisfies the payment protocol to the charging network.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising automatically providing payment information to the charging network via a payment protocol associated with the charging network by:
 retrieving information identifying the payment protocol for the charging network from a database storing payment protocol information for multiple, disparate charging networks;   retrieving payment information for the electric vehicle that satisfies the payment protocol from a database storing payment information for multiple, different electric vehicles; and   providing the retrieved payment information that satisfies the payment protocol to the charging network.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising automatically providing payment information to the charging network via a payment protocol associated with the charging network by:
 determining that an account associated with the electric vehicle lacks sufficient payment information; and   providing payment information on behalf of the electric vehicle.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising automatically providing payment information to the charging network via a payment protocol associated with the charging network by:
 determining that an account associated with the electric vehicle lacks sufficient funds; and   providing payment on behalf of the electric vehicle.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein a mobile application of a mobile device in communication with the charging network receives the request to charge the electric vehicle, identifies the charging network associated with the specific charging station, and provides the payment information to the charging network. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein a mobile application of a mobile device in communication with the charging network receives the request to charge the electric vehicle; and wherein a remote server associated with the mobile application identifies the charging network associated with the specific charging station and provides the payment information to the charging network. 
     
     
         11 . A non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium whose contents, when executed by a computing system, cause the computing system to perform a method, the method comprising:
 automatically determining an electric vehicle is proximate to a specific charging station; and   facilitating charging of the electric vehicle by the specific charging station by automatically providing information to the specific charging station to authorize the electric vehicle to receive charge from the specific charging station upon determining the electric vehicle is proximate to the specific charging station.   
     
     
         12 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 11 , wherein automatically determining an electric vehicle is proximate to a specific charging station includes determining the specific charging station is within a predetermined distance to the electric vehicle. 
     
     
         13 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 11 , wherein automatically determining an electric vehicle is proximate to a specific charging station includes determining the specific charging station is paired with the electric vehicle. 
     
     
         14 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 11 , wherein automatically providing information to the specific charging station includes:
 identifying a charging network associated with the specific charging station;   registering the electric vehicle with the charging network; and   providing payment information to the charging network via a payment protocol associated with the charging network.   
     
     
         15 . A method, comprising:
 determining an electric vehicle has requested access to a charging station;   identifying multiple, available charging stations for the electric vehicle;   determining at least one charging station of the multiple, available charging stations are unknown to the electric vehicle;   pre-authorizing the electric vehicle to be charged by the at least one charging station; and   presenting a map via a user interface associated with the electric vehicle that displays:
 location information for the multiple, available charging stations, and 
 a symbol that indicates the at least one charging station has been pre-authorized to charge the electric vehicle. 
   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein pre-authorizing the electric vehicle to be charged by the at least one charging station includes:
 identifying a charging network associated with the specific charging station;   determining the electric vehicle is not registered with the charging network associated with the specific charging station;   identifying a registration protocol for the charging network;   capturing information for the electric vehicle that is identified by the registration protocol; and   registering the electric vehicle with the charging network by providing the captured information to the charging network.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the user interface is a display of a mobile device associated with a driver of the electric vehicle. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein pre-authorizing the electric vehicle to be charged by the at least one charging station includes pre-authorizing an amount of charge that is less than an amount of charge to fully charge a battery of the electric vehicle. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein pre-authorizing the electric vehicle to be charged by the at least one charging station includes pre-authorizing an amount of charge that fully charges a battery of the electric vehicle. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein presenting the map via the user interface associated with the electric vehicle includes displaying a different symbol that indicates charging stations that are not pre-authorized to charge the electric vehicle.