Staged Deployment for Electrical Charge Spots

Abstract

A method and system is provided to deploy electrical charge spots in stages according to demand. During a first stage a plurality of infrastructure adapters are installed. This may involve demolishing and rebuilding portions of the infrastructure and laying down power cables from the electrical power supply to the charge spot locations. The infrastructure adapters are then coupled to an electrical power supply. Many if not all of the infrastructure adapters are covered with a temporary housing protecting them from vandalism and weather. During a second stage, in response to a demand for charge stations, the charge stations are completed. During the second stage, at least one external unit is attached to an infrastructure adapter by making an infrastructure adapter quick connect interface with an external unit quick connect interface. As such, a charge spot is completed quickly in response to demand.

1 . A method of staged deployment of an electrical charge spot system, comprising:
 during a first stage:
 installing one or more infrastructure adapters, each infrastructure adapter comprising an adapter quick connect interface; 
   during a second stage:
 providing one or more external units, each external unit comprising an external unit quick connect interface, configured to removably mate to the adapter quick connect interface; and 
 mating an external unit quick connect interface of a respective external unit of the one or more external units to an adapter quick connect interface of a respective infrastructure adapter of the one or more infrastructure adapters. 
   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the mating is performed without requiring any additional wiring. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 during a third stage:
 replacing the respective external unit with a new external unit, by: 
 decoupling the external unit quick connect interface of the respective external unit from the adapter quick connect interface of the respective infrastructure adapter; and 
 removably coupling an external unit quick connect interface of the new external unit to the adapter quick connect interface of the respective infrastructure adapter. 
   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising:
 during the third stage:
 communicating a unique geographic ID from the infrastructure adapter to the new external unit. 
   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 during a third stage, installing one or more additional external units by:
 removably coupling one or more external unit quick connect interfaces of the one or more additional external units to one or more adapter quick connect interfaces of previously unused infrastructure adapters of the one or more infrastructure adapters. 
   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the third stage occurs in response to an increase in demand for charge spots. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the second stage further comprises installing a charge spot shell. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first stage installing includes covering at least one of the one or more the infrastructure adapters with a temporary housing. 
     
     
         9 . An electrical charge spot system comprising one or more charge spots, wherein at least one charge spot comprises:
 an infrastructure adapter configured to removably connect to an external unit, the infrastructure adaptor comprising:
 a memory storing information related to the geographic location of the infrastructure adapter; 
 an adapter quick connect interface comprising:
 a power connector; 
 a data connector; and 
 a signaling interface configured to communicate the information to the external unit; and 
 
   the external unit comprising:
 an external unit quick connect interface configured to removably connect to the adapter quick connect interface. 
   
     
     
         10 . The electrical charge spot system of  claim 9 , wherein
 the infrastructure adapter is configured to be coupled to a power supply according to location specific requirements of an infrastructure; and   the external unit is generic and is configured to couple to the infrastructure adapter without regard to the specific power supply requirements of the infrastructure.   
     
     
         11 . A method of deploying an electrical charge spot system for charging at least partially electric vehicles, comprising:
 installing one or more infrastructure adapters, each infrastructure adapter comprising a power supply electrical interface and an adapter quick connect interface;   coupling the power supply electrical interface of the infrastructure adapter to a power supply;   acquiring a unique geographic location for the respective infrastructure adapter; and   recording the unique geographic location, wherein the unique geographic location is included in a geographic ID in a memory associated with the respective infrastructure adapter.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 providing one or more external units, each external unit comprising a car electrical connector, configured to temporarily electrically connect to and charge an at least partially electric vehicle, and an external unit quick connect interface, configured to removably mate to the adapter quick connect interface;   mating an external unit quick connect interface of a respective external unit of the one or more external units to an adapter quick connect interface of a respective infrastructure adapter of the one or more infrastructure adapters; and   communicating the unique geographic ID from the infrastructure adapter to the respective external unit.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising: communicating the unique geographic ID to a service provider. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising: communicating the unique geographic ID to an at least partially electric vehicle. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the unique geographic ID further includes electrical topology identification information. 
     
     
         16 . An infrastructure adapter for an electrical charge spot system for charging an at least partially electric vehicle, comprising:
 a memory storing information related to a geographic location of the infrastructure adapter;   an adapter quick connect interface, configured to removably connect to an external unit comprising:
 a power connector; 
 a data connector; and 
 a signaling interface configured to communicate the information to the external unit
 a power supply electrical interface electrically coupled to the power connector and configured to be coupled to an external power supply; and 
 a data connector electrically coupled to the data connector and configured to be coupled to a data network. 
 
   
     
     
         17 . A method of deploying an electrical charge spot system for charging at least partially electric vehicles, comprising:
 providing one or more external units, each external unit comprising:
 a car electrical connector, configured to temporarily electrically connect to and charge an at least partially electric vehicle; and 
 an external unit quick connect interface, configured to removably mate to an adapter quick connect interface of an infrastructure adapter; 
   locating one or more infrastructure adapters electrically coupled to a power supply, each infrastructure adapter comprising an adapter quick connect interface; and   mating an external unit quick connect interface of a respective external unit of the one or more external units to an adapter quick connect interface of a respective infrastructure adapter of the one or more infrastructure adapters.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , further comprising:
 temporarily coupling a vehicle charging interface portion of the car electrical connector to an at least partially electric vehicle; and   enabling power flow from the power supply to the at least partially electric vehicle through the adapter quick connect interface, the external unit quick connect interface, and the car electrical connector.   
     
     
         19 . An external unit for an electrical charge spot system for charging an at least partially electric vehicle, comprising:
 a memory for storing information related to a geographic location of the external unit;   an external unit quick connect interface configured to removably connect to an adapter quick connect interface comprising:
 a power connector; 
 a data connector; and 
 a signaling interface configured to communicate the information to a data network; 
   a car electrical connector electrically coupled to the external unit quick connect interface and configured to temporarily connect to and charge an at least partially electric vehicle; and   a user interface configured receive input from a user.   
     
     
         20 . The electrical charge spot system of  claim 19 , wherein the external unit further comprises a computer system controller electrically coupled to the external unit quick connect interface to control charging of an at least partially electric vehicle.