Hybrid vehicle control system

A method comprising:

• examining one or more route characteristics of at least an upcoming segment of a trip of a hybrid vehicle, the hybrid vehicle including both a fuel-consuming engine and an energy storage device configured to generate energy to power the hybrid vehicle for propelling the hybrid vehicle along one or more routes of the trip;
• identifying one or more locations in the upcoming segment of the trip based on the one or more route characteristics, the one or more locations identified as places where the engine alone of the hybrid vehicle is incapable of generating enough of the energy to power the hybrid vehicle for propelling the hybrid vehicle over or through the one or more locations as least as fast as a designated moving speed;
• calculating one or more operational settings of the hybrid vehicle based on the one or more locations that are identified, the one or more operational settings calculated to operate the hybrid vehicle in such a way that the energy storage device is charged with a sufficient amount of the energy that can be used to replace or supplement the energy provided by the engine to propel the hybrid vehicle over or through the one or more locations, the one or more operational settings also calculated to reduce an amount of fuel consumed by the engine during the upcoming segment of the trip relative to the hybrid vehicle operating according to operational settings that differ from the one or more operational settings that are calculated;
• and
• automatically controlling operation of the hybrid vehicle according to the one or more operational settings that are calculated.

A tangible and non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that direct one or more processors to:

• examine one or more characteristics of at least an upcoming segment of a trip of a hybrid vehicle, the hybrid vehicle including both a fuel-consuming engine and an energy storage device configured to generate energy to power the hybrid vehicle for propelling the hybrid vehicle along one or more routes of the trip;
• identify one or more locations in the upcoming segment of the trip based on the one or more characteristics of the upcoming segment of the trip, the one or more locations identified as places where the engine alone of the hybrid vehicle is incapable of generating enough of the energy to power the hybrid vehicle for propelling the hybrid vehicle over or through the one or more locations;
• calculate one or more operational settings of the hybrid vehicle based on the one or more locations that are identified, the one or more operational settings calculated to operate the hybrid vehicle in such a way that the energy storage device is charged with a sufficient amount of the energy that can be used to replace or supplement the energy provided by the engine to propel the hybrid vehicle over or through the one or more locations, the one or more operational settings also calculated to reduce an amount of fuel consumed by the engine during the upcoming segment of the trip relative to the hybrid vehicle operating according to operational settings that differ from the one or more operational settings that are calculated;
• and
• automatically control operation of the hybrid vehicle according to the one or more operational settings that are calculated.