Patent ID: 8209970

Claim:
An engine control system comprising: a cold start determination module to determine whether an engine coolant temperature of a hybrid vehicle engine is less than a threshold value; an electrically heated catalyst (EHC) control module to selectively energize an electrically heated catalyst, the electrically heated catalyst including a heating element coated with a catalytic material and being positioned immediately upstream of a catalytic converter; an EHC temperature module to directly measure a temperature of said electrically heated catalyst; and an engine actuation module operable to selectively start said engine based on said engine coolant temperature and said electrically heated catalyst temperature, wherein said engine actuation module is operable to start said engine, independent of said electrically heated catalyst temperature, when at least one of an engine horsepower request exceeds a predetermined magnitude and a charge of a battery is less than a predetermined level, wherein said EHC control module energizes the electrically heated catalyst after said start of said engine independent of the charge of the battery at said start of said engine.