Browse Topic: Fuel cell vehicles
The globe is looking headlong to set up new benchmarks for the reduction of GHG (Green House Gases) considering short-term and long-term strategies. Efforts in the Internal Combustion Engines (ICE) domain have been accelerating to find an alternative way to reduce harmful emissions. Hydrogen is considered as a promising fuel to leapfrog this transition. Hydrogen fuel can be categorized into vast mobility areas viz. ICE and Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle (FCEV). Hydrogen fuel has attracted global attention from engine researchers due to the crude oil crisis and its rise in prices in recent years. This will serve the nation's goal towards carbon neutrality. Hydrogen has a few advantages such as less fueling time, higher heating value and more efficiency making it an eye-touching fuel for the automotive industry. In the contemporary FCEV segment, many fuel cell technologies have evolved, wherein the development of Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell technology has taken a new height for
The US trucking industry heavily relies on the diesel powertrain, and the transition towards zero-emission vehicles, such as battery electric vehicles (BEV) and fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV), is happening at a slow pace. This makes it difficult for truck manufacturers to meet the Phase 3 Greenhouse Gas standards, which mandate substantial emissions reductions across commercial vehicle classes beginning of 2027. This challenging situation compels manufacturers to further optimize the powertrain to meet stringent emissions requirements, which might not account for customer application specifics may not translate to a better total cost of ownership (TCO) for the customer. This study uses a simulation-based approach to connect customer applications and regulatory categories across various sectors. The goal is to develop a methodology that helps identify the overlap between optimizing for customer applications vs optimizing to meet regulations. To use a data-driven approach, a real
Letter from the Guest Editors
Zero emission vehicles are essential for achieving sustainable and clean transportation. Hybrid vehicles such as Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEVs) use multiple energy sources like batteries and fuel cell stacks to offer extended driving range without emitting greenhouse gases. Optimal performance and extended life of the important components like the high voltage battery and fuel-cell stack go a long way in achieving cost benefits as well as environmental safety. For this, energy management in FCEVs, particularly thermal management, is crucial for maintaining the temperature of these components within their specified range. The fuel cell stack generates a significant amount of waste heat, which needs to be dissipated to maintain optimal performance and prevent degradation, whereas the battery system needs to be operated within an optimal temperature range for its better performance and longevity. Overheating of batteries can lead to reduced efficiency and potential safety hazards
One of the major goals of the automotive industry is to improve vehicular fuel efficiency and performance with much lesser percentages of harmful tailpipe emissions. One of the major technologies includes fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV). Various advantages of fuel cells including reliability, simplicity, quietness of operation, and low pollution have made them an attractive potential candidate for providing automotive power. Even with numerous benefits, fuel cell still have more potential to become more efficient during its operation as, when put inside a vehicle, many auxiliary components act as a parasitic load on the fuel cell system. Thermal management system is one of such system which is critical for working of the fuel cell yet takes large amount of electrical power to operate. At high power operation entire thermal management system can draw up to fifteen percent of total power generated by the fuel cell. This paper discusses on a real time optimizer which controls the
Tarek Abdel-Baset, Forvia's chief engineer for hydrogen storage systems, has two decades of experience in alt-fuel transporation development, with all the ups and downs that entails. So he was a good person for SAE Media to ask about the industry vibe at the 2025 Advanced Clean Transportation Expo in Anaheim.
The deployment of PEM fuel cell systems is becoming an increasingly pivotal aspect of the electrification of the transport sector, particularly in the context of heavy-duty vehicles. One of the principal constraints to market penetration is durability of the fuel cell which hardly meets the expected targets set by the vehicle manufacturers and regulatory bodies. Over the years, researchers and companies have faced the challenge of developing reliable diagnostic and condition monitoring tools to prevent early degradation and efficiency losses of fuel cell stack. The diagnostic tools for fuel cell rely usually on model-based, data driven and hybrid approaches. Most of these are mainly developed for stationary and offline applications, with a lack of suitable methods for real-time and vehicle applications. The work presented is divided into two parts: the first part explores the main degradation conditions for a PEMFC and characteristics, advantages, and application limits of the main
With the growing energy crisis, people urgently need green energy sources to replace fossil ones. As a zero-emission clean energy source, the proton-exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) has received growing attention from researchers due to its broad practical application. However, the large-scale application of PEMFC is currently impeded by their unsatisfying power output and high cost. PEMFC is composed of multiple components, among which the catalyst layer significantly affects the output power and cost of PEMFC. Drastically reducing the amount of platinum in the catalyst layer can bring great benefits to PEMFC, yet causing the large voltage loss associated with enlarged local oxygen molecule transport. Cutting down the platinum content in the catalyst layer can yield substantial cost savings for PEMFC. Developing an efficient catalyst possessing enhanced oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalytic performance is conducive to the commercialization of low-Pt proton exchange membrane
In addition to electric vehicles (EVs), hydrogen fuel cell systems are gaining attention as energy-efficient propulsion options. However, designing fuel cell vehicles presents unique challenges, particularly in terms of storage systems for heavy hydrogen tanks. These challenges impact factors such as NVH (noise, vibration, and harshness) and safety performance. This study presents a topology optimization study for Hydrogen Energy Storage System (HESS) tank structure in Class 5 trucks, with a focus on enhancing the modal frequencies. The study considers a specific truck configuration with a HESS structure located behind the crew cab, consisting of two horizontally stacked hydrogen tanks and two tanks attached on both sides of the frame. The optimization process aimed to meet the modal targets of this hydrogen tank structure in the fore-aft (X) and lateral (Y) directions, while considering other load cases such as a simplified representation of GST (global static torsion), simplified
Nikola announced on February 19 that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and had begun pursuing “value-maximizing sale transactions” for its operations. Also a maker of battery-electric heavy-duty trucks, the company began back in 2015 with an emphasis on hydrogen fuel cell technology for long-haul transport and began serial production of the Tre FCEV in 2023. The company also aspired to establish an extensive hydrogen fueling network through its HYLA brand. In its filing, Nikola stated that it intended to continue certain service and support operations for trucks currently in the field, including certain HYLA fueling operations, through the end of March 2025. The company would need one or more partners to support such activities beyond that point.
Since the 1860 Hippomobile, hydrogen has been a part of powered mobility. Today, most hydrogen storage applications use cylindrical tanks, but other solutions are available. At a recent Bosch-sponsored event, SAE Media noted Linamar's Flexform conformable storage, which the company says uses the same or less material for a given storage volume while delivering anywhere from 5-25% more volumetric efficiency than conventional cylindrical tanks within that volume. “We see space as a regular bounding box where all you're losing is this area around the corners, closer to five to 10% [loss]. Where Flexform really shines and where the value proposition really is, is irregular spaces, such as between frame rails,” said representatives from the Linamar engineering team.
Items per page:
50
1 – 50 of 634