Fuel cell and battery electric powertrains are maturing zero-emission technologies expected to complement each other in the future. At present, battery electric powertrains have emerged competitive for urban light-duty transportation while fuel cell powertrains have emerged competitive in heavy-duty commercial transportation, alongside conventional internal combustion engine propulsion. This paper assesses the benefit for fuel cell powertrains in off-road vehicles, taking into account current and target industry data for powertrain components. Specific emphasis is placed on three important aspects, namely driving range, vehicle weight, and vehicle cost. A model-based design approach is then adopted to size the powertrain to meet a set of performance requirements. Owing to the high performance demands of off-road vehicles such as high gradeability and payload capacity, the paper evaluates the merits of a two-speed transmission in comparison to a single speed transmission under drive cycle and performance testing scenarios. A detailed fuel cell model is adopted and validated with real vehicle test data, also from which a highly scalable energy management system is systematically developed. This work adds to a growing industry effort towards zero-emission electrification of off-road vehicles.
