Study and Experimentation of a PEM Fuel Cell for Electric Vehicle

Abstract

Emissions from combustion engines are accused of contributing to global warming and air pollution (exhausting a huge amount of polluting gases). In addition, the oil resources are finite while demand increases inevitably based on economic growth (32% of global energy consumption for transportation sector). So, an alternative to the combustion engine becomes essential. The hybrid fuel cell vehicle represents one of the alternatives solutions. Proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells appear as devices capable of producing electricity with no pollutant emissions but only water. The present work is a study and implementation of the energy performance of a PEMFC fuel cell vehicle operating on a normalized reference driving cycle (NEDC cycle).