Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle Fuel Economy Testing at the U.S. EPA National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Laboratory

The introduction of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and their new technology has created the need for development of new fuel economy test procedures and safety procedures during testing. The United States Environmental Protection Agency-National Vehicle Fuels and Emissions Laboratory (U.S. EPA-NVFEL) performed the first hydrogen fuel cell vehicle fuel economy tests in November 2002 and then again in September 2003. It took approximately eight months to comply with the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) codes related to safe handling of gaseous hydrogen and to design and implement the equipment changes necessary to measure hydrogen fuel economy.

This paper will address the facility modifications, data acquisition instrumentation, test procedures and analytical equipment used to accommodate chassis-dynamometer fuel economy testing of a hydrogen-fueled light-duty vehicle. The paper will also present a brief comparison of the 3-different methods, currently under consideration in the SAE J2572 draft standard for determining the hydrogen fuel economy from chassis dynamometer vehicle testing, for the first vehicle configurations to undergo testing at EPA-NVFEL.