Hybrid electric vehicle battery charge reduction for improved cooling performance

1. A hybrid electric vehicle, comprising:

an internal combustion engine;

an electric motor;

a battery electrically coupled to the electric motor;

a battery charger electrically coupled to the battery and mechanically coupled to the internal combustion engine;

one or more sensors, wherein each sensor provides a respective sensor signal, wherein each sensor signal represents a respective current vehicle operating condition of the hybrid electric vehicle; and

a computing component configured to:

perform a first comparison of a state-of-charge of the battery to a charge threshold,

perform a second comparison of at least one of the current vehicle operating conditions to respective nominal vehicle operating conditions, wherein none of the vehicle operating conditions describe a condition of the battery, and

prevent excess heat generation by the hybrid electric vehicle by reducing charging of the battery based on the first comparison and the second comparison.

2. The hybrid electric vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the computing component is further configured to:

reduce charging of the battery responsive to (i) the state-of-charge of the battery being below a charge threshold, and (ii) one or more of the current vehicle operating conditions being outside a normal range.

3. The hybrid electric vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the second comparison comprises:

comparing the at least one of the current vehicle operating conditions to one or more respective vehicle operating conditions thresholds.

4. The hybrid electric vehicle of claim 3 , wherein the at least one of the current vehicle operating conditions comprise:

an ambient temperature near the hybrid electric vehicle;

a throttle angle of an internal combustion engine of the hybrid electric vehicle;

a temperature of the internal combustion engine;

a temperature of a transmission of the hybrid electric vehicle;

a load of the internal combustion engine; and

a road grade encountered by the hybrid electric vehicle.

5. The hybrid electric vehicle of claim 2 , wherein the second comparison comprises:

determining whether the vehicle is in a tow mode.

6. The hybrid electric vehicle of claim 1 , wherein, to reduce charging of the battery, the computing component is further configured to at least one of:

reduce a target state of charge;

reduce a time of charging the battery;

reduce a number of charging intervals of the battery;

reduce a length of the charging intervals of the battery;

reduce a rate of charging the battery; and

reduce a minimum charge threshold.

7. The hybrid electric vehicle of claim 2 , wherein the computing component is further configured to:

performing a third comparison of one of the current vehicle operating conditions to a plurality of vehicle operating conditions thresholds;

selecting one of a plurality of charging modes based on the third comparison; and

reducing charging of the battery according to the selected charging mode.

8. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium encoded with instructions executable by a hardware processor of a computing component of a hybrid vehicle, the machine-readable storage medium comprising instructions to cause the hardware processor to:

perform a first comparison of a state-of-charge of a battery of the hybrid vehicle to a charge threshold;

perform a second comparison of one or more current vehicle operating conditions to respective nominal vehicle operating conditions, wherein none of the vehicle operating conditions describe a condition of the battery; and

prevent excess heat generation by the hybrid vehicle by reducing charging of the battery based on the first comparison and the second comparison.

9. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 8 , further comprising:

reducing charging of the battery responsive to (i) the state-of-charge of the battery being below a charge threshold, and (ii) one or more of the current vehicle operating conditions being outside a normal range.

10. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 9 , wherein the second comparison comprises:

comparing the one or more current vehicle operating conditions to one or more respective vehicle operating conditions thresholds.

11. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein at least one of the current vehicle operating conditions comprise:

an ambient temperature near the hybrid electric vehicle;

a throttle angle of an internal combustion engine of the hybrid electric vehicle;

a temperature of the internal combustion engine;

a temperature of a transmission of the hybrid electric vehicle;

a load of the internal combustion engine; and

a road grade encountered by the hybrid electric vehicle.

12. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 9 , wherein the second comparison comprises:

determining whether the vehicle is in a tow mode.

13. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 9 , wherein reducing charging of the battery comprises at least one of:

reducing a target state of charge;

reducing a time of charging the battery;

reducing a number of charging intervals of the battery;

reducing a length of the charging intervals of the battery;

reducing a rate of charging the battery; and

reducing a minimum charge threshold.

14. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 9 , further comprising:

performing a third comparison of one of the current vehicle operating conditions to a plurality of vehicle operating conditions thresholds;

selecting one of a plurality of charging modes based on the third comparison; and

reducing charging of the battery according to the selected charging mode.

15. A method for a hybrid electric vehicle, comprising:

performing a first comparison of a state-of-charge of a battery of the hybrid vehicle to a charge threshold;

performing a second comparison of one or more current vehicle operating conditions to respective nominal vehicle operating conditions, wherein none of the vehicle operating conditions describe a condition of the battery; and

preventing excess heat generation by the hybrid electric vehicle by reducing charging of the battery based on the first comparison and the second comparison.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:

reducing charging of the battery responsive to (i) the state-of-charge of the battery being below a charge threshold, and (ii) one or more of the current vehicle operating conditions being outside a normal range.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the second comparison comprises:

comparing the one or more current vehicle operating conditions to one or more respective vehicle operating conditions thresholds.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the at least one of the current vehicle operating conditions comprise:

an ambient temperature near the hybrid electric vehicle;

a throttle angle of an internal combustion engine of the hybrid electric vehicle;

a temperature of the internal combustion engine;

a temperature of a transmission of the hybrid electric vehicle;

a load of the internal combustion engine; and

a road grade encountered by the hybrid electric vehicle.

19. The method of claim 17 , wherein the second comparison comprises:

determining whether the vehicle is in a tow mode.

20. The method of claim 17 , wherein reducing charging of the battery comprises at least one of:

reducing a target state of charge;

reducing a time of charging the battery;

reducing a number of charging intervals of the battery;

reducing a length of the charging intervals of the battery;

reducing a rate of charging the battery; and

reducing a minimum charge threshold.

21. The method of claim 17 , further comprising:

performing a third comparison of one of the current vehicle operating conditions to a plurality of vehicle operating conditions thresholds;

selecting one of a plurality of charging modes based on the third comparison; and

reducing charging of the battery according to the selected charging mode.