The HYDRO-GEN Project: 2nd Generation PEM Fuel Cell System with High Pressure Hydrogen Tanks for an Electric Vehicle

The objective of the European Hydro-Gen project is to develop an innovative PEM Fuel Cell (PEMFC) energy system, based on high pressure gaseous hydrogen tanks. The developed system would result in a large increase in performance compared to the state of the art in terms of components, PEMFC stack and energy system, with an emphasis placed on cost reduction for on board applications in fuel cell electric vehicles. This is achieved by developing a low temperature (80°C) and low pressure (1.5 Bar abs) 30 kW PEMFC stack based on innovative core components, 700 bars H₂ tanks with optimized weight and volume, and integrating the fuel cell drive train in a compact electric van Peugeot Partner Electric.

The vehicle has a driving range of 300 km for a 350 bar fill-up, and overall performances comparable to those of the Partner Electric version. The efficiency of the FC stack alone is 56% at 1.5 bar abs. The energy consumption of the vehicle is around 1.2 MJ/km that is 1 kg of H₂ per 100 km.