Driving profile and fuel cell minimum power analysis impact over the size and cost of fuel cell based propulsion systems

Abstract

The overall mass, size and cost of a propulsion system (which comprises the fuel cell stack and hydrogen tank, dc/dc converters, and energy storage devices) implemented in a fuel cell based vehicle, not only depends on the implemented propulsion system topology and control strategy, but also on the driving profile and the fuel cell operating features. This paper analyzes the impact of both the driving profile and the minimum power delivered by the fuel cell over the mass, size and cost of a set of ten different propulsion systems applied to a light fuel cell based vehicle.