Economic energy management strategy design and simulation for a dual-stack fuel cell electric vehicle

•Two novel energy management strategies for dual-stack fuel cell are developed.•Proposed strategies are simulated and validated according to NEDC.•Enhancement in fuel economy, driving range and start-stop frequency are verified.

This paper presents the design and simulation validation of two energy management strategies for dual-stack fuel cell electric vehicles. With growing concerns about environmental issues and the fossil energy crisis, finding alternative methods for vehicle propulsion is necessary. Proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell systems are now considered to be one of the most promising alternative energy sources. In this work, the challenge of further improving the fuel economy and extending the driving range of a fuel cell vehicle is addressed by a dual-stack fuel cell system with specific energy management strategies. An efficiency optimization strategy and an instantaneous optimization strategy are proposed. Simulation validation for each strategy is conducted based on a dual-stack fuel cell electric vehicle model which follows the new European driving cycle (NEDC). Simulation results show that a dual-stack fuel cell system with proposed energy management strategies can significantly improve the fuel economy of a fuel cell vehicle and thus lengthen the driving range while being able to keep the start-stop frequency of the fuel cell stack within a reasonable range.