Method to prioritize electric-only vehicle (EV) mode for a vehicle

1. A method to control a powertrain for a vehicle comprising:

generating, via a vehicle system controller, an Electric Vehicle (EV) priority zone based on a current driving pattern and a predicted future driving pattern determined by the controller;

determining, via the controller, a position of the vehicle with respect to an EV-priority zone;

controlling an electric motor via the controller to implement an electric-only mode of operation of the vehicle based on the position of the vehicle with respect to the EV-priority zone and a current operating mode of the vehicle;

controlling an engine via the controller to increase engine power output and implement a charging mode of operation of the vehicle when the vehicle is approaching the EV-priority zone and the engine is already operating to increase a state of charge of a battery; and

controlling the electric motor via the controller to maintain the electric-only mode of operation when the vehicle is approaching the EV-priority zone and the engine is not already operating such that the engine stays in an off state.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the current driving pattern and the predicted future driving pattern are provided by a database of possible driving patterns.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising customizing the implementation of the electric-only mode of operation through user inputs to the vehicle.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein implementing the electric-only mode of operation includes operating in electric-only mode when the vehicle enters the EV-priority zone.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein implementing the electric-only mode of operation includes prioritizing usage of battery power during operation in electric-only mode in the EV-priority zone.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein implementing the electric-only mode of operation includes delaying an engine-on command during operation in electric-only mode in the EV-priority zone unless a vehicle power load requiring engine operation is present.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the EV-priority zones are identified by retrieving geographic information for a trip from a global positioning navigation system.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the EV-priority zone is identified by arbitrating the current driving pattern, the predicted future driving pattern, and the geographic information for the trip.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the current driving pattern is determined using a driving pattern identification method implemented by machine learning.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the driving pattern identification method uses a series of parameters extracted from the current operating mode of the vehicle and a current driving condition.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the predicted future driving pattern is determined using a driving pattern identification method implemented by machine learning.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the driving pattern identification method uses a series of parameters extracted from predicted vehicle conditions and predicted trip conditions.

13. A vehicle comprising:

an electric motor;

a battery coupled to the electric motor;

an engine, wherein the electric motor and the engine are coupled to wheels of the vehicle via a transmission; and

a vehicle system controller electronically coupled to the electric motor, the battery, and the engine wherein the controller is configured to: (i) generate an electric priority segment along a trip path and determine a position of the vehicle along the trip path, (ii) control the electric motor to operate and implement an electric-only mode of operation of the vehicle to delay an engine-on command when the vehicle is within the electric priority segment with a state of charge of a battery above a minimum threshold, (iii) control the engine to continue to operate and implement a charging mode of operation of the vehicle to increase power output of the engine when the engine is already operating, thereby increasing a state of charge of the battery when the vehicle is approaching the electric priority segment using opportunistic charging, and (iv) control the electric motor to operate to maintain the electric-only mode of operation when the engine is not operating and the vehicle is approaching the electric priority segment such that the engine remains in an off state.

14. The vehicle of claim 13 further comprising an electric power receptacle coupled to the vehicle for charging the battery from an external power source.

15. The vehicle of claim 13 further comprising a database of possible driving patterns, wherein the vehicle system controller uses a first driving pattern identification method to identify a current driving pattern and uses a second driving pattern identification method to identify a predicted future driving pattern from the database of possible driving patterns;

wherein the vehicle system controller is configured to arbitrate the current driving pattern, predicted driving pattern, and geographic information to generate the electric priority segment along the trip path.

16. The vehicle of claim 13 wherein the vehicle system controller is configured to increase power output of the engine using a state of charge of the battery and distance information to the next electric priority segment.

17. A method to control a vehicle comprising:

controlling, using a controller, an electric motor to propel the vehicle based on vehicle position within an Electric Vehicle priority zone generated by the controller determined using a current driving pattern and a predicted future driving pattern; and

controlling, using the controller, an engine to increase power output to charge a battery in response to the vehicle approaching the zone only when the engine is already operating.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising controlling, using the controller, only the electric motor to propel the vehicle when the vehicle is approaching the zone and the engine is not operating such that the engine remains off.