PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF A BATTERY-POWERED CLASS 2 TRUCK USING A FUEL CELL RANGE EXTENDER.

Significant efforts have been invested in technologies that assist in reducing carbon dioxide emissions and oil from on-road vehicles. Battery electric vehicles, despite a noticeable improvement in the last decade, still have drawbacks that hinder their market diffusion. Therefore, a wide range of hybridized powertrains solutions are available. In this research, a new series hybrid extended range architecture is proposed, in which the generator unit is a hydrogen-powered proton exchange membrane fuel cell. A study is then developed to size the powertrain components and manage the energy flow from a performance and cost point of view. The vehicle model has been realized on MATLAB® and validated through a comparison with a model coming from a 0D software owned by STELLANTIS. A novelty of the research stands in the special test conditions: some simulations are performed on a real-world use case for a class-2 pick-up truck towing 10.000lbs. The analyses aim to demonstrate a competitive market space for the vehicle to meet the needs of a demanding and varied share of customers.