Electric vehicle

摘要

An output current of a DC/DC converter which serves as a step-down device for charging the low-voltage electric storage device is detected. Based on the detected output current and the efficiency of the DC/DC converter, the electric power consumed by an auxiliary equipment load that is connected parallel to the low-voltage electric storage device is controlled to make the efficiency of the DC/DC converter equal to or greater than a prescribed efficiency, so that the low-voltage electric storage device can be charged from a high-voltage electric storage device or an external power supply.

主权项

1. An electric vehicle having an electric motor and a high-voltage electric storage device for energizing at least the electric motor, comprising:
a low-voltage electric storage device for energizing a plurality of auxiliary equipment loads of the electric vehicle including a plurality of general loads and at least one safety load; a step-down device connected between the high-voltage electric storage device and the low-voltage electric storage device for lowering the voltage of the high-voltage electric storage device to supply electric power to the low-voltage electric storage device; the plurality of auxiliary equipment loads connected to a low-voltage terminal of the step-down device and connected parallel to the low-voltage electric storage device; an output current detector for detecting an output current from the step-down device; and a step-down device controller for reducing only the electric power consumed by the plurality of general loads in accordance with predetermined priorities for the plurality of general loads to control the output current from the step-down device so that efficiency of the step-down device which is determined from the output current will become equal to or greater than a prescribed efficiency.