Design of energy and materials for ammonia-based extended-range electric vehicles

Abstract

Under the background of energy and environmental pressure, the traditional automobiles directly driven by fossil fuel-based internal combustion engines are facing elimination. Extended-range electric vehicles (EREVs) charged by small internal combustion engines become an alternative choice because EREVs have longer range and higher efficiency than battery-based electric vehicles, such as lithium battery-based vehicles. However, most EREVs still utilizes fossil fuel-based internal combustion engines, which still have significant carbon footprint. To compromise this downside, this paper proposes a hydrogen fuel cell extended-range electric vehicle design using liquid ammonia as hydrogen source, and quantify the energy and materials flows for the design. This paper establishes a conceptual model of the entire vehicle taking a truck as an example. A typical configuration is selected to perform energy flow balance calculation. The dynamic model of the vehicle is further constructed based on the conceptual model. Based on the performance requirements of the vehicle’s driving, parameters were determined for the motor system, fuel cell system, battery system and super capacitor system.