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Project Title:

Feasibility Study of Fuel Cell Traction Systems for Urban Heavy Duty Vehicles and Busses

Ref.No.: 202

Project Type and Category:

Basic research

Project Duration:

1994 – 1995

Project Participants:

BMW AG, DASA, Erlanger Stadtwerke AG, Linde AG,
Magnet-Motor GmbH, MAN AG, Neoplan, Siemens AG,
SWB GmbH, LBST

Sponsor:

Bavarian State Ministry of Economy, Transport and Technology and the companies: BMW AG, DASA AG, Linde AG, Magnet-Motor GmbH, MAN AG, Neoplan Gottlieb Auwärter GmbH, Siemens AG

Project Budget and
Funding:

#

Project Description and Objectives:

Traffic emissions have to be reduced significantly. This is not only true for especially sensitive areas such as health resorts, but also for conurbations. In these areas, solutions especially for public urban transport and the necessary commercial traffic have to be found.
Vehicles with electric traction systems where the necessary electric current is being produced by hydrogen driven fuel cells have to be regarded as a promising future solution.
Fuel cells can convert hydrogen directly into electric current with an efficiency of up to 65%. In contrast to this, hydrogen driven iternal combustion engines only use about one third of energy contained in the fuel. Locally, the operation of fuel cells does not produce any harmful emissions whatsoever. The resulting global emissions on the other hand only depend on the primary energy source to be used in the production of the secondary energy carrier hydrogen.

Technical Goals:

After a description of the requirements of operators and users under consideration of aspects such as road performance, payload/space, emissions and noise, security, operational boundary conditions and economics, the single components of the vehicle concepts for urban heavy duty vehicles and buses are investigated:
The PEM fuel cell technology (Proton Exchange Membrane) is being identified as the most suitable technology for traction systems and its current state of the art is being presented. The feasibility of a fuel cell system for urban vehicles is being demonstrated.
A description of various electric traction systems leads to the respective definition of a fuel cell electric system and a fuel cell electric system with electro-mechanical flywheel storage for break energy recuperation and peak load coverage. The feasibility of these systems is being demonstrated.
The different possible fuel and reactants supply systems and their present state of the art are presented. Both the filling station technology and the on-board storage techniques are available. Nevertheless, present technical progress is enormous and new designs will be available already for a first prototype vehicle in two and a half years time.
The integration of all vehicle components into a vehicle concept shows that already the present state of the art allows the construction of prototype fuel cell vehicles. In a realistic operation, only minor restrictions have to be accepted. Furthermore, standard buses will have to be refuelled daily in contrast to the usual refuelling period of two days in Germany.
After the compilation of German regulations relevant to hydrogen technologies, the market requirements for fuel cell traction systems are investigated. Cost reduction potentials of components as well as hydrogen production and supply are reviewed. The necessity of proper legislative boundary conditions and incentives for environmentally sound technologies and the necessary market relevance of environmental criteria are expressed.
In the final part of the study, detailed propositions for pilot projects are elaborated and the next steps towards an implementation are outlined.

Project Status

Finalized

Preliminary or Final Results:

The study has been carried out in collaboration with the above-mentioned companies under the support of an accompanying work group consisting of members of the Bavarian State Ministry of Economy, Transport and Technnology, of the different commpanies and of LBST.

Related Reference Papers and Other Publications:

#

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Project Title: Feasibility Study of Fuel Cell Traction Systems for Urban Heavy Duty Vehicles and Busses		Ref.No.: 202
Project Type and Category:	Basic research
Project Duration:	1994 – 1995
Project Participants:	BMW AG, DASA, Erlanger Stadtwerke AG, Linde AG, Magnet-Motor GmbH, MAN AG, Neoplan, Siemens AG, SWB GmbH, LBST
Sponsor:	Bavarian State Ministry of Economy, Transport and Technology and the companies: BMW AG, DASA AG, Linde AG, Magnet-Motor GmbH, MAN AG, Neoplan Gottlieb Auwärter GmbH, Siemens AG
Project Budget and Funding:	#
Project Description and Objectives:	Traffic emissions have to be reduced significantly. This is not only true for especially sensitive areas such as health resorts, but also for conurbations. In these areas, solutions especially for public urban transport and the necessary commercial traffic have to be found. Vehicles with electric traction systems where the necessary electric current is being produced by hydrogen driven fuel cells have to be regarded as a promising future solution. Fuel cells can convert hydrogen directly into electric current with an efficiency of up to 65%. In contrast to this, hydrogen driven iternal combustion engines only use about one third of energy contained in the fuel. Locally, the operation of fuel cells does not produce any harmful emissions whatsoever. The resulting global emissions on the other hand only depend on the primary energy source to be used in the production of the secondary energy carrier hydrogen.
Technical Goals:	After a description of the requirements of operators and users under consideration of aspects such as road performance, payload/space, emissions and noise, security, operational boundary conditions and economics, the single components of the vehicle concepts for urban heavy duty vehicles and buses are investigated: The PEM fuel cell technology (Proton Exchange Membrane) is being identified as the most suitable technology for traction systems and its current state of the art is being presented. The feasibility of a fuel cell system for urban vehicles is being demonstrated. A description of various electric traction systems leads to the respective definition of a fuel cell electric system and a fuel cell electric system with electro-mechanical flywheel storage for break energy recuperation and peak load coverage. The feasibility of these systems is being demonstrated. The different possible fuel and reactants supply systems and their present state of the art are presented. Both the filling station technology and the on-board storage techniques are available. Nevertheless, present technical progress is enormous and new designs will be available already for a first prototype vehicle in two and a half years time. The integration of all vehicle components into a vehicle concept shows that already the present state of the art allows the construction of prototype fuel cell vehicles. In a realistic operation, only minor restrictions have to be accepted. Furthermore, standard buses will have to be refuelled daily in contrast to the usual refuelling period of two days in Germany. After the compilation of German regulations relevant to hydrogen technologies, the market requirements for fuel cell traction systems are investigated. Cost reduction potentials of components as well as hydrogen production and supply are reviewed. The necessity of proper legislative boundary conditions and incentives for environmentally sound technologies and the necessary market relevance of environmental criteria are expressed. In the final part of the study, detailed propositions for pilot projects are elaborated and the next steps towards an implementation are outlined.
Project Status	Finalized
Preliminary or Final Results:	The study has been carried out in collaboration with the above-mentioned companies under the support of an accompanying work group consisting of members of the Bavarian State Ministry of Economy, Transport and Technnology, of the different commpanies and of LBST.
Related Reference Papers and Other Publications:	#