Patent ID: 8050851

Claim:
A vehicle with drive wheels connected to a driveshaft, the vehicle comprising: an internal combustion engine arranged to output power to the driveshaft; a motor arranged to input and output power from and to the driveshaft or another axle different from the driveshaft; an accumulator arranged to transmit electric power to and from the motor; a deterioration factor computation module configured to compute a deterioration factor based on a value of electric current flowing through the accumulator, the deterioration factor having characteristic of increasing in accordance with discharge of the accumulator and decreasing in accordance with charge of the accumulator, the deterioration factor representing start of deterioration of the accumulator when exceeding a specific reference value; an engine operation stop prohibition module configured to prohibit an operation stop of the internal combustion engine when the computed deterioration factor reaches or exceeds a preset operation stop prohibition threshold value that is smaller than the specific reference value; an engine operation stop permission module configured to allow the operation stop of the internal combustion engine when the computed deterioration factor decreases to or below a preset operation stop permission threshold value that is smaller than the specific reference value, after prohibition of the operation stop of the internal combustion engine by the engine operation stop prohibition module; a driving force demand setting module configured to set a driving force demand required for the driveshaft; and a controller configured to control the internal combustion engine and the motor so that power based on the set driving force demand is outputted to the driveshaft with an operation of the internal combustion engine in response to prohibition of the operation stop by the engine operation stop prohibition module or with the operation stop of the internal combustion engine in response to permission of the operation stop by the engine operation stop permission module.