Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) technology is considered for automotive applications due to rapid start up, energy efficiency, high power density and less maintenance. In line with National Hydrogen Energy Roadmap of Govt. of India that aims to develop and demonstrate hydrogen powered IC engine and fuel cell based vehicle. TATA Motors Ltd. has designed, developed and successfully demonstrated “Low Floor Hydrogen Fuel Cell Bus” which comprises of integrated fuel cell power system, hydrogen storage and dispensing system.
The fuel cell power system, converts the stored chemical energy in the hydrogen to DC electrical energy. The power generated is regulated and used for powering the traction motor. The development of fuel cell bus consists of five stages: Powertrain sizing as per vehicle performance targets, fuel cell stack selection and balance of plant design and development, bus integration, hydrogen refueling infrastructure creation and testing of fuel cell bus. Fuel cell stack integrated with balance of components, which includes air subsystem, hydrogen subsystem, and thermal management system and water recovery unit. Integrated fuel cell power system tested on test bench for the different power demands as per steady state and vehicle drive train conditions. Results of fuel cell power system testing on test bench and performance of fuel cell systems on the fuel cell vehicle is presented in this paper. Preliminary tests of the full unit generated a power of 85 kW at 275 VDC, which is capable of running Fuel cell bus up to 450 km with single refueling of on-board hydrogen. Also built few fuel cell buses, which have covered 25000 km cumulatively.