Development and comparative analysis of a pure fuel cell configuration for a light commercial vehicle

Abstract

Fuel cell electric vehicles help hybrid and battery electric vehicles to reduce vehicle emissions. Fuel cells are more appealing since, like internal combustion engines, they provide energy as long as fuel is supplied while doing so with less energy conversion and little or no emissions. In this study, the energy and fuel consumption values of a vehicle's internal combustion engine and fuel cell configurations were compared on a tank-to-wheel basis. First of all, a fuel consumption model was created for the conventional vehicle with 1.3 diesel engine. Subsequently, the fuel cell configuration of the same vehicle was designed by selecting a suitable fuel cell, electric motor, battery, and transmission. Then, the fuel cell vehicle configuration's hydrogen and energy consumptions were calculated. The equivalent diesel consumption of the fuel cell vehicle was determined to be 3.38 L/100 km at the end of the study, which is 32% better than an Internal Combustion Engine vehicle. Also, with theoretical regenerative braking in the fuel cell electric vehicle, consumed traction energy can be reduced by 27%, while with practical regenerative braking, 55% of the braking energy can be recovered, and the traction energy can be reduced by 15%. On the other hand, since there is no regenerative braking system in the conventional vehicle, all of the braking energy is lost as heat.