Low demand solution for (sub)urban personal transport by a direct hybrid (fuel cell-supercapacitors) source

For urban or suburban transport, the power demand of a personal car does not exceed 30 kW/ton, far below the power offered by regular cars designed for any ride. Moreover, it was formerly shown that the above power could be attained by a 10 kW fuel cell directly hybridized to a supercapacitor string able to deliver a 20 kW power peak. This theoretical fact, corresponding to low resource demand in the car manufacturing, was validated up to ½ scale on the bench. Within a research project in University of Lorraine, the target is to validate the low-resource demanding concept in a real hydrogen electric vehicle (fuel cell range extender Renault Kangoo) and to examine related aspects by combining engineering sciences to social and human sciences and economics. After reminding the former validation on a bench, the paper describes current work on how the electrical power is managed in the Renault H2 ZE Kangoo, by characterization of the fuel cell and thorough analysis of the transients of electrical and nonelectrical variables available in the vehicle in various rides. Besides, risks and life cycle analysis of a one-ton hybrid vehicle have been evaluated in comparison with other 30 kW vehicles powered by either a fuel cell, or batteries or an internal combustion engine. Finally, social acceptability of the fuel cell cars by regular citizens is presented, revealing a positive opinion at fuel cells and hydrogen, however with a moderate readiness to its acquisition.