Modelling and control strategy development for fuel cell electric vehicles

This paper describes a modelling and dynamic control design process applicable to the development of fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs). After an introduction to advanced propulsion technologies the development of FCEV at DaimlerChrysler is described, followed by a discussion on hydrogen as a fuel for FCEV and the challenges related to hydrogen storage. It is essential for advanced vehicles to obtain a range comparable to that of mass production vehicles sold today. Thus, there is a strong need to operate such vehicles with high efficiency and maximize the energy stored onboard a vehicle. A stochastic dynamic programming algorithm was developed and applied to the energy management of this FCEV, which allow fuel economy optimisation while keeping a good driveability.