Investigation of drive cycle simulation performance for electric, hybrid, and fuel cell powertrains of a small-sized vehicle

Abstract

The powertrain simulations of electric, hybrid, and fuel cell hybrid vehicles for the determination of vehicle performance and powertrain efficiency have been studied in the last few decades. Related investigations on fuel cell hybrid vehicles mainly focus on the improvement of a specific powertrain component or vehicle performance for a specific hybrid type. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effects of not only a specific hybrid configuration but also various electric and fuel cell hybrid powertrain alternatives comparatively including fuel cell, battery, and supercapacitor as energy sources on component efficiency via drive cycle simulations depending on the same vehicle parameters and capacity of the components. Four powertrain cases that differ from each other in terms of the electric power sources (battery, supercapacitor, and fuel cell) were modeled and simulated according to the ECE-15, JPN 10–15, and WLTP drive cycle using MATLAB® - Simulink® environment. The simulations gave the power outputs of powertrain components and component efficiencies, state of charge of the battery, hydrogen consumption, and airflow rate of the fuel cell during the drive cycle. The results showed that better battery efficiency is obtained in Case-1; better vehicle range and lower battery power output than Case-1 can be achieved in Case-2; better fuel cell efficiency is obtained in Case-3; and the lowest H2 consumption is obtained in Case-4. Thus, desired powertrain performance and powertrain efficiency can be achieved by choosing the proper powertrain component in hybrid vehicles.