Control apparatus for all-wheel-drive hybrid electric vehicle

A control apparatus for an all-wheel-drive hybrid electric vehicle, the control apparatus comprising:

• an engine;
• a center differential unit that includes a differential limiting clutch, the center differential unit being configured to distribute driving force supplied from the engine between a front wheel and a rear wheel and output the driving force thereto, the differential limiting clutch being configured to freely limit differential motion of the front wheel and differential motion of the rear wheel in accordance with engagement force;
• a motor generator provided between the center differential unit and the rear wheel, and coupled to the rear wheel to allow torque to be transmitted between the rear wheel and the motor generator;
• and
• a processor and a memory having a program, when executed, causing the processor to be configured to:
• detect a traveling state of the all-wheel-drive hybrid electric vehicle,
• control driving of the engine and driving of the motor generator as well as the engagement force of the differential limiting clutch,
• wherein the processor is further configured to:
• determine whether or not the traveling state requires giving priority to a front and rear driving force control on a basis of the detected traveling state,
• in a case where the traveling state is determined to require giving priority to the front and rear driving force control, preferentially execute the front and rear driving force control of controlling the driving of the engine and the driving of the motor generator as well as the engagement force of the differential limiting clutch in accordance with friction force between the front and rear wheels and a road surface, and
• in a case where the traveling state is determined not to require giving priority to the front and rear driving force control, preferentially execute an energy management control of controlling the driving of the motor generator to cause a charged state of a high-voltage battery to fall within a predetermined range, the high-voltage battery being configured to supply electric power to the motor generator.