Abstract
Hydrogen as energy carrier for automotive application is treated as a promising scenario for a sustainable mobility. Hydrogen is an energy carrier, which can be produced from a wide range of different energy sources.
Fuel cell vehicles have made tremendous steps forward concerning on-board storage, electrical drivetrain and overall vehicle package concept. Thus state of the art concepts reach a fuel economy of about 1-1.5kg/100km depending on driving conditions. The simulation of a Van-type fuel cell vehicle showed a hydrogen consumption of 1.5kg/100km on an inner city driving route. Additional developments have to be done in reducing losses in the fuel cell supportive system, finding suitable synergies of technologies for efficient vehicles and in cost reduction. About 15 % of the energy consumption in the simulation was determined by the supportive system of the fuel cell.
Although direct hydrogen fuel cell vehicles have a large potential to mitigate CO2 , PM and NOx emissions, they cause a certain amount of water emissions, which might have influence on the environment under specific conditions. Yet in comparison their water emission would only have minor contribution to the total emissions, as conventional system already emit about half the amount a fuel cell fleet would do and natural evaporations are about 10³ times higher.
In combination with renewable sources of energy as water power for instance, hydrogen powered fuel cell cars have the potential to create renewable energy chains. For the future car population in Austria in 2015 the electricity produced by water power in Austria in 2002 would be sufficient to supply more than two thirds of the car fleet with hydrogen.
This paper is about the optimization of hydrogen-powered fuel cell cars and their potential for a sustainable mobility.
Keywords: Fuel Cell Vehicle Simulation, Electrical Drivetrain, Renewable Hydrogen Supply, Emissions