Hybrid vehicle

A hybrid vehicle comprising:

• an internal combustion engine;
• a generator having power input and output capabilities;
• a planetary gear mechanism having three rotational elements respectively connected with three shafts, i.e., a driveshaft linked with an axle, an output shaft of the internal combustion engine and a rotating shaft of the generator;
• a motor having power input and output capabilities from and to the driveshaft;
• and a secondary battery having electric power transmission capability to and from the generator and the motor, the hybrid vehicle enabling a hybrid drive with both power output from the internal combustion engine and power input from and output to the motor and a motor drive with only the power input from and output to the motor, the hybrid vehicle further comprising:
• a required torque setter configured to set a required torque for driving;
• an output limit setter configured to set an output limit that is a maximum allowable power output from the secondary battery according to a state of the secondary battery;
• a drive mode setter configured to set a drive mode to one of a motor drive priority mode that gives priority to the motor drive over the hybrid drive and a hybrid drive priority mode that gives priority to the hybrid drive over the motor drive;
• and
• a controller configured to control the motor and the generator in a range of the set output limit and control the internal combustion engine at a start-up time in motor drive priority mode when the internal combustion engine is motored and started by the generator in the motor drive priority mode set to the drive mode by the drive mode setter, such that the generator outputs a torque for motoring the internal combustion engine, the motor outputs sum of the set required torque and a torque of cancelling out a torque output from the generator and applied to the driveshaft, and the internal combustion engine is started with advanced ignition timing, compared with a start-up time in hybrid drive priority mode when the internal combustion engine is motored and started by the generator in the hybrid drive priority mode set to the drive mode by the drive mode setter.