Sizing stack and battery of a fuel cell hybrid distribution truck

An existing fuel cell hybrid distribution truck, built for demonstration purposes, is used as a case study to investigate the effect of stack (kW) and battery (kW, kWh) sizes on the hydrogen consumption of the vehicle. Three driving cycles, the NEDC for Low Power vehicles, CSC and JE05 cycle, define the driving requirements for the vehicle. The Equivalent Consumption Minimization Strategy (ECMS) is used for determining the control setpoint for the fuel cell and battery system. It closely approximates the global minimum in fuel consumption, set by Dynamic Programming (DP). Using DP the sizing problem can be solved but ECMS can also be implemented real-time. For the considered vehicle and hardware, all three driving cycles result in optimal sizes for the fuel cell stack of approximately three times the average drive power demand. This demonstrates that sizing the fuel cell stack the average or maximum power demand is not necessarily optimal with respect to a minimum fuel consumption. The battery is sized to deliver the difference between specified stack power and the peak power in the total power demand. The sizing of the battery is dominated by its power handling capabilities. Therefore, a higher maximum C-rate leads to a lower battery weight which in turn leads to a lower hydrogen consumption. The energy storage capacity of the battery only becomes an issue for C-rates over 30. Compared to a Range Extender (RE) configuration, where the stack size is comparable to the average power demand and the stack is operated on a constant power level, optimal stack and battery sizes with ECMS as Energy Management Strategy significantly reduce the fuel consumption. Compared to a RE strategy, ECMS makes much better use of the combined power available from the fuel cell stack and the battery, resulting in a lower fuel consumption but also enabling a lower battery weight which consequently leads to improved payload capabilities.