Methods and systems are provided for synergizing the benefits of an engine exhaust driven fuel reformer in a hybrid vehicle system. A vehicle controller may hold the engine in a narrow operating range where fuel reformer operation is optimal while using motor and/or CVT adjustments to address transients generated as driver demand varies. The controller may also adjust an operating range of temperatures of the reformer to enable extended fuel reforming even after the engine of the hybrid has been shutdown.

Methods and systems are provided for using compression heating to heat a cylinder piston before cylinder combustion is resumed. Cylinder heating is achieved using combinations of slow unfueled engine rotation where the engine cylinders are heated via compression stroke heating, and slow compressor rotation where the cylinders are heated via compression heating. One or more intake or exhaust heaters may be concurrently operated to expedite cylinder heating.

A method for regulating a temperature in an exhaust stream in a motor vehicle through control of its driveline. The motor vehicle includes a driveline having a combustion engine connected to a gearbox via a clutch device. The gearbox has several discrete gears. The driveline includes an exhaust system configured for the removal of an exhaust stream from the combustion engine. The method steps are: obtaining one or several first parameters P.sub.1, wherein at least one of first parameters P.sub.1 is a first temperature difference between a first temperature T.sub.1 in the exhaust system and a reference temperature T.sub.Ref; and controlling the gearbox, and thus controlling an operating point in the combustion engine, through downshift to a lower gear, and thus increasing engine speed and reducing a load on the combustion engine, if a value of the one or several first parameters P.sub.1 exceeds a first threshold, and an upshift to a higher gear, and thus reducing an engine speed and an increase of a load on the combustion engine, if a value for the one or several first parameters P.sub.1 is below a second threshold value. Further, a computer program, a computer program product, a system and a motor vehicle comprising such a system are disclosed.

Methods of operating internal combustion engines are provided. A controller detects a coasting event while an associated vehicle is in motion. In response to the coasting event, the controller directs at least a portion of an exhaust gas output by an exhaust system of an internal combustion engine of the vehicle into an intake system of the internal combustion engine.

A vehicle includes an engine and an electric power output device that is configured to output electric power generated by using the engine to the outside of the vehicle. The engine includes an EGR device for recirculating exhaust gas of the engine to an intake side. The vehicle further includes a controller for controlling a recirculation amount of the exhaust gas by the EGR device in accordance with a load of the engine. The controller restricts the recirculation amount of the exhaust gas under the same load in the case where the electric power output device outputs the electric power to the outside of the vehicle in comparison with a case where the electric power output device does not output the electric power to the outside of the vehicle.

A method for reducing an exhaust gas of a mild hybrid system may include determining by an electronic control unit (ECU) whether an engine enters a full load region or a partial load region, based on a position of an accelerator pedal, controlling, by the ECU, the operation of an electric supercharger, based on information on an engine rotational frequency, when a vehicle is driven while being accelerated in a state in which the engine enters the full load region, and controlling, by the ECU, the operation of the electric supercharger by determining whether the vehicle is accelerated, based on an incremental slope of the position of the accelerator pedal, when the engine enters the partial load region.

A series hybrid vehicle control method controls a series hybrid vehicle including a power generation system that generates electric power by driving an electric generator with an internal combustion engine. A control unit is configured to, in a case where a failure occurs in the power generation system, limit a torque of the internal combustion engine, set an engine rotation speed at which power generation efficiency of the electric generator is maximized within a range in which the torque is limited, and control the internal combustion engine based on the engine rotation speed.