Vehicle control system and method

A method comprising:

• determining an amount of energy that an energy storage device of a vehicle has to power a propulsion system of the vehicle under a first set of operational settings,
• determining that the amount of energy that the vehicle has or will have is insufficient to move the vehicle from a first location within a powered segment to a designated second location outside of an unpowered segment of a route along which the vehicle is configured to move, wherein the energy storage device is configured to receive electric energy from an external source while the vehicle moves within the powered segment, and the energy storage device does not receive electric energy from the external power source while the vehicle moves within the unpowered segment, and
• responsive to determining that the energy storage device has or will have insufficient energy to move the vehicle from the first location to the designated second location, changing one or more of a throttle setting or a brake setting of the vehicle to operate the vehicle under a second set of operational settings while the vehicle moves within the powered segment of the route to charge the energy storage device to a greater extent relative to operating the vehicle according to the first set of operational settings.

A method comprising:

• determining that an energy storage device of a vehicle has insufficient energy to power a propulsion system of the vehicle to move the vehicle from a first location within a powered segment of a route to a second location outside of an unpowered segment of the route based on the vehicle operating under a first set of operational settings, the energy storage device configured to provide energy to power a propulsion system of the vehicle while the vehicle moves within the unpowered segment of the route;
• and
• changing one or more operational settings of the vehicle to operate the vehicle under a second set of operational settings while the vehicle moves within the powered segment of the route, wherein the vehicle is configured to travel through the powered segment of the route for a longer period of time while the vehicle operates under the second set of operational settings relative to operating the vehicle under the first set of operational settings.