Abstract: A method for cooling components of a motor vehicle, the instantaneous cooling capacity being ascertained from an overall cooling requirement, and the overall cooling requirement being composed of the individual cooling requirements of the components. The motor vehicle is driven using an hybrid drive, which has at least one internal combustion engine and at least one electric machine, the electric machine being controlled by a power electronics system; and an electric machine cooling requirement and a power electronics cooling requirement are taken into account, as individual cooling requirements, in the ascertainment of the overall cooling requirement.