A latest Ford patent submitting examines utilizing bidirectional charging and an adapter to cost a number of autos from the identical energy supply—with potential fleet purposes.

A Ford patent utility revealed by the USA Patent and Trademark Workplace (USPTO) July 27, 2023, and initially filed January 26, 2022, particulars the charging of a number of autos by plugging a primary car right into a charging station conventionally, and utilizing adapters that might join a car’s cost port to a charging cable to loop in different autos.

Ford bidirectional charging adapter patent picture

A coupling and microcontroller within the adapter would permit a car outfitted for bidirectional charging to discharge energy from its cost port, via the adapter and related charging cable, to a different car.

Ford is already implementing bidirectional charging, together with {hardware} that enables the F-150 Lightning to behave as a residence backup energy dealer. However this adapter may very well be notably helpful to company patrons of the F-150 Lightning Professional and different fleet EVs, permitting a number of autos parked on the similar storage to be charged collectively off one charging station.

Ford bidirectional charging adapter patent picture

Ford would not particularly point out this use in its patent submitting, however Rivian did in a patent utility for the same pass-through charging system revealed by the USPTO June 22. The concepts introduced in each purposes seem permissible underneath present requirements, which do not permit extension cords to attach chargers and autos however would doubtless permit autos for use to relay energy from a single charger.

Whereas intelligent, there is no assure Ford’s bidirectional charging adapter will attain manufacturing. The automaker is a prolific writer of patent purposes—together with one for a magnetic charging connector that sounds a bit like an Apple MagSafe connector for EVs—however they do not all advance past the patent stage.