Sizing and Energy Management Strategy Impact on the Total Cost of Ownership in Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles

Fuel cell/battery hybrid electric vehicles are a promising alternative to replace conventional internal combustion engine vehicles. To ensure load requirements and minimize the total costs of ownership (TCO) of these fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV), manufacturers have to determine power sources sizing and design the energy distribution strategy between the sources. The energy management strategy (EMS) controls this distribution and can be used to reduce hydrogen consumption and sources degradation, which are strongly related to the sources size. The power sources' sizing has a significant influence on the investment costs (CAPEX), while the EMS has a direct impact on the operating costs (OPEX). This paper presents a simulation study to determine the influence of the EMS during the sizing process. Simulations have been performed for a small FCEV considering different EMS and sizes of the energy sources. The study points out the importance to consider simultaneously EMS and sources sizing to minimize FCEV TCO.