Hybrid vehicle controller

A hybrid vehicle controller used in a hybrid vehicle capable of driving drive wheels using power generated by at least one of an engine and an electric rotating machine and capable of generating electric power of the electric rotating machine using the power generated by the engine, the electric rotating machine being capable of sending electric power to and receiving electric power from, an electric energy storage device that stores electric energy, the hybrid vehicle controller comprising:

• an operation control unit that controls operations of the engine and the electric rotating machine according to required vehicle power;
• a power frequency distribution predicting unit that predicts a power frequency distribution of the vehicle in a case where the vehicle travels along a route, the power frequency distribution of the vehicle being expressed by a frequency included in each of a plurality of power bandwidths into which a vehicle power is divided in advance, each of the plurality of power bandwidths having a range of power;
• an electric energy storage state acquiring unit that acquires an electric energy storage state of the electric energy storage device;
• and
• an operation condition setting unit that sets an engine operation condition for the electric energy storage state of the electric energy storage device after the vehicle has traveled the route so as to fall within a preset range according to the power frequency distribution predicted by the power frequency distribution predicting unit and the electric energy storage state of the electric energy storage device acquired by the electric energy storage state acquiring unit,
• wherein:
• the operation condition unit controls an operation of the engine according to the engine operation condition set by the operation condition setting unit;
• the power frequency distribution predicting unit predicts the power frequency distribution of the vehicle in each travel zone for the route divided into plural travel zones;
• and in a case where it is determined that the electric energy storage state of the electric energy storage device falls outside the preset range after the vehicle has traveled a given travel zone under the engine operation condition currently set, the operation condition setting unit sets the engine operation condition again for the electric energy storage state of the electric energy storage device to fall within the preset range after the vehicle traveled the travel zone according to the power frequency distribution in each travel zone predicted by the power frequency distribution predicting unit.