Patent ID: 8620499

Claim:
A hybrid vehicle having an internal combustion engine designed to output driving power and equipped with an exhaust gas recirculation structure arranged to recirculate an exhaust gas from an exhaust system to an air intake system, a motor designed to output driving power, and an accumulator designed to transmit electric power to and from the motor, the hybrid vehicle comprising: a driving force demand setting module configured to set a driving force demand required for driving the hybrid vehicle, in response to a driver's accelerator operation; an engine power demand setting module configured to set an engine power demand required for the internal combustion engine, based on the set driving force demand; a power decrease rate acquisition module configured to acquire a decrease rate of the engine power demand; and a controller configured to control the internal combustion engine and the motor so that the internal combustion engine outputs a power equivalent to the set engine power demand with exhaust gas recirculation from the exhaust system to the air intake system by means of the exhaust gas recirculation structure and a driving power equivalent to the set driving force demand is ensured when a preset exhaust gas recirculation condition is satisfied and the acquired decrease rate of the engine power demand is not higher than a predetermined rate, the controller controlling the internal combustion engine and the motor so that the internal combustion engine outputs a power equivalent to the set engine power demand without the exhaust gas recirculation and the driving power equivalent to the set driving force demand is ensured when the preset exhaust gas recirculation condition is satisfied and the acquired decrease rate of the engine power demand is higher than the predetermined rate.