Patent ID: 8204638

Claim:
A control apparatus for a hybrid vehicle, which has an engine and a rotary electric machine as drive power sources, and an in-vehicle battery for supplying and receiving electric power to and from the rotary electric machine, the in-vehicle battery being chargeable with electric power by an external electric power source external to the hybrid vehicle, the control apparatus comprising: external charge energy computation means configured to compute external charge energy supplied as electric power from the external electric power source; estimated required energy computation means configured to compute estimated required energy estimated as required for the hybrid vehicle to travel a planned travel route in a priority mode, in which electric drive of the hybrid vehicle is performed by the rotary electric machine by supplying the electric power from the in-vehicle battery to the rotary electric machine with priority; energy check means configured to check whether the computed external charge energy is sufficient to cover the estimated required energy; mode control means configured to control travel mode of the hybrid vehicle to the priority mode and a combined mode when a check result of the energy check means indicates that the computed external charge energy is sufficient and insufficient to cover the estimated required energy, respectively; the combined mode being a combination of the electric drive by the rotary electric machine and electric power generation, which is performed by the rotary electric machine to supplement insufficiency of energy by receiving drive force of the engine; and the electric power generation being performed at locations in the planned travel route where efficiency of electric power generation by the rotary electric machine is higher than a predetermined value, and the electric drive being performed at other locations in the planned travel route in the combined mode.