Patent ID: 8321082

Claim:
A hybrid vehicle provided with an internal combustion engine that has an exhaust gas control apparatus with an exhaust gas control catalyst that purifies exhaust gas provided in an exhaust system, and that is capable of outputting power for running, an electric motor capable of inputting and outputting power for running, and a secondary battery capable of sending and receiving electric power to and from the electric motor, comprising: a controller that executes catalyst degradation suppression control that controls the internal combustion engine to operate with fuel injection being performed and executes regenerative driving control that controls the electric motor to be regeneratively driven, when a temperature of the exhaust gas control catalyst is equal to or greater than a first predetermined temperature set as a lower limit of a temperature range within which it is assumed that degeneration of the exhaust gas control catalyst will be promoted, as well as when the temperature of the exhaust gas control catalyst is less than the first predetermined temperature and equal to or greater than a second predetermined temperature set as a temperature that is lower than the first predetermined temperature and a power storage percentage that is a percentage of an amount of electric power stored in the secondary battery out of a total capacity of the secondary battery is equal to or greater than a predetermined power storage percentage set beforehand, when there is a predetermined braking request in which there is a braking request while the hybrid vehicle is running with the internal combustion engine operating.