Hydrogen-Powered Fuel Cell Range Extender Vehicle – Long Driving Range with Zero-Emissions

The continuous increasingly stringent regulations for CO₂ fleet targets request the introduction of zero-emission solutions in the near future. Moreover, additional customer benefits have to be generated in order to increase customer acceptance of zero-emission technologies. Actually high costs, reduced driving ranges and lack of infrastructures are some aggregative facts for end-customer acceptance thus also for a broad market launch. Plug-in hybrids as intermediate step towards zero-emission vehicles are meanwhile in series production with partly “zero-emission” operation mode and are well accepted by customers. The project partners HyCentA Research GmbH, Magna Steyr Engineering AG & Co KG, Proton Motor Fuel Cell GmbH and the Vienna University of Technology, Institute for Powertrains and Automotive Technology, have developed a hydrogen-powered zero-emission vehicle within a national funded research project. The combustion engine of an existing range extender shuttle van was substituted by a 25 kW proton-exchange-membrane fuel cell system. In addition, the battery capacity was reduced due to weight, size and costs reasons. Approaches for the complete vehicle integration of the fuel cell range extender and the 70 MPa hydrogen storage system are presented. The high voltage architecture was newly developed and the thermal management has been re-designed. A two circuit coolant system fulfills the wide range of component demands with the possibility of fuel cell waste heat usage for cabin heating. Influences of the operation strategy on the energy and cost efficiency of the vehicle are shown and the optimization potentials will be outlined. The adaptive energy management algorithm and its influence on the fuel efficiency and driving range will be presented. Overall, the vehicle setup combines the advantages of the battery and the fuel cell technology to compensate shortcomings like refueling duration, driving range and dynamic operation.