Assessing the Performance of Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles Using Synthetic Hydrogen Fuel

Thomas Bacquart (), Ward Storms, Niamh Moore, James Olden, Abigail Siân Olivia Morris, Mathew Hookham, Arul Murugan and Vincent Mattelaer
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Thomas Bacquart: Atmospheric Environmental Science Department, National Physical Laboratory, Hampton Road, Teddington TW11 0LW, Middlesex, UK
Ward Storms: R&D, Toyota Motor Europe, B-1930 Zaventem, Belgium
Niamh Moore: Atmospheric Environmental Science Department, National Physical Laboratory, Hampton Road, Teddington TW11 0LW, Middlesex, UK
James Olden: R&D, Toyota Motor Europe, B-1930 Zaventem, Belgium
Abigail Siân Olivia Morris: Atmospheric Environmental Science Department, National Physical Laboratory, Hampton Road, Teddington TW11 0LW, Middlesex, UK
Mathew Hookham: Atmospheric Environmental Science Department, National Physical Laboratory, Hampton Road, Teddington TW11 0LW, Middlesex, UK
Arul Murugan: Atmospheric Environmental Science Department, National Physical Laboratory, Hampton Road, Teddington TW11 0LW, Middlesex, UK
Vincent Mattelaer: R&D, Toyota Motor Europe, B-1930 Zaventem, Belgium

Energies, 2024, vol. 17, issue 7, 1-18

Abstract: The deployment of hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) is critical to achieve zero emissions. A key parameter influencing FCEV performance and durability is hydrogen fuel quality. The real impact of contaminants on FCEV performance is not well understood and requires reliable measurements from real-life events (e.g., hydrogen fuel in poor-performing FCEVs) and controlled studies on the impact of synthetic hydrogen fuel on FCEV performance. This paper presents a novel methodology to flow traceable hydrogen synthetic fuel directly into the FCEV tank. Four different synthetic fuels containing N 2 (90–200 µmol/mol), CO (0.14–5 µmol/mol), and H 2 S (4–11 nmol/mol) were supplied to an FCEV and subsequently sampled and analyzed. The synthetic fuels containing known contaminants powered the FCEV and provided real-life performance testing of the fuel cell system. The results showed, for the first time, that synthetic hydrogen fuel can be used in FCEVs without the requirement of a large infrastructure. In addition, this study carried out a traceable H 2 contamination impact study with an FCEV. The impact of CO and H 2 S at ISO 14687:2019 threshold levels on FCEV performance showed that small exceedances of the threshold levels had a significant impact, even for short exposures. The methodology proposed can be deployed to evaluate the composition of any hydrogen fuel.

Keywords: hydrogen fuel; fuel cell performance; hydrogen quality; gas analysis; hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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