Patent ID: 8229613

Claim:
A travel energy learning device for a host vehicle having a transmission shaft, a motor for driving the transmission shaft to transmit a driving force from the motor to a wheel and a rechargeable battery for powering the motor, a revolution sensor which detects rotary speed of the transmission shaft and a torque sensor which detects torque output by the transmission shaft, the energy learning device comprising: a road section identifying unit that identifies a road section on which the host vehicle is currently located; a travel condition information obtaining unit that obtains travel condition information that indicates a travel condition when the host vehicle has traveled the road section; a work rate deriving unit that derives information that indicates a work rate of the transmission shaft based on a signal from the revolution sensor and on a signal from the torque sensor; and an energy information accumulating unit that: derives energy information that indicates the energy required for traveling the road section based on the derived information that indicates the work rate of the transmission shaft during traveling of the host vehicle through the road section, wherein the derived energy information includes energy output information indicating the energy output by the transmission shaft and energy efficiency information indicating a ratio of the energy output by the transmission shaft to energy output from the rechargeable battery; links the derived energy information that indicates the energy required for traveling the road section to the road section and to the travel condition information; and accumulates the information that indicates the energy required for traveling the road section.