Design and demonstration of an extended range hydrogen fuel cell utility vehicle

This paper discusses the design, build, and demonstration of two hybrid electric fuel cell utility vehicles for a program sponsored by DLA (Defense Logistics Agency). The design emphasis for the utility vehicles was range extension over state of the art battery systems using a fuel cell power plant. The design work involved vehicle modeling in PSAT to evaluate different battery technologies and compare the effects of different hydrogen storage technologies on vehicle performance and overall range. The comparative analysis showed that 350 bar compressed hydrogen storage maximized vehicle range and produced a final vehicle design that demonstrated a 300+ mile range during commissioning trials.