Patent ID: 9624851
Date: 2017-04-18
CPC Classifications: B60W,B60Y,F02D,Y02T,Y10S

Claim:
1. A method of operating a vehicle powertrain, the method comprising: determining whether a selected powertrain operational mode is an extended range mode; determining a demand fraction of a maximum powertrain power of the vehicle powertrain, the vehicle powertrain including an internal combustion (IC) engine, the IC engine having a maximum output power when a gas phase fuel is conveyed to a fuel injector of the IC engine at a source pressure greater than a cutoff pressure; determining a gas phase fuel pressure in a fuel container in fluid connection with a fuel rail of the IC engine; operating the powertrain exclusively on the gas phase fuel if: operating the powertrain exclusively on a liquid phase fuel or an electric drive motor if: wherein the IC engine is a bi-fuel engine having the fuel rail in fluid connection with a fuel tank to contain the liquid phase fuel, or the powertrain includes the electric drive motor powered by a battery.