Nio Usa, Inc.

Nio Technology (anhui) Co., Ltd.

Nio Nextev Limited

Yadunandana Yellambalase

Austin Lawrence Newman

Adam H Ing

Alexander Jeffrey Smith

Xiaodong Liu

Rick Rajaie

Marc W Juzkow

Miaosen Shen

Jamie P Carlson

Sathya Narayanan Kasturi Rangan

Stephen C Holland

A battery connector, including a flexible circuit including a first set of electrical circuitry connecting to a plurality of energy storage cells, where the first set of electrical circuitry terminates at a first connection point at the battery connector; a controller including components to control the energy storage cells connected to a second set of electrical circuitry terminating at a second connection point at the battery connector; where the first connection point and the second connection point are electrically connected.

Serviceable flex circuit for battery module

Devices, methods and systems used to detect thermal incidents are disclosed. In one embodiment, there may be a thermal incident detection apparatus for a battery pack including one or more battery modules, the one or more battery modules comprising a plurality of battery cells arranged in a plurality of rows, wherein each battery cell in the one or more battery modules comprises a vent, the apparatus comprising a thermally anisotropic material positioned in proximity to one or more battery cells of the one of more battery modules, wherein the thermally anisotropic material has an in-plane thermal conductivity greater than a through-plane thermal conductivity; and a sensor positioned in proximity to the thermally anisotropic material to sense thermal energy transferred by one of more of the battery cells to the thermally anisotropic material.

Early detection of thermal incident in battery pack

A thermal management system of a battery of an electric vehicle proactively manages the temperature of the battery based on sensor data and sets limits to control cooling and heating of the battery. Using the data gathered from an autonomous drive platform, a highly-efficient control system which uses predictive modelling can be created. A control system predicts the battery final temperature and determines if cooling and/or heating is necessary for the route. If cooling and/or heating is not necessary, the thermal management system may be simply turned off to save energy. This is a dynamic approach which should optimize energy usage under all situations using trip predictive information (from GPS, route-calculation algorithms, and weather information), and thermal model predictive controls to determine battery final temperatures.

Systems and methods of battery thermal management

A battery module for a vehicle is disclosed. The battery module includes a plurality of adjacent battery cells in a module housing, each battery cell including a battery case. The battery module further includes a pressure sensor on one of the battery cells or the module housing. The pressure sensor is configured to produce a signal indicative of a change in pressure associated with any of the battery cells. The battery module further includes an electronic control unit electronically connected to the pressure sensor. The electronic control unit is configured to determine the existence of an abnormal condition based on the signal.

Battery module having a pressure sensor

Various embodiments relate generally to autonomous vehicles and associated mechanical, electrical and electronic hardware, computing software, including autonomy applications, image processing applications, etc., computing systems, and wired and wireless network communications to facilitate autonomous control of vehicles, and, more specifically, to systems, devices, and methods configured to control driverless vehicles to facilitate complex parking maneuvers and autonomous fuel replenishment. In some examples, a method may include computing vehicular drive parameters, accessing map data to identify a boundary, detecting an autonomous vehicle, accessing executable instructions to facilitate vectoring of an autonomous vehicle, and applying vehicular drive parameters to propel the autonomous vehicle to a termination point.

Control of complex parking maneuvers and autonomous fuel replenishment of driverless vehicles

Methods and systems of an electrical vehicle are provided that recognize a power system fault with the vehicle and in response autonomously drive the vehicle to an identified safe location to self-destruct. Upon reaching the location, the vehicle can evaluate the location using imaging sensors to determine whether the location is free of objects, animals, or people. If not, the vehicle may autonomously drive to another safe location. Prior to destruction, the vehicle sends messages, including information about the power system fault, to at least one device or third party. The messages include location information for the vehicle or information about the power system fault.

Self-destruct zone and autonomous vehicle navigation

Methods and systems for ejecting a charger handle from an electrical vehicle are provided. In the event that a power system fault or incident is detected, the charger handle of an external vehicle charging system may be automatically and physically separated from the vehicle. The fault or incident can be detected by the vehicle or the external vehicle charging system. The charger handle is ejected using a charging connection separation mechanism. This mechanism can be part of the charging system or part of the vehicle.

Method and system for ejecting a charging handle from a vehicle

Methods and systems of an electrical vehicle are provided that detect a power system fault, determine a presence of at least one occupant in the vehicle, and determine an escape route from the vehicle for the at least one occupant. In determining the escape route, the vehicle determines an environment around the vehicle, a location of the power system fault in the vehicle, and a location of the at least one occupant in the vehicle. Based on this information, the vehicle provides an escape route from the vehicle to direct the at least one occupant to a safe area outside of the vehicle. The escape route is provided to the user via at least one display device associated with the vehicle.

Method and system for providing an escape route from a vehicle

Systems of an electrical vehicle and the operations thereof are provided. High-voltage interlock (HVIL) determines if a high-voltage system, such as a power source (e.g., vehicle battery), a load (e.g., vehicle motor), and conductors therebetween, have been properly connected. If not, battery contactor is not allowed to be closed or, if already closed, opened. A redundant HVIL system is provided to mitigate the false positives associated with an HVIL component failure.

Resilient high-voltage interlock loop

A management system of a vehicle battery replacement system has a plurality of battery replacement stations for replacing a depleted battery pack of an electric vehicle with a charged battery pack. Each battery replacement station includes a coordinating device. The management system also has a control system in communication with the coordinating devices of the battery replacement stations and a plurality of client devices. The control system is configured to receive a request for a battery replacement operation from a client device, and select a battery replacement station of the plurality of battery replacement stations for performing the battery replacement operation.

Growing community of inventors

Mountain View, CA, United States of America

Yadunandana Yellambalase