Patent ID: 6977480

Claim:
A motor vehicle comprising: a storage battery comprising a plurality of circuits connected in series, each of the plurality of circuits including a first cell group and a second cell group connected in parallel; wherein said second cell group utilizes an electrolyzable electrolytic solution or generates recombinable gas; a power supply unit including a charger/discharger for controlling charge/discharge of said storage battery, and adapted to charge said storage battery up to a voltage at which the electrolytic solution of said second cell group is electrolyzed or a voltage at which the generated gas is recombined; and a motor-generator for driving a motor by electric power supplied by said power supply unit when said motor vehicle is in a powering mode, and for generating electric power when said motor vehicle is in a regeneration mode; wherein when said motor vehicle generates electric power, said storage battery is charged by the electric power of said motor-generator up to a voltage at which the electrolytic solution of said second cell group is electrolyzed or a voltage at which the generated gas is recombined; and wherein the first cell group includes lithium secondary cells or electrical double layer capacitors, and the second cell group includes lead cells, nickel hydrogen cells, nickel cadmium cells or fuel cells.