Evaluation of Power Sharing Mechanism of a PEM Fuel Cell-Battery Powered Electric Vehicle

Evaluation of power sharing mechanism of a fuel cell-battery powered electric vehicle has been carried out using MATLAB and Simulink based mathematical simulation model. The vehicle simulation model was designed based on the specifications of a real-world commercial passenger vehicle to determine accurate estimation of onboard vehicle behaviors and power requirements depending on drive cycle inputs and vehicle dynamics. The power sharing mechanism is designed based on the role each component should be played by the vehicle's onboard hybrid combination of fuel cell and battery power sources. The battery is responsible for the meeting the vehicle's peak power demands whereas the fuel cell system controls the state-of-charge of the battery. The parameters of the power sharing mechanism are optimized by considering the drive torque, the battery state-of-the charge and the vehicle performance. The optimized simulation results showed that the power requirement/demand of the vehicle was significantly affected by the operating behaviors of the end users (driver) and combination of fuel cell and battery power sharing management system.