METHOD FOR OPERATING A VEHICLE AND VEHICLE OPERATED BY SUCH A METHOD

A vehicle comprises an internal combustion engine, a wheel propulsion shaft, wheels and a kinetic energy recovery system configured to recover and store kinetic energy of the vehicle, and restore the stored energy by propelling the wheel propulsion shaft and/or by cranking the internal combustion engine. To reduce the emissions of the vehicle, a method (100) for operating the vehicle comprises, when the vehicle operates: - when the vehicle is not stationary, recovering (102) and storing kinetic energy of the vehicle in the KERS, - when the vehicle is stationary, measuring (104) an energy level stored in the KERS and comparing (106) the measured energy level to a predetermined high threshold value, so that the method comprises, if the energy level stored in the KERS is above the predetermined high threshold value: - stopping (108) the internal combustion engine, then - when the vehicle start is required, propelling (110) the wheel propulsion shaft exclusively by the KERS.