TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a method of controlling an electric vehicle and an electric vehicle system.

BACKGROUND ART

In an electric vehicle having a motor as a driving source for traveling, the motor is driven by electric power generated by an electric generator and electric power output from a battery. It has been considered to supply electric power to an external device of the electric vehicle by using the electric generator and/or the battery of the vehicle as described above.

For example, JP2016-127632A discloses an electric vehicle in which electric power generated by a fuel cell serving as an electric generator is supplied to an external device when a SoC (State of Charge) of a battery is relatively low. In this electric vehicle, the electric power generated by the fuel cell is supplied to the external device after being converted to the desired voltage by two DC/DC converters.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

With the technique disclosed in JP2016-127632A, because the electric power generated by the fuel cell is supplied to the external device via the two converters, a power loss in the converters is increased. Consequently, there is a problem in that a power consumption in the electric vehicle is increased.

The present invention has been invented to solve the problem described above, and an object thereof is to reduce a power loss when electric power is supplied to an external device.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, an electric vehicle including: a battery configured to store electric power; a motor electrically connected to the battery through a first wire; an external port connected to a second wire branched from the first wire, the external port being used for input/output of electric power from/to an external device; a converter provided between the external port and the first wire on the second wire; an electric generator provided on a third wire bypassing the converter from the second wire; a first switch provided on the third wire on the external port side relative to the electric generator; and a second switch provided on the third wire on an opposite side of the first switch relative to the electric generator. A method of controlling the electric vehicle, wherein in a case in which electric power generated by the electric generator is supplied to the external device, the first switch is turned OFF and the second switch is turned ON such that the electric power generated by the electric generator is supplied to the external device through the converter.

