A up to date Ford patent submitting examines the use of bidirectional charging and an adapter to rate more than one cars from the similar energy supply—with doable fleet packages.
A Ford patent software printed by way of the US Patent and Trademark Workplace (USPTO) July 27, 2023, and firstly filed January 26, 2022, main points the charging of more than one cars by way of plugging a primary automobile right into a charging station conventionally, and the use of adapters that would attach a automobile’s rate port to a charging cable to loop in different cars.
Ford bidirectional charging adapter patent symbol
A coupling and microcontroller within the adapter would permit a automobile provided for bidirectional charging to discharge energy from its rate port, throughout the adapter and attached charging cable, to any other automobile.
Ford is already enforcing bidirectional charging, together with {hardware} that permits the F-150 Lightning to behave as a house backup energy dealer. However this adapter may well be specifically helpful to company consumers of the F-150 Lightning Professional and different fleet EVs, permitting more than one cars parked on the identical storage to be charged in combination off one charging station.
Ford bidirectional charging adapter patent symbol
Ford does not particularly point out this use in its patent submitting, however Rivian did in a patent software for the same pass-through charging machine printed by way of the USPTO June 22. The information introduced in each packages seem permissible underneath present requirements, which do not permit extension cords to attach chargers and cars however would most likely permit cars for use to relay energy from a unmarried charger.
Whilst suave, there is no ensure Ford’s bidirectional charging adapter will achieve manufacturing. The automaker is a prolific writer of patent packages—together with one for a magnetic charging connector that sounds a little bit like an Apple MagSafe connector for EVs—however they do not all advance past the patent degree.
