ALEXANDRIA, Va., Nov. 6 -- United States Patent no. 12,459,490, issued on Nov. 4, was assigned to TOYOTA JIDOSHA K.K. (Toyota, Japan).
"Hybrid electric vehicle" was invented by Takehiro Komatsu (Toyota, Japan) and Akihito Hayasaka (Nisshin, Japan).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A hybrid electric vehicle comprising: an engine; a filter for collecting particulate matter from the engine; a motor provided on a power transmission path between the engine and the drive wheels; a torque converter having a lock-up clutch provided on the power transmission path between the motor and the drive wheels; and a control device, wherein the control device includes: a first determination unit that determines wh...