A method for controlling a powertrain of a hybrid vehicle includes the following steps performed by a hybrid controller: determining whether an ambient air temperature is lower than a predetermined temperature; driving a motor and operating a heating disc of an electrically heated catalytic converter disposed in an exhaust pipe of an internal combustion engine during a predetermined operating time when an ambient air temperature is lower than a predetermined temperature; supplying ambient air to the heating disc; and varying a flow rate of the ambient air supplied to the heating disc in response to a temperature change of the heating disc.

Methods and systems are provided for indicating whether a canister purge valve in a vehicle evaporative emissions control system is degraded. In one example, an air intake system hydrocarbon (AIS HC) trap temperature may be monitored during a refueling event, and responsive to an indication that the AIS HC trap temperature change is greater than a predetermined threshold, it may be indicated that the canister purge valve is degraded. In this way, diagnosis of whether a vehicle canister purge valve is degraded may be indicated without the use of engine manifold vacuum, and may be advantageous for vehicles configured to operate for significant amounts of time without engine operation, or without intake manifold vacuum.

A hybrid vehicle includes a canister that adsorbs evaporative fuel generated in the fuel tank for an internal combustion engine. The hybrid vehicle can drive a drive wheel even when the internal combustion engine is stopped. When the internal combustion engine of the hybrid vehicle is stopped and a prescribed set of conditions is satisfied, the internal combustion engine is rotated by the generator. When the internal combustion engine of the hybrid vehicle is rotated by the generator, the evaporative fuel adsorbed in the canister is supplied to the upstream side of an upstream side exhaust catalytic converter device. In the hybrid vehicle, the introduced evaporative fuel as reducing agent is adsorbed in the upstream side exhaust catalytic converter device and a downstream side exhaust catalytic converter device.

Methods and systems for deicing an engine air intake filter and an engine throttle are described. The methods and systems may include activating an evaporative emissions system heater and a pump to de-ice the engine air intake filter and the engine throttle. The deicing may be performed when an engine of a vehicle is not operating.

An embodiment is a method including controlling a purge fuel amount of an active purge system (APS), the controlling including correcting the purge fuel amount using a primary weighting factor obtained using an ambient air temperature and a hydrocarbon (HC) concentration in purge gas fuel as input values, and correcting the corrected purge fuel amount using a secondary weighting factor due to a purge learning value. Some embodiments further include controlling of the purge fuel amount applies a purge execution condition, and the purge execution condition on the basis of a negative pressure of an intake manifold and a vehicle speed of the vehicle in which a purge flow rate exhibits as being greater than or equal to a predetermined value.

Evaporative emission purge control systems and methods use a cost factor to incentivize operation of an internal combustion at torques favorable for purge. An evaporative emission control system is configured to collect fuel vapor. A controller determines whether an operating speed of the internal combustion engine is within a target purge region that is bounded by a lower speed threshold and an upper speed threshold of the internal combustion engine. When the operating speed of the internal combustion engine is within the target purge region, the controller applies a cost factor to operating points for the internal combustion engine, and based on the cost factor, the operating points are set to include an operating torque for the internal combustion engine to generate an intake pressure of the internal combustion engine at a level below atmospheric pressure for a purge of the evaporative emission control system.

A method for operating an internal combustion engine of a motor vehicle, where the internal combustion engine includes a combustion chamber and a prechamber spark plug which is assigned to the combustion chamber and which has a prechamber which is fluidically connected to the combustion chamber via a plurality of openings. The method includes operating the internal combustion engine in a catalytic converter heating operation in which an ignition time, at which an ignition spark for igniting a fuel-air mixture in the combustion chamber is generated in the prechamber within a particular operating cycle of the internal combustion engine, is shifted later compared to a normal operation. An injection time, at which a last direct fuel injection into the combustion chamber is carried out within the particular operating cycle, is a same in the catalytic converter heating operation and in the normal operation.

Methods and systems are provided for conducting an evaporative emissions test diagnostic on a vehicle fuel system and evaporative emissions control system during engine-on conditions. In one example, a first fuel vapor storage device is separated from a second fuel vapor storage device by a one-way check valve, thus preventing loading of the first fuel vapor storage device during conditions such as refueling operations, diurnal temperature fluctuations, or from running-loss vapors from a vehicle fuel tank. In this way, the evaporative emissions test diagnostic may be conducted during a cold-start event where an exhaust catalyst is below a predetermined threshold temperature required for catalytic oxidation of hydrocarbons in the engine exhaust, without increasing undesired exhaust emissions.

A method for operating an internal combustion engine of a motor vehicle, where the internal combustion engine includes a combustion chamber and a prechamber spark plug which is assigned to the combustion chamber and which has a prechamber which is fluidically connected to the combustion chamber via a plurality of openings. The method includes operating the internal combustion engine in a catalytic converter heating operation in which an ignition time, at which an ignition spark for igniting a fuel-air mixture in the combustion chamber is generated in the prechamber within a particular operating cycle of the internal combustion engine, is shifted later compared to a normal operation. An injection time, at which a last direct fuel injection into the combustion chamber is carried out within the particular operating cycle, is a same in the catalytic converter heating operation and in the normal operation.

Methods and systems are provided for a fuel system. In one example, a method may include cleaning an orifice of an ELCM. The cleaning includes adjusting a position of a valve in a passage to fluidly couple a reference orifice of the ELCM to an intake manifold.