Thermal management of fuel cell-battery electric vehicles: Challenges and solutions
Aezid-Ul-Hassan Najmi, Abdul Wahab, Rohith Prakash, Oliver Schopen, Thomas Esch, Bahman Shabani
Abstract
Fuel cell hybrid electric vehicles (FCHEVs) are potential solutions for fulfilling high-power demands in road transportation while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, despite being very promising, FCHEVs confront many challenges in their quest to penetrate the present automotive market, with thermal management being one of the major challenges. In addition to significantly reducing FCHEV efficiency, auxiliary loads, heating, and cooling demands can also shorten the lifespan of electric components due to inefficient heating/cooling, which impacts the operating temperature. This review highlights that existing research predominantly addresses individual subsystems, with a limited focus on thermal management integration for FCHEVs. Novel strategies such as waste heat recovery (WHR) are shown to enhance PEMFC efficiency from 40 to 60 % to 90 %, improve thermal efficiency by ∼11 %, and extend the driving range in frigid conditions. By addressing subsystem interdependencies and proposing innovative solutions like phase change materials and combined heat and power systems , this work offers a comprehensive framework for advancing FCHEVs thermal management and optimizing hybrid powertrain performance.