Patent ID: 7689341

Claim:
A motor vehicle comprising: a chassis comprising wheels on which the vehicle travels; an internal combustion engine that drives at least some wheels through a drivetrain; a decelerator for issuing vehicle deceleration request data to request deceleration of the vehicle, an accelerator for issuing vehicle acceleration request data to request acceleration of the vehicle, and a processor for processing issued vehicle deceleration request data and issued acceleration request data according to an algorithm having a hierarchy that contains assigned priorities for utilization of multiple systems capable of decelerating the vehicle and that comprises a strategy that: in response to an issued deceleration request, causes a relatively higher priority system to be utilized; causes a relatively lower priority system to be utilized concurrent with continued utilization of the relatively higher priority system when the relatively higher priority system is incapable of satisfying the issued deceleration request; and when the relatively higher and relatively lower priority systems collectively are incapable of satisfying the issued deceleration request, causes one or more other systems to be utilized concurrent with continued utilization of the relatively higher and relatively lower priority systems wherein the other systems comprise a foundation brake system; wherein the relatively higher priority system comprises an electric energy recovery system for recovering energy by storing electrical charge and the relatively lower priority system comprises a hydraulic energy recovery system for recovering energy by storing hydraulic fluid under pressure; and wherein the processor algorithm strategy assigns a higher priority of use to energy of the hydraulic fluid stored under pressure than to energy of the stored electrical charge that causes the hydraulic fluid stored under pressure to be used first to satisfy an issued acceleration request.