Apparatus for controlling electric generator of hybrid drive vehicle to control regenerative brake depending upon selected degree of drive source brake application

An apparatus for controlling a drive source brake force to be applied to a hybrid drive vehicle comprising a drive wheel, an electric energy storage device for storing an electric energy, a drive power source for driving said drive wheel, and an automatic transmission whose speed ratio is variable, said drive power source including an engine operated by combustion of a fuel and an electric motor operated with the electric energy supplied from said electric energy storage device, and said automatic transmission being disposed in a power transmitting path between said engine and said drive wheel, said apparatus comprising:

• manually operated means for selecting one of a plurality of different degrees of application of a drive source brake to said hybrid drive vehicle;
• electric generator driven by a kinetic energy of the hybrid drive vehicle to generate an electric energy and apply as said drive source brake a regenerative brake force corresponding to the generated electric energy to the vehicle;
• engine break shift control means for shifting said automatic transmission so as to change the speed ratio thereof depending upon the degree of application of the drive source brake selected by said manually operated means, so that an engine brake force which is produced by operation of said engine by said kinetic energy of the hybrid drive vehicle and which is applied to the hybrid drive vehicle is controlled depending upon the speed ratio of the automatic transmission;
• electricity generation control means for controlling said electric energy generated by said electric generator, depending upon the degree of application of the drive source brake selected by said manually operated means;
• and
• drive source brake selecting means for selectively enabling said engine brake shift control means to provide braking by said engine operated by combustion of a fuel and said electricity generation control mean to be operated, depending upon an amount of the electric energy stored in said electric energy storage device.