A Real-Time Energy Management System for Operating Cost Minimization of Fuel Cell/Battery Electric Vehicles

This paper presents a Real-Time Energy Management System (RT-EMS) for minimizing the operating costs of a Fuel Cell/Battery Electric Vehicle (FCBEV). Particularly, a suitable cost function is considered, which accounts for battery and fuel cell degradation, as well as for fuel consumption and battery charging reinstatement. The cost function is thus minimized in real-time by a suitable energy management strategy, which is designed based on an appropriate model of the overall electric propulsion system. In this regard, a suitable power split criterion is determined, based on which the proposed RT-EMS shares the propulsion power between fuel cell and battery. As a result, the cost function can be minimized whatever the driving cycle is. The effectiveness of the proposed RT-EMS has been assessed by numerical simulations, which have been performed in Matlab-Simulink considering different driving cycles and a hysteresis-based EMS for comparison purposes.