Vehicle designers are largely walking away from internal-combustion engines to battery and electric motors. Until infrastructure is developed to support total electrification, hybrid-electric vehicles (HEVs) which include both an internal combustion engine and an electric machine are a step toward electrification and higher system fuel efficiency while retaining the expected vehicle range. To obtain even higher system fuel efficiency combustion modes that provide higher efficiency than spark-ignition (SI) operation can be used in HEVs. A problem with such combustion modes is that they cannot be used over as wide an operating range as SI operation and transitions among modes is slow and cumbersome. By having the ICE installed into a HEV be a multi-combustion mode engine and having the EM to coordinate mode switches to be smooth, the high fuel-efficiency of alternative combustion modes can be exploited while providing smooth operation expected by vehicle users.

A hybrid vehicle includes an electric motor and a combustion engine. A K0 clutch couples the combustion engine to a drivetrain of the vehicle. A control module of the vehicle calculates a torque to be applied by the motor to the K0 clutch when initiating engagement of the combustion engine to the drivetrain. The control module calculates two separate torque lead values by two separate methods and calculates the torque by combining the two torque lead values.

An electrified vehicle includes an engine configured to selectively apply propulsive torque to wheels of a first axle of the vehicle, a first electric machine configured to selectively apply propulsive torque to the wheels of the first axle of the vehicle, a second electric machine configured to selectively apply propulsive torque to wheels of a second axle of the vehicle, a traction battery electrically coupled to the first and second electric machines, and a controller configured to control engine torque, first electric machine torque, and second electric machine torque to provide a driver demand torque at the wheels of the first and second axles. The controller allocates torque between the first and second electric machines based on associated combined losses of the first and second electric machines and maintaining the torque of the first and second electric machines in the same direction.

An embodiment method of controlling traveling of an electrified vehicle equipped with an electric motor as a power source includes determining whether it is possible to enter a variable control function. The variable control function includes a function of variably controlling a coasting torque level using a regenerative braking force. In response to a determination that it is not possible to enter the variable control function, a cause of an inability to enter the variable control function is determined and control is performed in a manner that corresponds to a determination that it is possible to enter the variable control function or the determination of the cause of the inability to enter the variable control function in response to the determination that it is not possible to enter the variable control function.

Engine combustion mode-switching transitions are controlled through a coordination control of an electric machine and a multi-combustion mode engine coupled to each other with a hybrid propulsion system by following predetermined combustion mode-switching strategies and control algorithms.

In a hybrid vehicle, each of an engine and an MG1 is mechanically coupled to a drive wheel with a planetary gear being interposed. The planetary gear and an MG2 are configured such that motive power output from the planetary gear and motive power output from the MG2 are transmitted to the drive wheel as being combined. A controller makes WGV diagnosis for diagnosing whether or not a waste gate valve is normally controllable by issuing an instruction to a WGV actuator while the controller stops combustion in the engine and controls the MG1 and the MG2 in coordination to perform motoring of the engine during traveling of the hybrid vehicle.

A method of distributing driving force of a four wheel drive (4WD) eco-friendly vehicle includes determining a first allowable range of driving force for each driving force based on determination of travel stability, determining a second allowable range of driving force for each driving wheel based on system limitations of at least one of the first driving source or the second driving source, determining a range of available driving force of the first driving wheel based on the first allowable range of driving force and the second allowable range of driving force, determining first target driving force of the first driving wheel in consideration of efficiency of the first driving source within the range of available driving force, and determining second target driving force of the second driving wheel based on the first target driving force and requested torque.

A method of controlling operation of a vehicle includes monitoring at least one of a location and a route of the vehicle when the vehicle is in a first operating state, receiving map data related to an area around at least one of the location and the route, and identifying, based on the map data, one or more map attributes indicative of one or more features of the area. The method also includes comparing the one or more map attributes to at least one reference attribute, and based on the one or more map attributes matching the at least one reference attribute, causing the vehicle to enter a second operating state when the vehicle is in the area.

An electrical passenger car, the electrical passenger car including: at least two electrically driven motors; motor control electronics; sensors; and wheels, where the wheels include a first wheel and a second wheel, where the second wheel has a radius at least 7% greater than a radius of the first wheel, and where the motor control electronics control the at least two electrically driven motors to provide a greater torque to the second wheel than to the first wheel.

A method for serial operation of a motor vehicle with a transmission having a first electric machine, which is operated as a motor for driving the motor vehicle, and a second electric machine, which is operated as a generator, includes, after a generation of a change-over signal, switching the first electric machine from the operation as a motor to the operation as a generator, and switching the second electric machine from the operation as a generator to the operation as a motor in order to drive the motor vehicle.