Patent 10994719 was granted and assigned to NISSAN MOTOR CO.,LTD. on May, 2021 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A method of controlling the hybrid vehicle in which electric power of the battery and electric power generated by an electric generator are supplied to a drive device, a running load of the drive motor is estimated on the basis of the driver's requirement, and a first distance to empty that allows for running in a state where the estimated running load is fulfilled is calculated on the basis of an amount of charge remaining in the battery and an amount of fuel remaining used to drive the fuel cell. Then, a required running distance is estimated on the basis of the driver's requirement, and, on the basis of the first distance to empty and the required running distance, a necessary energy replenishment operation is notified to the driver.