A so-called electric-powered vehicle such as an electric vehicle, a hybrid vehicle, or a fuel-cell vehicle is mounted with a power storage device made of a secondary battery, a capacitor, or the like, and travels by using driving force generated by electric power stored in the relevant power storage device.
An electric vehicle does not have an electric power-generating mechanism configured with an engine, and thus it has conventionally been required to store electric power to be used for traveling in the power storage device mounted thereon, from an external power source such as a commercial power source. In addition, as to an electric-powered vehicle such as a hybrid vehicle or a fuel-cell vehicle, which has an electric power-generating mechanism, there has also been proposed a technique of charging the power storage device mounted thereon with use of a commercial power source or the like having high electric power-generating efficiency to thereby achieve higher fuel consumption efficiency. In particular, attention has been focused on a configuration that uses a commercial power source supplied to each household and having a relatively low voltage (e.g. 100 V or 200 V) to charge the power storage device mounted on the electric-powered vehicle.
A location where fuel (e.g. petrol) for operating an engine is resupplied is limited to a location such as a fueling station, whereas a location where a power storage device mounted on an electric-powered vehicle is externally charged is less limited. In particular, if it is possible to use a commercial power source having a relatively low voltage for external charging, it becomes possible to externally charge an electric-powered vehicle while parking the vehicle in, for example, a garage of each household.
In the case that the electric-powered vehicle is externally charged in a garage of each household, a lighting fixture is not always fully equipped, in contrast to the case that fuel is resupplied at the fueling station. Accordingly, from the viewpoint of further facilitating an operation of coupling a charging connector for external charging to the electric-powered vehicle at night or the like, there has been proposed a configuration in which a lighting fixture is provided at the vehicle or at the charging connector. For example, charging connectors for an electric vehicle disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 06-325834 are identified as connectors arranged at the vehicle and at a charger, and capable of being fitted into each other. A connector housing located at any one of the vehicle and the charger is provided with light-emitting means.
Further, a lighting device for a vehicle disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2002-211311 includes lighting means for lighting vehicle surroundings by lighting up, identification signal transmitting means carried by an owner of the vehicle and for transmitting an identification signal with which the owner of the vehicle is identified, and in-vehicle control means for receiving the identification signal transmitted by the identification signal transmitting means and controlling lighting-up of the lighting means.
Generally, a charging port provided at the vehicle, which is to be coupled to the charging connector, is provided with a lid portion to prevent intrusion of water and the like into the charging port when external charging is not performed. The charging port is therefore closed with the lid portion before the charging connector is coupled thereto. Accordingly, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 06-325834, even if a lamp is provided in a housing provided at the vehicle, there arises a problem of difficulties for a vehicle user in visually perceiving the position of the charging port in the case that vehicle surroundings are dark. Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2002-211311 merely discloses lighting-up of a door mirror lamp or a roof lamp, and is not intended for a challenge to enable the user to easily detect the position of the charging port.
Therefore, the user has to search for the position of the charging port with the help of some kind of light, and thus resulting in a problem of causing the user to feel burdensome.
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