This paper proposes a powertrain controller for a solar photovoltaic battery powered hybrid electric vehicle (HEV). The main objective of the proposed controller is to ensure better battery management, load regulation, and maximum power extraction whenever possible from the photovoltaic panels. The powertrain controller consists of two levels of controllers named lower level controllers and a high-level control algorithm. The lower level controllers are designed to perform individual tasks such as maximum power point tracking, battery charging, and load regulation. The perturb and observe based maximum power point tracking algorithm is used for extracting maximum power from solar photovoltaic panels while the battery charging controller is designed using a PI controller. A high-level control algorithm is then designed to switch between the lower level controllers based on different operating conditions such as high state of charge, low state of charge, maximum battery current, and heavy load by respecting the constraints formulated. The developed algorithm is evaluated using theoretical simulation and experimental studies. The simulation and experimental results are presented to validate the proposed technique.