Patent ID: 6697717
Filing Date: 2004-02-24
Classification: B60K,B60L,B60W,G01C,Y02T,Y10S

Abstract:
A hybrid car using both an electric motor driven by electric power stored in a battery and an internal combustion engine driven by combustion energy of internally burned fuel as sources for driving travel wheels, said battery being rechargeable when said internal combustion engine is driven, said hybrid car comprising:a restricted area detecting unit for detecting whether a restricted area forbidden for automobiles driven by internal combustion engines is forward in a direction of movement of said hybrid car or not, and detecting arrival of said hybrid car at said restricted area; a required electric energy calculating unit for calculating electric energy required for making said hybrid car pass through said restricted area so that only said electric motor can be operated to make said hybrid car pass through said restricted area; a battery-charge operating time calculating unit for calculating battery-charge operating time required for storing said required electric energy in said battery; a start point calculating unit for calculating a start point for starting a battery-charge operation on the basis of said battery-charge operating time calculated by said battery-charge operating time calculating unit; and a travel mode switching unit for selecting one mode from a battery-charge travel mode for charging said battery during traveling of said hybrid car, a motor travel mode using only said electric motor to run said hybrid car and an ordinary travel mode using said electric motor and said internal combustion engine suitably to run said hybrid car, on the basis of a detection result detected by said restricted area detecting unit and said start point calculated by said start point calculating unit.