a drive - home button is provided in the dashboard of a plug - in hybrid electric vehicle . the driver presses this button when heading home or to other predetermined destination at which charging is routinely performed . the actual route , the driving style , and other relevant vehicle / road information during the trip home are stored to build up a statistical database . during a present trip home , a highly probably route is predicted based on prior trips and an energy management profile is calculated . the commands to the internal combustion engine and the electric motor are selected to cause the vehicle &# 39 ; s battery to be substantially discharged upon arriving at home based on actual data of energy usage by the operator of the vehicle during prior trips . by using actual data , the prediction of energy usage is more accurate allowing more complete discharge of the battery .