Ford Motor Company has filed a patent pertaining to real-time third party charger info that may be used in future Ford EVs, Ford Authority has learned.
The patent was filed on January 25th, 2023, published on July 25th, 2024, and assigned serial number 0246446.
The Ford Authority Take
A lack of EV chargers – as well as issues with units that don’t work properly – has long plagued the mission to accelerate EV adoption, and remains among the top of most every list of barriers standing in the way of precisely that. That’s why Ford deployed its “Charge Angels” program to check on chargers in late 2021. In recent months, EV charger downtime has in fact decreased, but FoMoCo continues to explore ways to circumvent these issues – including, most recently, by publishing this patent outlining one way that future Ford EVs may benefit from real-time third-party charging info.
Pretty much every EV on sale today incorporates charging stations into their navigation systems, making it easy to plan a trip and know precisely where one will need to stop to charge – and how long that might take. However, there are times when charger information is displayed inaccurately, or it doesn’t reflect the fact that there are non-working units at a charging station, or even identify those that offer up sub-optimal charging speeds.
That’s precisely what this patent aims to solve, and it would do so via a system that obtains real-time information from third-party charging networks including the speeds at which its chargers operate, as well as whether or not there are units that aren’t currently operational. The system would also be capable of calculating the difference between a projected charging rate and real-time rates, then re-route the user to another station if a certain threshold is reached. It’s an interesting idea for certain, and one that may very well wind up being used in future Ford EVs.
We’ll have more on this and all Ford patents soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for the latest Ford patent news, Ford business news, and continuous Ford news coverage.
Comments
This is not necessary. Most EV owners charge in their garages. Some who have a home energy system with photovoltaic panels and batteries can charge for free.
Many applications from the charger companies themselves describe the charging speed, and number of available chargers real time. such as chargePoint and EVGO.
Many others probably do the same thing..
Is it me? Or does it seem like FORD is trying to patent dopey, almost useless inventions, meanwhile their 3 cylinder products need overhauls at 45,000 miles, and their ECOBOOSTS die…
I guess it is too boring for them to fix existing troubles and it is up to the owner to junk the vehicle and buy something else. No wonder FORD stock went down 20% lately.