Vehicle and controlling method thereof

A method for controlling a vehicle having an engine clutch switching between an operation mode including an electric vehicle (EV) mode for transferring power generated by a motor to wheels and a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) mode for transferring power generated by an engine and the motor to the wheels, the method comprising:

• collecting, by a controller, status information from the motor and the engine;
• determining, by the controller, an equivalence factor based on status information of a battery and load information using electrical energy of the battery;
• determining, by the controller, an operation mode in which energy consumption is minimized among a plurality of energy consumption amounts calculated based on the determined equivalent factor and the modes of the engine clutch;
• and
• operating, by the controller, the engine clutch based on the operation mode in which the energy consumption is minimized.