Patent ID: 11962173
Assignee: GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC
Field: Transport (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC B  H  Y | IPC B  H

Claim 19:
20. A motor vehicle for use with a direct current fast-charging (DCFC) station, the motor vehicle comprising:
a vehicle body;
a reconfigurable battery system;
road wheels connected to the vehicle body;
one or more rotary electric machines connected to the reconfigurable battery system and operable for powering the road wheels; and
a controller;
wherein the reconfigurable battery system includes:
a first battery pack and a second battery pack;
a plurality of switches having respective ON/OFF conductive states that are individually commanded by the controller to selectively connect the first battery pack and the second battery pack in either a parallel-connected (P-connected) configuration or a series-connected (S-connected) configuration based on a desired operating mode; and
a first charge port and a second charge port each being connectable to the DCFC station via a corresponding charging cable during a DCFC event in which the first battery pack and/or the second battery pack is recharged via the DCFC station, wherein the first charge port and the second charge port are configured to receive a charging voltage from the DCFC station at a relatively low voltage level of less than about 400V or a relatively high charging level of at least about 800V depending on the ON/OFF conductive states of the switches; and

wherein the controller is configured to:
selectively charge the reconfigurable battery system via either of the first charge port or the second charge port at the relatively high voltage level; and
when the DCFC station is able to supply the relatively high charging voltage to the first charge port:
selectively disable the second charge port;
establish the S-connected configuration via control of the respective ON/OFF conductive states of the switches; and
charge the reconfigurable battery system via the first charge port using the relatively high charging voltage.