Patent ID: 8103406

Claim:
A vehicle control apparatus, comprising: a converter that steps up an output voltage of a DC power source to generate a motor driving voltage; an instructing portion that issues a fuel-efficient travel demand in accordance with a user operation; and a control unit that controls the converter based on a signal from the instructing portion, wherein the control unit includes: a reception portion that receives the fuel-efficient travel demand; a restricting portion that reduces a step-up upper limit value of the converter from a predetermined normal upper limit value to a predetermined restricted upper limit value at a first rate when the reception portion has received the fuel-efficient travel demand; a determining portion that determines an accelerator opening based on an accelerator depression of the user; and a restoring portion that restores the step-up upper limit value of the converter to the predetermined normal upper limit value by increasing the step-up upper limit value from the predetermined restricted upper limit value at a second rate when it is determined that the accelerator opening is equal to or greater than a first threshold under the fuel-efficient travel demand.