Fuel Cell Auxiliary Power Units (APU) are more and more considered as having the potential to improve fuel economy, to be environmental friendly and to add new functions and features to vehicles.
There are several APU system architectures combined with different fuels and power levels applied to various vehicles
A liquid fuelled APU with a power of 5 kW can address a significant market potential in the field of transportation systems. The future higher voltage architecture and the increasing electrical power demand on board of vehicles are two of several drivers that make the APU solution interesting for many applications. XCELLSIS, The Fuel Cell Engine Company, is developing and manufacturing APUs for automotive application.
In this paper, the potential of APUs, their market, and their application, are presented.