A method and system of operating a multimodal vehicle includes determining a vehicle route between a starting point and an ending point, establishing one or more waypoints along the determined vehicle route based on one or more factors such as topography or road classification, and changing the propulsion mode of the vehicle at each of the established waypoints. This can be used, for example, to help optimize the use of different propulsion modes such as gasoline and battery power to thereby increase energy utilization efficiency.