Patent ID: 8362746

Claim:
A battery control system for a vehicle including a vehicle body, an engine and a motor installed on the vehicle body, a secondary battery used as a driving power source of the motor, and an external charging unit that externally charges the secondary battery, using an external power supply located outside the vehicle body, said battery control system being adapted to control the external charging unit, and comprising: a degradation detecting unit that detects degradation of the secondary battery during external charging of the second battery by the external charging unit; and an external charging current varying unit that sequentially varies a magnitude of external charging current with which the external charging unit externally charges the secondary battery, using the external power supply, among a plurality of predetermined levels of external current values, wherein the degradation detecting unit comprises a current variation type degradation detecting unit that detects degradation of the secondary battery, using the plurality of external current values and values of battery voltages respectively developed in the secondary battery when the secondary battery is externally charged at the plurality of external current values, the battery control system further comprising: a state-of-charge detecting unit that detects a state of charge of the secondary battery; and a degradation detection executing unit that causes the degradation detecting unit to execute detection of degradation of the secondary battery, when the state of charge of the secondary battery becomes a specified level of state of charge while the external charging unit externally charges the secondary battery, using the external power supply wherein the degradation detection executing unit is a multiple level degradation detection executing unit that causes detection of degradation of the secondary battery, when the state of charge of the secondary battery becomes one of a plurality of specified levels of states of charge.