Consumption and Efficiency of a Passenger Car with a Hydrogen/Oxygen PEFC based Hybrid Electric Drivetrain

The main factors for reducing the consumption of a vehicle are reduction of curb weight, air drag and increase in the drivetrain efficiency. Highly efficient drivetrains can be developed based on PEFC technology and curb weight may be limited by an innovative vehicle construction. In this paper, data on consumption and efficiency of a four-place passenger vehicle with a curb weight of 850 kg and an H2/O2 fed PEFC/Supercap hybrid electric powertrain are presented. Hydrogen consumption in the New European Driving Cycle is 0.67 kg H2/100 km, which corresponds to a gasoline equivalent consumption of 2.5 l/100 km. When including the energy needed to supply pure oxygen, the calculated consumption increases from 0.67 to 0.69–0.79 kg H2/100 km, depending on the method of oxygen production.