Fuel-Flexible Automotive Fuel Cell Power System

Because of the inherent advantageous energy conversion features of a fuel cell power system, it is a prime candidate technology to meet the national needs for a high mileage, low emission automotive engine replacement that can be realized with both near term and future fuels. This paper provides an overview of efforts to develop such an automotive power system and summarizes early data related to system integration efforts to attain U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) program goals for performance, emissions and multi-fuel operation. Efforts to date have led to the first testing of an integrated fuel cell power system utilizing gasoline.