A system for controlling an electric vehicle is disclosed. The electric vehicle has a main power supply for propulsion of the vehicle and at least one brake power supply for at least one brake actuator. The system includes a propulsion control unit for controlling at least one propulsion actuator, and at least one brake control unit for controlling the at least one brake actuator. The propulsion control unit is further configured to control one or more propulsion actuators to perform a backup braking or a backup steering.

A control apparatus for a hybrid vehicle including an engine and a motor, includes a controller to update an allowable input current value in accordance with the battery state and to control an input to the battery, the allowable input current value being the maximum current value to which the battery input is permitted. The controller performs control such that limitation of the battery input in accordance with the allowable input current value is not performed if a deterioration degree of a catalyst for purifying an exhaust gas from the engine is larger than a predetermined value when an engine braking force and a regenerative motor braking force are applied during deceleration.

A hybrid-vehicle system includes an internal combustion engine configured to deliver a first rotational torque to a crankshaft. The first rotational torque is a maximum torque deliverable by the internal combustion engine. The hybrid-vehicle system also includes a transmission selectively rotatably coupled to the crankshaft, and an assembly including an electric machine rotatably coupled to the transmission and configured to deliver a second rotational torque directly to the transmission. The assembly also includes a one-way clutch configured to rotationally couple the crankshaft and the transmission. The assembly further includes a friction clutch moveable between an engaged state where the crankshaft and the transmission are rotationally coupled, and a disengaged state where the crankshaft and the transmission are rotationally decoupled. The friction clutch is further defined as a latching friction clutch.

Systems and methods are provided for controlling a hybrid powertrain of a hybrid vehicle, and may include: determining a value of a drive request for a combustion engine of the hybrid vehicle; determining electrical loading on batteries of the hybrid vehicle; adjusting operation of an accessory of the hybrid vehicle to reduce the electrical load of that accessory on the batteries of the hybrid vehicle when the drive request value is above a determined drive request threshold amount and the electrical loading on batteries of the hybrid vehicle is above a power loading threshold; and directing at least some of the power saved by adjusting operation of the accessory from the batteries of the hybrid vehicle to a drive motor of the hybrid vehicle to provide motive force for the vehicle.

An engine ECU includes a traveling control unit configured to bring a clutch device into a disconnection state to perform inertial traveling of a vehicle according to satisfaction of predetermined inertial traveling implementation conditions and configured to bring the clutch device into a connection state to cancel an inertial traveling state and perform regenerative power generation according to satisfaction of predetermined regenerative power generation implementation conditions during the inertial traveling, and a required power calculation unit configured to calculate required power of the vehicle; and the traveling control unit selectively performs the inertial traveling or the regenerative power generation an ISG based on the required power calculated in a state in which the inertial traveling implementation conditions are satisfied.

An apparatus includes a torque circuit and a clutch circuit. The torque circuit is structured to monitor a torque demand level of an engine. The clutch circuit is structured to (i) disengage an engine clutch of a transmission to decouple the engine from the transmission in response to the torque demand level of the engine falling below a threshold torque level and (ii) disengage a motor-generator clutch of the transmission to decouple a motor-generator from the engine in response to the torque demand level of the engine falling below the threshold torque level. The motor-generator is directly coupled to the transmission.

A vehicle comprising an internal combustion engine, a preceding vehicle information acquiring device for acquiring preceding vehicle information relating to a preceding vehicle, including a parameter relating to a distance between vehicles which becomes greater the wider the distance between a host vehicle and the preceding vehicle, and an electronic control unit for controlling the internal combustion engine, in which, the electronic control unit is configured to initiate an idle reduction mode where the internal combustion engine is made to automatically stop when a preset engine stop condition stands and to continue the idle reduction mode if the preceding vehicle is decelerating or has stopped and to make the internal combustion engine automatically restart if the preceding vehicle is accelerating or is running at an equal speed when the parameter becomes a first predetermined value or more during the idle reduction mode.

A four-wheel drive vehicle includes: (a) main drive wheels and auxiliary drive wheels; (b) a rotating machine as a drive power source; (c) a drive-power distribution clutch configured to allocate a part of a drive power outputted to the main drive wheels from the drive power source, to the auxiliary drive wheels, so as to distribute the drive power to the main drive wheels and the auxiliary drive wheels with a drive-power distribution ratio between the auxiliary drive wheels and the main drive wheels, such that the drive-power distribution ratio is variable with an engaging force of the drive-power distribution clutch being controlled; and (d) a control apparatus configured, when determining that a heat load of the drive-power distribution clutch is large during deceleration running of the vehicle, to limit a regenerative torque of the rotating machine, as compared with when determining that the heat load is small.

A driving assistance apparatus includes a clutch provided between a drive source and a transmission, a clutch operator with which a driver who drives a vehicle disengages the clutch, a clutch operation detector that detects that the clutch is disengaged, a shift operator with which the driver sets the transmission at least to a neutral position, a shift position detector that detects that the transmission is in the neutral position, a low-speed motor, and a controller that controls a drive force of the low-speed motor. The controller includes a driving mode setter that sets a driving mode of the vehicle to a motor driving mode when the clutch is detected to be disengaged or the transmission is detected to be in the neutral position. The controller stops the drive source and starts the low-speed motor when the driving mode is set to the motor driving mode.

A method for operating a hybrid vehicle having an electrical energy store, an electric drive and an internal combustion engine, includes activating, by a driver of the hybrid vehicle, a battery control mode by actuating a defined operator control element. A special drive operating strategy for the internal combustion engine is triggered in the battery control mode with the electric drive switched off. An increased charging gradient is then obtained by the special drive operating strategy if a current state of charge of the electrical energy store is below one of a desired state of charge or a lower tolerance threshold with respect to the desired state of charge.