Control system for inhibiting unintended use of hybrid electric vehicle

A hybrid electric vehicle, comprising:

• a recharge able battery unit;
• an electric drive motor which drives wheels of said vehicle by an electric power from said rechargeable battery unit;
• a generator which charges said rechargeable battery unit;
• a combustion engine which drives said generator;
• a controller which controls operations of said electric drive motor and said combustion engine;
• a determining unit which determines whether said rechargeable battery unit has been removed or replaced with another battery unit which fails to meet a predetermined specification;
• wherein, when said determining unit determines that said rechargeable battery unit has been removed or said rechargeable battery unit has been replaced with said another battery unit, said controller limits the output from said electric drive motor by gradually reducing a maximum output torque when at least one of said electric drive motor and said combustion engine operates faster than a preset rotational speed.

A hybrid electric vehicle, comprising:

• a rechargeable battery unit;
• an electric drive motor which drives wheels of said vehicle by an electric power from said rechargeable battery unit;
• a combustion engine which indirectly drives said wheels;
• and
• a control unit which controls operations of said electric drive motor and said combustion engine;
• a battery removal determining unit which determines whether said rechargeable battery unit is being mounted in a specific mounting position;
• wherein said control unit gradually reduces an output torque of said electric drive motor to limit an output of said electric drive motor, when said battery removal determination unit determines that said rechargeable battery unit is not being mounted in said specific mounting position and a rotational speed of said electric drive motor exceeds a preset rotational speed.

A hybrid electric vehicle, comprising:

• a rechargeable battery unit;
• an electric drive motor which drives wheels of said vehicle by an electric power from said rechargeable battery unit;
• a combustion engine which directly drives said wheels;
• a controller which controls operations of said electric drive motor and said combustion engine;
• and
• a battery removal determination unit which determines whether said rechargeable battery unit is being mounted at a specified mounting position;
• wherein said controller limits an output of said electric drive motor, when said battery removal determination unit determines that said rechargeable battery unit has been removed.