Recent advances on the energy management of a Hybrid Electric vehicle

This paper presents new innovative subsystems of the ER11 prototype urban vehicle which is powered by hydrogen fuel cells and ultra-capacitors. The subsystems described here are: 1) the energy management system, which is responsible for the optimization of the fuel efficiency and the increased mileage of the vehicle, 2) the driver's monitoring and control panel and 3) the power transmission system, which offers the possibility of continuous change of gear. The powertrain of the test-bed vehicle consists of an electric motor, a fuel (H
₂
) cell system, an ultra-capacitor bank and a DC/DC converter. Testing verified that the proposed energy management system is benefitted by the variable transmission of power leading to less fuel consumption.