Performance assessment of fuel cell and electric vehicles taking into account the fuel cell degradation, battery lifetime, and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system

Abstract

In this study, fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) and electric vehicles (EVs) are considered for energy, i.e., hydrogen and electricity, consumption in varying working conditions, taking into account the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) unit. Since climate considerably influences vehicle performance, and cooling requires more energy than heating, a sweltering condition is studied. Added to this, New York City, a populous megacity, has been selected to dynamically evaluate the behavior of FCVs in real-world driving cycles. The findings suggest that the HVAC system can alter both the electricity consumption of EVs and the hydrogen consumption of FCVs in real-world driving cycles. In light of this, activating the air conditioning (AC) unit during a 10-min ride will cause a 33% energy consumption increase in EVs. This number reaches a significant 55% for the case of FCVs. The results also show that not only would a 20% reduction in battery state-of-health (SOH) consequently cause a 34.5% decrease in the driving range, but also the effect of battery health is more than that of the fuel cell. Moreover, passengers can lower the driving range by roughly 20% and 21.3% in EVs and FCVs, respectively.