An Improved Test Method for Energy Consumption and Range of Fuel Cell Vehicles

Dong Hao,Jun Li,Xiaobing Wang,Kai Zhu,Yanyi Zhang,Yongping Hou,Renguang Wang

doi:10.1155/2020/5704180

Abstract

At present, there are two main standards, ISO 23828 : 2013 and SAE J 2572–2014, which prescribe the hydrogen consumption test using the pressure method, gravimetric method, and flow method. However, these methods do not meet the test requirements for electric energy consumption and the range of plug-in hybrid fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) which are the main technical considerations in China and Europe. In this paper, a new test method for the hydrogen consumption, electric energy consumption, and range of FCVs is proposed without the use of additional hydrogen supply, measurement instruments, or energy consumption correction, which can improve the operability of the test and avoid the conversion between electric energy and hydrogen. One plug-in hybrid FCV and one nonplug-in hybrid FCV were tested using the proposed method. The results show that the new method meets the requirements of fuel economy test for FCVs with hydrogen consumption rate, electric energy consumption rate, the range for plug-in hybrid FCVs, hydrogen consumption rate, and the range for nonplug-in FCVs.

Highlights

In the face of challenges such as global energy shortages and environmental pollution, new energy vehicle technology has become the focus of sustainable development in the automotive industry
Fuel economy is directly related to the cost in the everyday use of Fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) [3], and it is very important to be able to evaluate the fuel economy scientifically. e test methods used to evaluate hydrogen consumption and range of FCVs are mainly based on two standards: ISO 23828 : 2013《Fuel Cell Road Vehicle-Energy Consumption Measurement-Vehicles Fueled with Compressed Hydrogen》 [4] and SAE J 2572–2014《Recommended Practice for Measuring the Exhaust Emissions, Energy Consumption, and Range of Fuel Cell Powered Electric Vehicles Using Compressed Hydrogen》 [5]
Yano et al [6] found that the measurement of hydrogen consumption is strongly influenced by the pulsation frequency and amplitude of H2 supply, and high-accuracy measurements were realized through a series of improvements on the test instruments. e concept of equivalent hydrogen consumption was introduced by Zheng et al [7] in order to evaluate the impact of the difference between the initial and final states of charge (SOC) of traction battery on hydrogen consumption, which implies that the final SOC of RESS

Summary

Introduction

In the face of challenges such as global energy shortages and environmental pollution, new energy vehicle technology has become the focus of sustainable development in the automotive industry. The current method has four problems that require further consideration: (a) it is difficult to measure the vehicle’s hydrogen consumption with high accuracy; (b) it is impossible to keep the SOC of RESS unchanged before and after the hydrogen consumption test; (c) besides SOC, other factors such as battery temperature and efficiency can affect hydrogen consumption; (d) no specified test methods for electric energy consumption have been established for plug-in fuel cell hybrid vehicles. FCVs, in ISO 23828 : 2013 and SAE J 2572–2014, the hydrogen consumption needs further correction if the net energy change of RESS is greater than one percent of the total H2 energy consumed in each test cycle, which can be judged using. At the temperature of 25°C, a four-wheel-drive chassis dynamometer and an H2 mass flow meter with accuracy of 1% were used to conduct the test with the drive schedule of NEDC (New Europe Driving Cycle). e test was repeated over 10 cycles with NEDC, in order to obtain enough samples, and the test results are displayed in Figure 3. e SOC of RESS was adjusted to ensure that its value can take both higher and lower cases

Sample A

Practical Applications of the New Method

Findings

Conclusions