Patent ID: 8843258

Claim:
A battery unit heating apparatus installed in a vehicle which is driven by power from an internal combustion engine and an electric motor, the electric motor being driven by a battery unit as a power supply, the vehicle having a first mode and a second mode of differing drive ratios between the internal combustion engine and the electric motor, the first mode being a state where the vehicle receives more power from the electric motor than from the internal combustion engine, the heating apparatus comprising: an induction fan configured to variably draw in air from outside of the battery unit into the battery unit; an induction control unit configured to control the rotation speed of the induction fan; and a vehicle speed detection unit for detecting a running speed of the vehicle, wherein when a temperature of the battery unit is lower than a first predetermined value and when the vehicle is set to the first mode, the induction control unit is configured to control the induction fan so as to generate a drawing force larger than a drawing force provided when the vehicle is in the second mode in which the internal combustion engine is employed more positively than the electric motor, and wherein the induction control unit is configured to control the induction fan so as to provide a drawing force corresponding to the running speed of the vehicle detected by the vehicle speed detection unit based on a map in which different drawing forces are set in accordance with different running speeds of the vehicle even in the event that the vehicle is set to either of the first and second modes.