Vehicle controller

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2024051403-A1
Application number	US-202318446471-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Aug 9, 2023
Priority date	Aug 10, 2022
Publication date	Feb 15, 2024
Grant date	—

Abstract

A vehicle controller that is configured to control traveling of an electric vehicle which is a battery electric automobile or a fuel cell automobile, in which, when the electric vehicle performs towing, the vehicle controller judges whether or not power consumption reduction is needed based on an output of a battery that is configured to supply electric power to a traveling motor and the amount of remaining stored energy, and partially limits the function of the electric vehicle if the power consumption reduction is needed, and the amount of remaining stored energy is the amount of remaining charge in the battery when the electric vehicle is the battery electric automobile, and is the amount of remaining stored hydrogen when the electric vehicle is the fuel cell automobile.

First claim

1 . A vehicle controller that is configured to control traveling of an electric vehicle which is any of a battery electric automobile and a fuel cell automobile, wherein
when the electric vehicle performs towing, the vehicle controller judges whether or not power consumption reduction is needed based on an output of a battery that is configured to supply electric power to a traveling motor and an amount of remaining stored energy, and partially limits a function of the electric vehicle if the power consumption reduction is needed, and the amount of remaining stored energy is an amount of remaining charge in the battery when the electric vehicle is the battery electric automobile, and is an amount of remaining stored hydrogen when the electric vehicle is the fuel cell automobile.

2 . The vehicle controller according to claim 1 , wherein the vehicle controller judges that the power consumption reduction is needed if the output of the battery is equal to or higher than a predetermined reference output and the amount of remaining stored energy is equal to or lower than an amount of reference remaining energy.

3 . The vehicle controller according to claim 1 , wherein the vehicle controller judges whether or not the power consumption reduction is needed based on a distance to a point at which energy is to be supplied, in addition to the output of the battery and the amount of remaining stored energy.

4 . The vehicle controller according to claim 1 , wherein, if the power consumption reduction is needed, the vehicle controller executes at least one of: reduction of a vehicle speed; limitation on the output of the battery; forcible switching of an air conditioner to an internal air circulation operation mode; and limitation on an output of the air conditioner.

5 . The vehicle controller according to claim 1 , wherein, if the power consumption reduction is needed, the vehicle controller changes how the function is limited and an amount of limitation based on at least one of the output of the battery and the amount of remaining stored energy.

6 . The vehicle controller according to claim 1 , wherein the vehicle controller judges whether or not the towing is being performed based on at least one of a hitch signal output from a hitch sensor and the output of the battery relative to a vehicle speed.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Hoshino Yu

Classifications

• B60L2200/36

  Vehicles designed to transport cargo, e.g. trucks · CPC title

• B60L15/2045 Primary

  for optimising the use of energy · CPC title

• B60L58/10

  for monitoring or controlling batteries · CPC title

• B60L2240/54

  related to batteries · CPC title

• B60L2240/12

  Speed · CPC title