Patent ID: 8234029

Claim:
A hybrid vehicle driven with output power of a motor and with output power of an internal combustion engine equipped with a catalytic converter located in an exhaust pipe and filled with a catalyst having a capacity for reducing the toxicity of exhaust gas, the hybrid vehicle comprising: a driving force demand setting module configured to set a driving force demand required for driving the hybrid vehicle; a target power setting module configured to, when a catalyst temperature decrease condition of decreasing temperature of the catalyst is not satisfied on a restart of operation of the internal combustion engine or on an engine operation restart after a motor drive of the hybrid vehicle driven with only the output power of the motor in a state of operation stop of the internal combustion engine, set a target power to be output from the internal combustion engine based on the set driving force demand, when the catalyst temperature decrease condition is satisfied on the engine operation restart, the target power setting module setting the target power to be output from the internal combustion engine based on the set driving force demand with a predetermined output restriction, until fulfillment of a specified return condition, after fulfillment of the specified return condition, the target power setting module releasing the predetermined output restriction and setting the target power to be output from the internal combustion engine based on the set driving force demand; and a controller configured to, in the state of operation stop of the internal combustion engine, control the internal combustion engine and the motor to drive the hybrid vehicle with a driving force equivalent to the set driving force demand with the internal combustion engine kept stopping, in a state of operation of the internal combustion engine, the controller controlling the internal combustion engine and the motor to cause the set target power to be output from the internal combustion engine and to drive the hybrid vehicle with the driving force equivalent to the set driving force demand.