Patent ID: 8138718
Filing Date: 2012-03-20
Classification: B60L,H02J,Y02T,Y04S

Abstract:
1. A docking bay for supplying battery recharging energy to a vehicle having a rechargeable battery and a pair of vehicle contacts positionable to receive said energy from said docking bay, said docking bay comprising: (a) a pair of normally de-energized, docking bay contacts each having a fully exposed, unprotected contact surface for making a non plug-in electrical contact with said vehicle contacts when said vehicle is driven into said docking bay; (b) a contact energizer having an output operatively connected to said docking bay contacts and an input connectable to an external source of energy, said energizer being switchable in response to an energizer control signal from a first state where battery recharging energy is not provided to said docking bay contacts to a second state where battery recharging energy derived from said external source of energy is provided to said docking bay contacts; and, (c) a controller operatively connected to said energizer for conditionally providing said energizer control signal to said energizer.